Illinois’ Former Top Doc is Top Dog on Tennis Court

Story courtesy of Victoria Chiesa/USTA

During the COVID-19 crisis, Dr. Ngozi Ezike guided Illinois residents through the COVID-19 pandemic as the state’s director of public health, a near-constant presence by Gov. J. B. Pritzker’s side during his daily media briefings. Ezike, a Harvard University graduate, board-certified internist and pediatrician – and the first Black woman to hold the IDPH top spot – is also an avid tennis player. In fact, in 2021, she became a USTA League national champion.

Ezike shared thoughts with the USTA on the pandemic and the benefits of tennis: “Obviously, we’ve gone through multiple evolutions of this journey… in the midst of this global pandemic that has thrown us curveball after curveball for the last 19 months. Tennis has served so many purposes. It’s given people an outlet to be able to stay healthy to try to battle all the COVID poundage. It’s been a mental release for me, something to look forward to after grueling days, working seven days a week: carving out two hours for that USTA match where you can just put the phone down, put the computer aside, and just hit that ball, smash the heck out of it.”

A volleyball player during her undergraduate years at Harvard who also played basketball and softball growing up outside of Los Angeles, Ezike first found tennis as a player in 2009 after the birth of her fourth child, returning to a sport that was nonetheless present in her youth.

Outside of USTA League competition, Ezike says she’s grateful that her professional and personal paths have converged through tennis: some of her earliest USTA League teammates were colleagues from her thenhospital, and her husband and children have all played the game at various levels. She says that those who’ve picked up tennis in the last year should stick with it, and that it can and should have a place in American society long after the pandemic’s effects subside.

“I think sports are just like this big metaphor for life. It’s funny that there are just so many parallels between what you have to endure in your tennis matches versus whatever it is that you’re doing in your work life. The exact same lessons completely apply,” she said. “Tennis allows us to do so many things. If you just want exercise, you can just play. If you want to do the competition that’s available, there are so many options for you… it absolutely is for everyone of any ability. You don’t have to have grown up with the tennis racquet. All of my kids have taken tennis lessons. Some of them have competed, but it’s something that we’re going to be doing into our late senior years for fun or for competition.”

“I think people who play tennis learn the important lesson that it’s not over until it’s over. I have definitely had those matches. I definitely remember a match where I was up 9-2 in the third-set match tiebreak, and we lost that match. I’ve also been spanked 6-0 in the first set and gone on to win the match. Just remembering that you have to go all the way, you have to fight all the way to that last point, that it’s never over and that you can always come back, it’s just such a great lesson for life.”

Photos by Cos Lymperopolous/USTA