Fredric Lehfeldt

Senior tennis player Fredric Lehfeldt, a native of Olso, Norway has traveled the world playing tennis in Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Italy and Sweden, but ultimately landed at East Carolina to pursue his collegiate career. .

Lehfeldt was the Norwegian National Junior Mixed Doubles and Junior Masters champion in 2011, as well as the Norwegian Junior Singles Outdoor, Indoor Doubles and Junior Masters Champion in 2012. He also attended Wang Toppidrett High School in Norway where he posted a career record of 17-15 in singles overall, and a 11-14 record in doubles play.

“I started playing tennis when I was young,” Lehfeldt said. “There was a club close to home and they had a variety of sports available there, and I played soccer and tennis. I played more tennis and won nationals later on because of it.”

During the Dancook Junior Cup in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012, Lehfeldt made it to the semifinal round where he battled Haru Inoue of Japan in a three-set match where he ultimately fell in the end, 6-2. In the doubles tournament of the Dancook Junior cup, Lehfeldt teamed up with Hajdu Andersson where they made it all the way to the semifinal match but again fell in the tiebreaker 10-3.

Lehfeldt had another strong performance in the Vasteras Junior International Tennis Federation (ITF) in Sweden where he made it to the semifinal round in singles and the final round in doubles.

Lehfeldt cruised to victory in the round of 32, 16 and quarterfinal matches winning in two sets each with the closest set coming at 6-4. In the semifinal match, he faced Simon Friis Soendergaard of Denmark to pick up set wins but dropped both sets 6-3.

“Playing in international tournaments helped me improve as a junior player,” Lehfeldt said. “They helped make me ready for college. There was more pressure because my parents paid money for me to play. I did not want to disappoint them.”

In the ITF Odense of 2012, Lehfeldt made it to the quarterfinal match where he was able to cruise past the round of 64 and 32 in two sets each. In the round of 16, he had a tougher matchup but ended up prevailing in three sets. In the quarterfinal match he fell in two sets 6-2, 6-4 to a player from Vietnam.

After Lehfeldt competed in 20 tournaments all over the world, and after being named a champion in 2011 and 2012 he brought his talent and athleticism to ECU.

“I was looking at multiple schools in the U.S. I wanted to be on the East Coast because it was closer to home,” Lehfeldt said. “ECU had good tennis teams and I wanted to be able to grow and improve as a player. I like to play tennis, I have fun playing it.”

Lehfeldt plans to attend to graduate school to pursue his master’s in business administration. Although Lehfeldt is pursuing his MBA, he wants to continue playing tennis because of his love and passion for the game.

“I was a late bloomer,” Lehfeldt said. “Nobody really expected me to win the way that I did. I had a good tennis coach and worked really hard. (I) realized that if you worked harder the results will come.”

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