Komal Safdar didn’t see it coming, but she only has one year left in her tennis career after this one.

After committing to Syracuse with the intention of eventually playing professionally, a wrist injury brought her to the realization that that will never happen. So Safdar, a biochemistry major, plans to apply to medical school and follow in her family’s footsteps.

“It’s been a tough road. My wrist is pretty unstable,” Safdar said. “So I’ve come to the realization professional tennis is not for me now.”

And while Safdar knows her days of organized competition are numbered, she’s won four of her last eight singles matches and three of her last six doubles matches — with partner Amanda Rodgers — in the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference.

She’s battled injury this season, but is currently playing her best tennis yet.

“It’s really easy for us,” Rodgers said of the two being doubles partners. “We don’t have to try to get along or try and make it work.”

Safdar committed to Syracuse in part for the reputation the coaches had of preparing players for the pro game.

She was highly touted and rated by Tennisrecruiting.net as a four-star recruit, and had the opportunity to play at the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati next to all-time greats like Serena Williams — only strengthening her dream to play on the professional stage.

But that dream ended when she realized her wrist would never be 100 percent again.

“These last few years, I have been battling a wrist injury and I have not been able to play consistently for months in a row for a really long time,” Safdar said. “This is the most stability I’ve had in my wrist for the past couple months now.

“Also, knowing that I have more intensity, more focus from my last two years learning, I think it is showing more now.”

Even with no future in tennis, Safdar has proven herself a role model to some of the younger players who have noted how hard she works every day.

She has to find time to balance five-hour research labs with a demanding practice schedule and frequent traveling. Yet with the business of her schedule, she has still been able to balance good grades with her recent surge on the court.

“I admire Komal,” interim head coach Shelley George said. “I think she is an amazing human being. She’s very balanced. She knows what hard work is. She comes to work every day. In the classroom, she is a 4.0 student. She has very high goals and she knows how to achieve her goals.”

Safdar, her older sister and her younger sister all played tennis growing up, but that did not come from their parents. Safdar’s parents, both doctors, emigrated from Pakistan and knew little about the game of tennis.

The family lived in an apartment complex with two nearby tennis courts, where the Safdar sisters developed a love for the game.

“It’s definitely great,” Safdar said. “One, you always have a spontaneous hit available. Two, you create this competitive atmosphere that really can’t be created anywhere else.

“You can go play a friend and you could easily tank. When you play your sister, you’re playing for more than just winning, you’re playing for your ego.”

But soon Safdar will put down her racquet and chase her next goal of joining the medical field.

Safdar’s father still works as a doctor, her mother did for a number of years and her older sister currently attends medical school.

It wasn’t the original plan, but now she’ll follow suit.

“There are times where it’s tough and I’m stressed,” Safdar said. “You know I’m like, ‘Why I am doing this?’ But then I always have that drive and motivation because one, I’ve learned to enjoy the process and two, I do have that goal of wanting to become a doctor.”

Published on April 22, 2014 at 1:45 am

Contact Ryan: rlraigro@syr.edu