WASHINGTON — The tennis courts in Rock Creek Park are all too familiar for 17-year-old tennis star Clervie Ngounoue, who is fresh off a Wimbledon win.
It's the same park that introduced Ngounoue to tennis as a toddler; it's the same courts she treated as a personal playground as she developed a love for the sport. And now, it is the place where she celebrated a major win Saturday.
Ngounoue, who is ranked No. 2 in the world among juniors, beat World No. 37 Anna Blinkova 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round of qualifying at the Mubadala Citi Open.
Ngounoue's mother, Cicily Ade Ngounoue, told WUSA9 it was a powerful moment inside that stadium.
"We were screaming. We were screaming with excitement," Cicily Ade said. "I felt so good looking around, or hearing the cheers from everybody that was sitting there. Yes, it felt so good."
Tournament Chairman Mark Ein said, "She pulled off a huge upset. [She] beat our number one seed in qualifying -- [the] 37th-ranked person in the world and [Ngounoue] killed her."
The teen was given a wild card entry to the tournament and needed to win two matches to make it the main draw. On Sunday, she fell to Polish player Magdalena Fręch, the No. 7 seed.
“So many of the faces I saw, are the same ones I used to come to this tournament with," Ngounoue told a reporter after Saturday's upset win. "We’d try to get tickets and stay at the stadium late at night. So, it was just so special to see many of those faces again, but in a different circumstance where I was on court.”
Though Ngounoue is now based in Florida, she grew up just minutes from Rock Creek Park. Before moving into serious training, she played with beat up tennis balls and rackets with her siblings.
“I feel really comfortable. I feel at home. I am at home," Ngounoue told WUSA9, "and just seeing all these all these familiar faces is really something different."
But it isn't just at home that Ngounoue is earning the spotlight. Ngounoue took home the Wimbledon girls’ singles title earlier in July.