Vidmanova As Good As Georgia’s Ever Had
May 14, 2025 | Women's Tennis, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Well before she became one of the greatest players in Georgia women's tennis history, Drake Bernstein remembers watching a video of Dasha Vidmanova playing in the Australian Open junior tournament. The pandemic limited international travel at the time, so videos on YouTube were particularly important in recruiting.
"She actually got a great win in that match, and you could see the potential there," said the Bulldogs' second-year head coach, then the associate head coach under Jeff Wallace
Fast forward to now, and the 6-foot-3 Vidmanova, who graduated last week, is in the final days of her Georgia career. And what a career it has been.
Vidmanova, from Prague, Czechia, is the only player in program history to win an NCAA title in singles and doubles. She's hoping to add an NCAA team championship to her long list of accomplishments, which also includes the ITA National Team Indoor Championships title earlier this year. The top-ranked Bulldogs take on No. 8 Duke in the quarterfinals of the NCAAs on Thursday at Baylor.
"She's certainly got the record and results to make a strong argument that she could be the best ever," said Wallace, who retired in 2023.
Vidmanova arrived at Georgia in January of 2022; she had visited campus a few months before, but she didn't know much about college tennis and its team format.
"I didn't have much expectations, to be honest. I just knew that there's a team and you play against other teams, but I really didn't know how it was going to look until my first match that we played here," she said. "It was just a very, very new experience."
Vidmanova's first match was against Summer Yardley of North Florida at the No. 2 singles spot. She won handily, 6-2, 6-3, and even clinched the shutout victory. Many more clinches, including quite a few dramatic ones against some of the best teams in the country, have followed. Vidmanova won 11 of her first 12 matches, playing mostly at the No. 3 spot, and finished her first season as a Bulldog with a singles record of 16-7 and a ranking of No. 106.
In doubles, she mostly played with another freshman, Mell Reasco, and they went 11-6 at the No. 2 spot. Today, Vidmanova and Reasco are the No. 1-ranked doubles team in the country.
"We're best friends, and we've lived together for four years," said Reasco, from Quito, Ecuador. "I think at the beginning, like freshman or sophomore year, when we played together, we were not as focused or as committed. Now, we both have matured, and I think we're a good fit on the court again. It's a combination of being locked in and also having fun with your friends."
As a sophomore, Vidmanova played all but one match at the No. 2 spot, going 17-3. Including fall tournaments, Vidmanova was an exceptional 33-7 during her second year as a Bulldog. She was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ITA National Team Indoors and ended the year ranked No. 10.
"I think it's the biggest improvement I've ever seen," Reasco said of Vidmanova's development at Georgia. "I remember freshman year, sophomore year, she didn't have these big goals, but being here I think motivated her. I think being around a group of girls that also want to improve helped her."
With her size and athleticism, Vidmanova has the big serve and big forehand to push opponents around on the court. Power isn't the only game she has, but her two biggest weapons have become even more fearsome over her Georgia career.
"Obviously, she was tall when she came in, but she didn't really think like a server," Bernstein said. "I think over the years, she's become more comfortable trusting her serve in pressure moments, rather than playing it safe. She's understood the value of that being a weapon, and just playing more aggressively in general.
"I think her tendencies were to keep the ball between the lines. And now you see her keeping the ball between the lines, but at a higher speed. ... I think she plays chess in the matches really well; she kind of does what's needed on any given day against a particular opponent."
Last May, Vidmanova and then-freshman Aysegul Mert won the first NCAA doubles title in program history. Marissa Catlin, another candidate for the greatest player ever at Georgia and a member of the Circle of Honor, played for the NCAA doubles titles three times, with three different partners, during her remarkable career from 1997-2000. But Vidmanova and Mert were the first team to bring home the national title. And now Vidmanova and Reasco are the top-ranked team in the country with a record of 18-2 this spring.
Every part of Vidmanova's game has improved during her Georgia career, and her doubles play — and her mental approach to it — has made maybe the biggest leap of all. The arrival of associate head coach Jarryd Chaplin was pivotal in improving every part of Vidmanova's doubles play.
"I wasn't really a big fan of doubles when I came, and even my first two years, I don't think it was really good," she said. "When Jarryd came, he kind of gave us a new perspective on doubles, and actually told us how to play and what to do. I think that definitely helped a lot.
"The way we play is more aggressive, and we volley a lot because we want to finish the point quickly. And I think that helps in singles, too."
The NCAA held its men's and women's singles and doubles championships in the fall for the first time in 2024, and six months after she won the NCAA doubles title, Vidmanova powered her way to the NCAA singles crown, beating Auburn's DJ Bennett 6-3, 6-3 in the final. After winning the final point, Vidmanova pumped her fist a couple of times and walked to the net to shake hands. There was no big celebration — she was in the midst of a 14-match college win streak, plus she'd won a lower-level pro event shortly before the NCAA singles tournament, so she had every reason to believe she'd do exactly what she did.
Now, heading into Thursday's NCAA quarterfinal against Duke, Vidmanova, who has been ranked No. 1 or 2 for most of the year, is 29-5 in singles as a senior, including 17-4 at the No. 1 spot. She and Reasco, meanwhile, have won 18 of 20 completed doubles matches. All of that potential Bernstein saw on that YouTube video all those years ago, Vidmanova has reached so much of it. And as she embarks on a pro career after the NCAA tournament, who knows where she and her game can go?
"It's been a very good four years here, and I'm really proud of what I've done here. But also, I think a lot of that happened because of the environment that Georgia has and because of the care that the coaches have for the players," she said. "They create a culture and environment here that allow people and players to get better and grow in tennis."
