'A vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire.'

“To win without risk is to triumph without glory,” Pierre Corneille, a 17th-century French playwright who has been dubbed the “founder of French tragedy,” wrote.

More than 300 years later, Leslie Hureau, a native of France and an IU senior on the IU women’s tennis team, is wrapping up an illustrious career that was only made possible by taking a risk — one giant leap of faith across “the pond” from Annecy-le-Vieux, France to Bloomington.

Hureau started her tennis career at the age of four when she picked up a tennis racket for the first time.

“Both of my parents played so they just brought me with them and since then I’ve been practicing a lot,” she said. “I was doing skiing at some point but after that it was tennis and obviously when I came here, tennis was a big part of my college life.”

Hureau, who was a top-ranked Alpine skier in France at a young age, said she watched some of her older friends who played at her tennis club go to the United States to play in college, and she knew she would like to continue her career at the collegiate level.

“Among tennis players, there are a reasonable amount of people who do that,” she said.

Despite knowing that playing tennis at a Division I university in the U.S. was an option for her future, Hureau said she didn’t know much about the college selection process.

“Honestly, before I came I didn’t really have a clue,” Hureau said. “I know the American girls, they look at all of the rankings and they talk to so many people.”

IU Coach Lin Loring said Hureau used a college search service in France that eventually culminated in Hureau visiting three American universities with her mother.

She said she didn’t know much about the Big Ten Conference or IU but she visited Bloomington for a campus visit. The Lycée Berthollet product talked to Loring and she found she would have a scholarship to play for the Hoosiers.

“She came over with her mom and her mom speaks fluent English so her mom did most of the talking,” Loring said. “Actually, Leslie didn’t speak a lot of English. I think she understood it, but she didn’t talk a lot and she was shy.”

After visiting campus as well as talking to the coaching staff and players, Hureau was ready to embrace the Cream and Crimson.

“I came on a visit and when I came I thought it was really nice, the campus, the coaches and players,” she said.

Hureau said Loring and IU Associate Head Coach Ramiro Azcui are coaches who don’t just care about tennis.

“They care about you as an individual,” Hureau said. “They want to make sure that I’m okay after college. They’re both great coaches, great people.”

Hureau said her French classmates, who did not come from the same tennis background as her and her tennis peers, did not understand her decision to attend college on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. However, those who questioned her college choice did not see first-hand the opportunities that IU had to offer Hureau.
“It was a really easy decision to come to IU,” she said.

Hureau’s decision to attend IU was her first step as she embarked on a collegiate tennis career in the U.S. as the Hoosiers’ No. 1 singles player.

From the start of her college career, Hureau defeated nationally ranked opponents and was recognized with prestigious honors. In her freshman campaign, Hureau was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rookie of the Year for the Ohio Valley Region as well as she was awarded with First Team All-Big Ten honors after posting a 25-11 singles record.

Hureau’s most successful season individually was her sophomore year when advanced to the round of 16 in the 2011 NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championship tournament. She was also honored as a singles All-American selection. Once again, she was named to the All-Big Ten First Team and finished the season ranked No. 57 in singles.

As a junior, Hureau defeated four ranked Big Ten opponents in singles,
finished the season ranked No. 77 nationally, and earned First Team All-Big Ten honors for the third consecutive year.

Hureau is 21-12 in singles this season in the No. 1 position for IU and she has defeated three nationally ranked opponents.

Loring said Hureau’s game has become more defined during her time at IU.

“It’s not like she’s learned a new shot that she didn’t have,” he said. “She’s gotten better at what she does and she’s refined the game that she has.”

Despite her on-court successes this season, Hureau’s importance to the IU women’s tennis team extends beyond registering wins in dual matches.

“She’s been our team captain this year and she’s done a great job because we’re still a really young team,” Loring said. “She’s just done a great job setting an example whether it’s in the classroom or on the court. She’s a great senior leader.”

With two regular season dual matches remaining this year, the senior has compiled a 92-46 singles record and 83-54 doubles record over the course of her career at IU.
Despite all of her individual accomplishments and awards, Hureau, who is currently ranked No. 122 in singles, said the IU women’s tennis team defeating two top ten opponents this season in Duke (2nd) and Michigan (10th) is one of her fondest memories from her time in Bloomington.

“I think what’s big about this team is that even though I lost my match against Michigan and Jithmie (Jayawickrema) didn’t play against Duke, we were so happy,” she said.

Hureau said she cried after she lost her singles match against No. 20 Emina Bektas of Michigan because she thought she had let the team down.

“But after that we won and it was just such a great feeling,” Hureau said. “Especially Duke, it was the end of spring break and we had been together for a week and it was just perfect, the perfect ending. We came back home on the plane and we were going crazy.”

Hureau said even though her teammates have changed over the course of her four years at IU, it will be really hard to graduate this spring because she said her best friends are on IU’s campus and on the women’s tennis team.

“We see each other every day, we go through so much together and we’re really close,” Hureau said. “It’s sounds cheesy and

everyone says it but it’s true. We live together and when we don’t play tennis, we hang out together so it’s going to be hard to leave.”

She said she loves the atmosphere of IU and experiencing the success of the IU men’s basketball team this season.

“It was really fun to watch because you really feel like you’re a part of something in the community,” Hureau said. “That was really neat because I didn’t have anything like that before.”

While the marketing major in the Kelley School of Business has many accomplishments on which to reflect, she still has her sights set on the future. No. 34 IU has two remaining dual matches, the team will play host to the Big Ten Tournament at the end of April, and then the Hoosiers hope to advance to the NCAA Championships.

“It has an extra motivation for me since it’s my senior year and it’s at home,” Hureau said. “This year we’ve been playing well so we have a good shot at it and I think now we know that on a given day we can beat anyone in the conference. That’s something that we didn’t really know before and we didn’t believe in it but know we know that.”

If IU being host to the Big Ten Tournament in her final season in Bloomington isn’t enough of storybook ending for Hureau, then having her parents fly from France to attend the tournament should do the trick.

“It’s just a lot of things to look forward to,” she said.

When the season, which she hopes ends at the NCAA Championships in Champaign, Ill., is all said and done, Hureau will prepare for the next stage of her life — attending graduate school for sports management in France.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “It’s kind of bittersweet though because I’m not ready to leave.”

When the Hoosiers’ season ends and Hureau leaves upon graduation, she will have won nearly 200 collegiate tennis matches after taking the risk of going to college over 4,000 miles away from home, in a country where she was forced to immerse herself in the English language.

Hureau made the most of her opportunity and triumphed with glory, winning All-Big Ten First Team, ITA Ohio Valley Region Rookie of the Year, and All-American honors. And the best part for Hureau is that there are a few empty pages for her to add to her final chapter at IU before the book of her college career
finally closes.