Cal Women’s Tennis Signs Katja Wiersholm

BERKELEY – The California women's tennis program signed Katja Wiersholm to a National Letter of Intent, Cal head coach Amanda Augustus announced Monday. Ranked as the fifth-best recruit in the nation byTennisRecruiting.net, the blue chipper from Kirkland, Washington, will join the current Golden Bear squad in January 2022.
 
"We're very excited to have Katja join us," Augustus said, "She is actually joining us very soon and is going to help us round out the team for 2021-22. Katja is a very good fit academically, as she was able to graduate high school early and come to Cal next semester, and athletically she's been one of the top players in the country in every age division.
 
"On top of that, she's a great fit in our culture and she'll be a great teammate along with our established group. She's really motivated and driven, and we're excited to start working with her and help her and the team have a very successful season."
 
TennisRecruiting.net also tabbed Wiersholm, 17, as the No. 1 recruit from the state of Washington and from the northwest. The 5-4 lefty has a career-best junior ranking of 90, a Universal Tennis Rating of 10.86 and a WTA ranking of 1253.
 
Wiersholm played in the US Open Junior Championships in September, winning her first-round singles match against Linda Klimovicova, 7-5, 6-1, and – in what she calls her best sports moment – capturing her second-round match against 11th-seeded Mara Guth, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, before falling in the round of 16.
 
Also in 2021, Wiersholm won an ITF grade 3 level tournament, while in 2019 she won the girls' 16 doubles title at the 2019 USTA Billie Jean King National Championships in San Diego. She reached the doubles final of the 2020 Orange Bowl and advanced to the semifinals of the Les Petit As in 2018. In 2016, Wiersholm captured the singles title at the USTA Girls' 12s National Championships in Georgia a few weeks after winning the singles crown at the National Clay Court Championships in Florida.
 
Tennis talent runs in her family, as her older brother, Henrik, played tennis for Virginia, winning three straight NCAA team championships with the Cavaliers from 2015-17.
 
Wiersholm and the Bears will open the New Year in the Hawaii Invitational, slated for Jan. 6-8 in Honolulu.