TENNIS WITH THE MILNER’S

“IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY” – an obvious statement for anyone that knows Milwaukee tennis’ Nikki Milner and her family.

Both Nikki and her sister Brooke (Stetson University) currently compete at the NCAA Division I level, but the bloodline runs deep and goes as far as her grandparents. Both parents, Bob and Sue were great tennis players growing up, and so were their parents. Meanwhile, Ben is still heavily involved in the sport and is considered one of the leading Junior Tennis development coaches in Australia. sisters took to tennis at an early age and, today, the two have turned into contributors on their respective college teams .

Nikki is currently a junior academically and is in her sophomore athletic eligibility year. In her freshmen campaign, she tallied 10 singles wins and finished 4-5 in Horizon League play while splitting time between the No. 3 – 5 positions throughout the season. Milner also played in doubles and captured five wins from the No. 2 and 3 doubles spot.

Her sophomore year was cut short due to COVID-19, but she managed to accumulate five wins from the No. 2 and 3 singles position, and was teamed up with Nicole Clarke as the No. 1 doubles pairing. The duo combined for a 9-1 record, including a fourmatch win streak before the season ended. She and Clarke were tabbed league Doubles Team of the Week on January 28.

At Stetson, older sister Brooke enjoyed a strong first season with the Hatters, ranking second on the team in singles wins (13) and leading the team with nine doubles victories. As a sophomore, Brooke was named a ASUN Second Team AllConference selection and led the team with a 14-6 record at No. 3 singles. She was off to hot start in her final season earning eight dual match singles victories early in the season, but COVID-19 ended the season early.

The MKE Communications staff caught up with Nikki for a Q&A to learn more about her tennis family.

// MILNER Q&A Q: Let’s get the basics down. Why tennis and how long have you been playing? A: I first started playing when I was around 5 years old, so for pretty much 15 years. As for why, for me, I not only like tennis because of its competitive nature, I like it because of all the other things it brings like long-lasting friendships, traveling around the world, and getting the opportunity to play college tennis.

Q: What is your favorite tennis memory? A: I have a couple of favorite memories, but the first one would have to be my very first tennis tournament. I was too young to play singles so I just played in the doubles event with my sister against these two older boys. I remember being so nervous but so excited at the same time. My second favorite memory was the first time I clinched a college match against Northern Kentucky in my freshman year.

Q: What is it like having a sister who also plays? A: It was great to always have my sister Brooke alongside me throughout my years of playing. I always had her to practice with and to rely on for advice on absolutely anything. My sister is also a great source of motivation for me because whenever I saw her doing something I always wanted to join in.

Q: Do you talk to each other about your matches? A: When we were younger, my sister and I didn’t really talk about our matches or tennis that much, but because we are now both at different colleges and can’t see each other play, we like to talk about how some of our matches and try to learn from each other’s experiences.

Q: How has having an older sister who also plays the same sport you do, helped shape you and your tennis career? A: Having an older sister playing tennis has significantly helped shape my tennis career. I always had her to look up to and continually motivate me and push me to be my best. At first, I was a little hesitant to even go to college, but because she went before me and told me what it was like, she encouraged and helped me to make the decision to commit to going!

Q: Tennis seems to be a family affair at the Milner’s. What was it like growing up in the Milner household? A: Growing up I lived in the Northern Territory and there weren’t many players or tournaments up there, so we did a bit of traveling between states for tournaments. Once I was a little older, my family decided to move to South Australia, so we didn’t have to travel all the time, and there were lots of good players to hit with there. The tournaments I played in were mainly competitions between players in my state, but once a year I used to play in nationals where I could play everyone around the country. I almost always traveled and played the same tournaments as my sister. We sometimes even played each other! Once I was old enough to play international tournaments, my family and I travelled to Hong Kong to play in my first-ever International Tennis Federation (ITF). Q: I have to ask, are there any funny stories of you and your sister growing up? A: A funny story about my sister and I was that we used to play doubles together a lot, and sometimes we would argue during matches. One time we were arguing during a match so much we just stopped talking for the entire match and we still ended up winning! Q: Any fun facts you want people to know about you and your family? A: : My family loves tennis so much, we named our old dog Roger (after Roger Federer) and my two current dogs are named Rafa (after Rafa Nadal) and Stan (after Stan

Wawrinka).