Young Mayo tennis star Loftus remindful of Neel

That’s lofty company designated by the longtime Mayo coach.

Neel played just one year for Demaray. And it wasn’t for the girls team, it was for the Spartans boys. She was that good before taking her game to a tennis academy in Florida her last couple of years of high school.

At 5-feet-3, 90 pounds, Loftus doesn’t look physically ready to join the boys, and she has no plans to do it. But her game would translate. The 13-year-old blasts the ball from either side of her body, has a rifle for a serve and just like Neel did so well at an early age, she gets to and finishes shots at the net in a way that’s well beyond her years.

“When you watched Ingrid, she took control of the point so well,” Demaray said. “And like Ingrid, Claire’s transition game (getting to the net) is just outstanding. She had a little of that last year, but she’s improved on it a lot.”

Last year was Loftus’ first with the Mayo varsity, as she was finally old enough to play at that level. She made the most of her opportunity, quickly taking a hold of the No. 1 singles spot on a formidable team and also reaching the state tournament in singles. Loftus lost her only two matches there, but if the Minnesota State High School League offers a state tournament this year in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, don’t expect an early exit this time around from Loftus.

Demaray now considers her a top-10 player in the state.

Another designation for her — at least for the moment — is that she’s the No. 1 girls player in Rochester. That’s after beating standout freshman Ancele Dolensek of Century in straight sets last week. Dolensek had done the same thing to Loftus a year ago, downing her 6-2, 7-6 (9-7 tie-breaker) in the Section 1AA championship.

But this isn’t the same Loftus. Not after all of the work she put in since last season ended. She’s upgraded her backhand and is also serving better than ever. Loftus’ game is the well-rounded kind she’d been striving for.

“I’m getting better, and I really like that,” Loftus said. “That is the rewarding part of tennis, feeling like all of the hard work you’re putting in is paying off and you’re getting results.”

There was a time that Loftus was set to part with tennis and go full-time with soccer. Soccer was her first love early in life and the high school tennis and soccer seasons are played simultaneously.

So, she came close to putting her racquet away.

“I was going to quit tennis to play soccer,” Loftus said. “My first thought was that I wouldn’t have the same team experience playing tennis.”

That move never happened. Loftus kept getting better at tennis and also took note of the togetherness of Mayo’s tennis teams. So, she’s swinging rather than kicking and doing it with no regrets.

“In high school, you really do have a ‘team’ with tennis,” Loftus said. “And I really like our team. Everybody gets along, the other girls are fun, and they are really accepting to all the players. They have been nice to me from the very beginning.”

That Loftus came to be a tennis player at all is surprising. Neither of her parents, Conor and Yuri Loftus, played tennis. But it was offered up that she give tennis a try at age 5 by her day-care provider.

Of all the kids giving it a try with her, she remains one of the few who have stuck with it. There have been some trying moments along the way, such as her fear of competition. That started at about age 10.

Loftus got rid of it by realizing that there was much more to tennis than winning and losing.

“I realized then that it was not only the competition that made me want to play, but the friendships I was building from tennis,” she said. “I got to the point where l am now, where I just go out there with the attitude that I give it my best shot and play like I like to play, which is aggressive.”

Three years later, that is sure working. She’s hitting hard, she’s coming to the net, she’s blasting her serves and she doesn’t have to even worry much about losing, because she rarely does it.