UofL tennis player surprised by $30,000 scholarship – WAVE News
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – A University of Louisville men’s tennis player just received a game-changing scholarship.
Russell Lokko is a rising junior at UofL. He spends much of his day either in the classroom or on the court, and says he fell in love with the sport at an early age.
“I’ve been playing since I was about 4 years old,” Lokko said. “My parents played recreationally, and I saw them playing one day, and I picked up a racket and I enjoyed it ever since then.”
His love of the sport and talent have taken him across the country for junior tennis tournaments and landed him at a division one school on a partial scholarship.
Earlier in August, at the Cincinnati Open, a professional tennis tournament, Lokko thought he was getting to hang out with one of the professional tour’s top-ranked players, Frances Tiafoe.
In addition to hanging out with Tiafoe, Lokko was surprised with a $30,000 scholarship from the USTA Foundation’s Frances Tiafoe Fund.
“I didn’t know it was going to be a scholarship that he was going to give me; they just told me I was going to follow him around for a couple days, hit with him a little bit,” Lokko said. “He gave me a lot of advice and stuff like on court and off of court stuff.”
The money covers his last two years of college.
“It takes a lot of pressure off my parents, like they don’t have to pay for anything.” He said.
With school back in session and practices ramping up, Lokko looks forward to whatever the rest of his collegiate career might bring him.
“I mean, the sky’s the limit,” Lokko said. “I have these last two years to prove to myself what I can do.”
UofL men’s tennis begins its season in January.
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