Madeleine Coles
Staff Writer
Sebastian and William Edin are twin brothers from Sweden who recently transferred to ISU to play tennis. The brothers have been playing tennis for virtually their whole lives, and began taking tennis classes when they were six-years-old.
The Edin twins transferred to ISU from Young Harris College, a small college in Georgia. The twins saw potential in ISU and wanted to see something bigger. “We’re excited to see the opportunity here,” Sebastian said. “We got a good offer here. The coaching staff seemed cool and the teammates seemed great, so we just decided to come,” added William.
The brothers both play singles, however their doubles play is where they see the best and the worst sides of each other, as they both agreed there are advantages and disadvantages to playing doubles together.
“We know each other’s moves,” Sebastian said. “But it’s also sometimes hard to play with your brother because it’s easier to get upset.” He added that when he plays with a stranger there are some boundaries, but when he plays with his brother it can be frustrating.
“We are getting better at it, but often before we started to argue on the court,” William said. “But I definitely prefer playing with my brother more than anyone else.”
According to the twins, playing doubles is somewhat new territory.
“When you play junior, you don’t play a lot of doubles,” William said. “It was more when we came to college that doubles was equally important.” “Singles has always been the main focus,” Sebastian added.
The brothers moved to the U.S. to go to college straight after high school because it is easier for them to pursue a degree while still playing competitive tennis.
“It was basically a decision of either we go to the states and combine studies, or we go pro,” Sebastian said. “There was no way we could keep studying and play tennis if we would have stayed in Sweden.”
William added that going stateside for school was also a chance to experience the opportunities of playing tennis in another country.
The twins said that tennis in Sweden is not so different from tennis in America. According to them, the popularity levels of the sport are fairly equal in both countries. “It’s not small, but it’s not the major sport people play,” William said.
The twins are discovering that there are many cultural differences between America and Sweden.
“We were in the South in the beginning and there’s a lot of different values and morals that differ from Sweden. And coming here it’s a lot different from the South,” William said, adding that people are much more social in America compared to Sweden.
They said adjusting to life in America was not too difficult though, as Sweden is Americanized.
“We’re exposed to American TV shows all the time, so we kind of knew what to expect,” Sebastian said.
Despite the cultural adjustment, the twins are excited to be at ISU and to be playing tennis for the Bengals.
