A tennis player who has developed her reputation in the sport by playing in countries all around South and Central America has come to City College to continue her passion.

Bruna Magalhães, 19, came to City College in January and plans to get a scholarship to attend a four-year university. She learned tennis would be her passion when she began playing in her home country of Brazil.

Head coach Ken Thomas said he considers her to be the “number one” tennis player for the women’s tennis team this year.

“She is amazing; she was top eight in Brazil in the girls eighteen and under,” said Thomas.

Magalhães said she was not serious about the sport when she was younger, but now she plays for  fitness and the well-being she gets from it.

At age 12, she became a serious competitor and won several tournaments in Brazil.

She won the Credicard Citi MasterCard Tennis Cup, Circuito Brasileiro, Unimed, Banana Bowl and many other tournaments in South America.

Magalhães competed in countries such as Czech Republic, Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, the United States and many more.

“She came here, she is undefeated. She won eight straight matches, and she is really kind of blowing up in the competition. She is really crushing them…” said Thomas. “We are looking for her to really win the State championship.”

Professional sponsors such as Adidas and Heads have picked up Magalhães.

Her sponsors gave her all the support and gear for training, including tank tops to Trefoil leggings. They also gave her the opportunity to train with the most famous tennis competitors in Brazil.

“I love this sport. It’s good to meet new people and open business,” she said.

The team has a 4-4 record right now with their next match set for March 21 against Bakersfield College.

“We played 8 matches. In all of the matches, we either won 5-4 or lost 5-4…I’m really proud of all the records,” said Thomas.