Staff Writer
Well before she became one of the greatest players in Georgia women's tennis history, Drake Bernstein remembers watching a video of Dasha Vidmanova playing in the Australian Open junior tournament. The pandemic limited international travel at the time, so videos on YouTube were particularly important in recruiting.
"She actually got a great win in that match, and you could see the potential there," said the Bulldogs' second-year head coach, then the associate head coach under Jeff Wallace
Fast forward to now, and the 6-foot-3 Vidmanova, who graduated last week, is in the final days of her Georgia career. And what a career it has been.
Vidmanova, from Prague, Czechia, is the only player in program history to win an NCAA title in singles and doubles. She's hoping to add an NCAA team championship to her long list of accomplishments, which also includes the ITA National Team Indoor Championships title earlier this year. The top-ranked Bulldogs take on No. 8 Duke in the quarterfinals of the NCAAs on Thursday at Baylor.
"She's certainly got the record and results to make a strong argument that she could be the best ever," said Wallace, who retired in 2023.
Vidmanova arrived at Georgia in January of 2022; she had visited campus a few months before, but she didn't know much about college tennis and its team format.
"I didn't have much expectations, to be honest. I just knew that there's a team and you play against other teams, but I really didn't know how it was going to look until my first match that we played here," she said. "It was just a very, very new experience."
Vidmanova's first match was against Summer Yardley of North Florida at the No. 2 singles spot. She won handily, 6-2, 6-3, and even clinched the shutout victory. Many more clinches, including quite a few dramatic ones against some of the best teams in the country, have followed. Vidmanova won 11 of her first 12 matches, playing mostly at the No. 3 spot, and finished her first season as a Bulldog with a singles record of 16-7 and a ranking of No. 106.
In doubles, she mostly played with another freshman, Mell Reasco, and they went 11-6 at the No. 2 spot. Today, Vidmanova and Reasco are the No. 1-ranked doubles team in the country.
"We're best friends, and we've lived together for four years," said Reasco, from Quito, Ecuador. "I think at the beginning, like freshman or sophomore year, when we played together, we were not as focused or as committed. Now, we both have matured, and I think we're a good fit on the court again. It's a combination of being locked in and also having fun with your friends."
As a sophomore, Vidmanova played all but one match at the No. 2 spot, going 17-3. Including fall tournaments, Vidmanova was an exceptional 33-7 during her second year as a Bulldog. She was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ITA National Team Indoors and ended the year ranked No. 10.
"I think it's the biggest improvement I've ever seen," Reasco said of Vidmanova's development at Georgia. "I remember freshman year, sophomore year, she didn't have these big goals, but being here I think motivated her. I think being around a group of girls that also want to improve helped her."
With her size and athleticism, Vidmanova has the big serve and big forehand to push opponents around on the court. Power isn't the only game she has, but her two biggest weapons have become even more fearsome over her Georgia career.
"Obviously, she was tall when she came in, but she didn't really think like a server," Bernstein said. "I think over the years, she's become more comfortable trusting her serve in pressure moments, rather than playing it safe. She's understood the value of that being a weapon, and just playing more aggressively in general.
"I think her tendencies were to keep the ball between the lines. And now you see her keeping the ball between the lines, but at a higher speed. ... I think she plays chess in the matches really well; she kind of does what's needed on any given day against a particular opponent."
Last May, Vidmanova and then-freshman Aysegul Mert won the first NCAA doubles title in program history. Marissa Catlin, another candidate for the greatest player ever at Georgia and a member of the Circle of Honor, played for the NCAA doubles titles three times, with three different partners, during her remarkable career from 1997-2000. But Vidmanova and Mert were the first team to bring home the national title. And now Vidmanova and Reasco are the top-ranked team in the country with a record of 18-2 this spring.
Every part of Vidmanova's game has improved during her Georgia career, and her doubles play — and her mental approach to it — has made maybe the biggest leap of all. The arrival of associate head coach Jarryd Chaplin was pivotal in improving every part of Vidmanova's doubles play.
"I wasn't really a big fan of doubles when I came, and even my first two years, I don't think it was really good," she said. "When Jarryd came, he kind of gave us a new perspective on doubles, and actually told us how to play and what to do. I think that definitely helped a lot.
"The way we play is more aggressive, and we volley a lot because we want to finish the point quickly. And I think that helps in singles, too."
The NCAA held its men's and women's singles and doubles championships in the fall for the first time in 2024, and six months after she won the NCAA doubles title, Vidmanova powered her way to the NCAA singles crown, beating Auburn's DJ Bennett 6-3, 6-3 in the final. After winning the final point, Vidmanova pumped her fist a couple of times and walked to the net to shake hands. There was no big celebration — she was in the midst of a 14-match college win streak, plus she'd won a lower-level pro event shortly before the NCAA singles tournament, so she had every reason to believe she'd do exactly what she did.
Now, heading into Thursday's NCAA quarterfinal against Duke, Vidmanova, who has been ranked No. 1 or 2 for most of the year, is 29-5 in singles as a senior, including 17-4 at the No. 1 spot. She and Reasco, meanwhile, have won 18 of 20 completed doubles matches. All of that potential Bernstein saw on that YouTube video all those years ago, Vidmanova has reached so much of it. And as she embarks on a pro career after the NCAA tournament, who knows where she and her game can go?
"It's been a very good four years here, and I'm really proud of what I've done here. But also, I think a lot of that happened because of the environment that Georgia has and because of the care that the coaches have for the players," she said. "They create a culture and environment here that allow people and players to get better and grow in tennis."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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