Earlier this season, after a stretch of difficult losses on the court, Martina Genis Salas’s coaches pulled her aside. “They asked me, ‘Why are you here?’” she recalls. At first, she pushed back. “I thought I was doing everything right.”
But the conversation didn’t stop there. Her coaches asked her to bring that same discussion to her teammates.
“One of my best friends told me, ‘I love you, but you’re not doing the right things,’” Martina says. “That was a really tough moment.”
For the first time, she saw what others had been seeing. “I was doing the minimum,” the second-year from Barcelona, Spain, admits. “I was just checking the boxes.”
That epiphany was also a turning point. “I took a couple of days and said, ‘I need to get it together,’” she recalls. “I started practicing twice a day. I haven’t worked that much in my life, and it’s paying off.”
The shift was both about effort and the intention behind it. “You cannot take shortcuts. You cannot cut corners,” she says. “Every practice has to have a purpose.” Instead of judging success by results, she now focuses on showing up fully.
Having chosen college over attempting to play professionally, Martina found a home with UVA Women’s Tennis specifically because of the strong team culture. “It was really close-knit,” she says. For someone far from her home country, that sense of belonging resonated. And as part of that team, it took that challenging interaction with her coaches and teammates for her to realize how deeply her individual efforts impacted everyone she values so highly.
“I’m not just playing for myself. I’m playing for the whole team. It’s bigger than me,” she says. “I need to be an example.”
She sees her role as providing the team with intensity and energy while keeping things light. “I try to bring the right balance between being competitive and having fun,” she says. “Making sure we make the most out of every practice but also enjoy it.”
Off the court, Martina is still, understandably, figuring out her future.
McIntire is helping her determine her plans, but she found a new kind of challenge at the Comm School that she’s really embracing. “I gave myself a chance to try business, and I loved it. I wanted something where I could speak up and engage,” she says of her participation-heavy Comm courses. Still, balancing her coursework with Division I tennis has tested her. “You need to keep up with your sport, but also make sure academics are still there,” she says.
Through mentors and teammates, she’s also exploring paths like consulting and management while leaning into her strengths. “I know I need to find something that fits my personality.” For her, that means staying actively connected to people. “I can’t see myself just sitting at a desk all day. I like being around people.”
If there is a common thread in Martina’s story, it is accountability. From a childhood that pushed her to improve to a defining moment with her team, she has learned that growth comes from honesty, even when it is uncomfortable.
“I think the biggest lesson is accepting the truth and not getting in my own way,” she says.
Now, whether on the court or in the classroom, Martina is all in.
