Every player has their own path. For current world No. 162 Arianne Hartono, education came first.

The 26-year-old Dutchwoman played her first competitive match on the ITF World Tennis Tour in the Netherlands 10 years ago, but dipping a toe into the water of international tennis as a teenager was primarily to bolster her CV with a tennis scholarship in mind.

A decade on, having spent four years playing college tennis and studying Psychology at the University of Mississippi, Hartono is now focusing on tennis full-time – and she’s doing rather well.

Hartono has recorded three victories over Top 100 players over the last 12 months, including last week, when she achieved a career-best win over world No. 74 Arantxa Rus at W100 Wiesbaden - a top-level ITF World Tennis Tour event in Germany.

itftennis.com caught up with the world No. 162 to talk college tennis, her rise up the rankings, and the best and worst things about being a professional tennis player…

ITF: Many players follow the ITF player pathway - starting with juniors and then climbing the tournament grades on the ITF World Tennis Tour with a view to playing on the WTA and ATP Tours. When did you decide you wanted to try the college tennis route?

HARTONO: Obviously those were two paths that I was considering when I was in high school. I played a couple of ITF junior events and I mainly did that with the purpose of getting a scholarship at a good school and getting noticed by coaches.

I had my mind set pretty early on which path I wanted to take - obviously that was the college path. Overall I progressed in things that I will take with me after I’m done playing. I think that’s definitely something I was looking for. I think it’s very important for every player. At one point tennis is going to end, you’re going to have to do something else and you’re going to have to be happy with yourself. That was the main thing I wanted to take with me from college as well.

Victory over world No. 74 Arantxa Rus (at W100 Wiesbaden) was your biggest career-win. Do you consider it another big step forward for you?

I think [W100 Wiesbaden] is about my third event on clay. I’m starting to transition a little bit better every tournament, getting my groove on on clay every tournament as I go. I think definitely that win against Rus was a good step up for me, for my level. I’ve played against players like her quite a lot actually and I end up beating myself. Luckily that didn’t happen this time. I was able to hang on to my game and keep it together. I needed that again [in the next round] - unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

How important is it to get matches under your belt at tournaments at W60, W80 and W100 level on the ITF World Tennis Tour?

Yeh, very. Especially for someone with my ranking who is on the border of making it into the main draw and qualies of Grand Slams. I think these events – the 60s, 80s and 100s especially – I think they’re very important for us to prepare for the bigger events, the WTAs or whatever. I think they’re very important for us to adjust to whatever is happening or going on in the season, whatever situation you’re in.

You started playing a fuller schedule on the ITF World Tennis Tour in 2018 after college. How did college prepare you for professional tennis?

That was definitely a major thing that helped me develop not just on the court but also off the court. I think that’s very important. Especially nowadays. There’s plenty of young girls playing nowadays on tour, but I think most of the top players are starting to get a little bit older, and a little bit smarter and more mature. That definitely helped me in my process of becoming what I am right now.

You’ve won a couple of ITF titles at W15 level. Are trophies important to you at this stage of your career?

Honestly at this point I’m trying to focus on every match that I’m playing. I’m trying to get every single match win. Of course it would be nice if I could get a title here and there but honestly as long as I make good progress and have good wins over higher-ranked players, I should be happy enough with that.

What’s the best thing about being a pro?

I think the best thing is the freedom that we have. The ability to go wherever, whenever we want. To make our schedules and not to be dependent on anyone or anything else.

The worst thing, it clings on to that, but the fact that you’re alone most of the time and there’s no-one else but you to satisfy. Sometimes that gets a little rough because at that point you’re questioning yourself constantly, criticising yourself. Trying to bring yourself up. The responsibility as well… I don’t want to say it’s a bad thing, but it can bring you down sometimes.

What's your coaching set up?

In 2018 I started at the Dutch Federation and practiced there until October 2020. Then I started working with my own coach, handling my own schedule and travelling by myself. I think I needed that piece of mind, I think, maybe. Before I kinda had to struggle a bit through my schedule, try to make sure that coaches would be okay with my schedule and stuff like that. I’m happy with the situation I’m in now. I’m working with just one private coach. He doesn’t get to travel with me that much since he owns a fitness and raquet centre. Beside that, I’m very happy with how things are going right now.

How tricky is it choosing tournaments and managing your own schedule at this level?

Sometimes it’s a bit of a challenge because you’re trying to balance out what events are good for you to play ranking-wise and what events are good for you to play tennis-wise. Obviously you’re trying to play more higher- level events, 100ks or the WTAs, but whenever you try and get into your groove or go through practice matches, there are times when you’re just trying to get more match-play in. The more matches you play during the week the better. You could choose a lower tournament for that, basically, and sometimes that’s a little bit difficult. I’ve noticed that most of the players, on a good day, anyone can beat anyone. I just try to go and play the highest tournaments that I can play and I think I should keep trying to do that.

Are the Grand Slams a big goal for the next couple of months?

Yes definitely. The goal is always to get higher in the rankings, obviously. I think I should be secure for all the qualies of all the Grand Slams but obviously if I get a chance to move up into the main draw and get my ranking up high enough then that would be great. That’s kind of the goal, obviously.

As a Dutch player, I’m sure you’re familiar with wheelchair tennis players, who have enjoyed so much success on the world stage. They dominated last week's World Team Cup (the wheelchair equivalent of Davis Cup/Billie Jean King Cup) - how much crossover do you have with wheelchair players back home?

They’re killing it (at the World Team Cup) I think, right? I used to train at the Federation near Amsterdam. I ended with them a couple of years ago though, but when I started off in 2018 I started practicing with the Federation and the wheelchair players were there almost every day. We’d see them every day, we’d hang out, we’d have lunch together, yeh, we definitely had a good connection with each other.

The Dutch wheelchair tennis system is a bit of a machine, isn’t it? Producing so many good players?

Oh yes, for sure. Whenever I used to watch them in practice and do their drills… oh my gosh, I was like, thank god I have legs. I don’t have to do all those things with my arms!

What did you study at college?

Psychology.

I guess that helps navigate the life of a tennis player?

You know what they say, you’re your own worst psychiatrist, right?