When IU women’s tennis faced off against the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday, it was no ordinary match.
Not only was it the first dual match with IU Head Coach Ramiro Azcui at the helm, but it also saw his daughter, Western Michigan sophomore Denise Azcui, return home to battle the team her dad coached throughout her childhood.
Ramiro coached his daughter since she started playing tennis at the age of 9. With her father serving as an IU assistant for her entire life, Denise grew up in Bloomington and attended Bloomington High School South. It was there that, in her junior and senior years, she won two consecutive state titles in 2014 and 2015.
“My dad has been one of the biggest influences for me in everything, not just tennis,” Denise said. “He’s never stopped pushing me to be a better version of me. Winning those state titles was one of my best memories, and he was always there cheering me on.”
The father-daughter duo has always looked for ways to improve Denise’s game. Her freshman year of high school, she lost in the quarterfinals of the state tournament. The next day they went to the courts to change her strokes.
“I have always been about technique,” Ramiro said. “She received all the information that I gave her, and she was always willing to work. We had a great working relationship.”
As high school was coming to a close, the decision on where she would play collegiate tennis was a hot topic in the Azcui household.
“Growing up I always dreamed of playing at IU,” Denise said. “It was hard leaving, but in the end it was the best thing for me. I definitely needed to get away and start on my own and really figure out who I wanted to be.”
Despite playing collegiate tennis in a different state Denise said she is still extremely close with all her family. It helped that her father was in total agreement with her decision not to play for IU.
“During the early recruiting process Denise and I talked about the advantages and disadvantages of playing at Indiana,” Ramiro said. “We both decided that it would be better for her to go her own route and find her own path through college.”
With that agreement between the two, Denise went on to choose Western Michigan. Coincidentally, her first match as a Bronco was at the 2015 Hoosier Classic at IU, the same place she had her very first lesson with her dad.
The Hoosiers and Broncos have met several times since then, but Saturday was the first time with Ramiro as IU’s head coach. During the match Ramiro purposely avoided his daughter’s side of the court because he said he didn’t want to coach against her.
“This was a hard match for me, Denise, the players and the fans, too, because all of them know me and my family really well so it was a bittersweet match,” Ramiro said.
This was also the case for the youngest Azcui, 9-year-old Blake, who was torn between rooting for his dad and his sister.
“It’s hard because I want my dad to win his first head coaching match, but then my sister is doing so great too so I also want her to win,” Blake said. “A good day for me is when my sister can win what she can win and my dad can coach what he can coach and hopefully they both win.”
Blake got one of his wishes. The Hoosiers came out on top 7-0 against the Broncos to give Ramiro his first win as a head coach in dual match play. Despite Denise losing to IU senior Kim Schmider by a final of 6-4, she said on a day like that there is something more than winning and losing.
“Getting to play against my dad is always special,” Denise said. “I think for both of us it’s not about a win or a loss. Obviously we both wanted to do the best we could to win, but at the end of the day we’re not going to remember who won or lost. We are going to remember this special moment that we get to share together.”
