Raquel Wagner

Raquel Wagner started “messing around” on the tennis court with her grandfather when she was four. 

Now, she is 12 and considered one of the best girl tennis players for her age in a five-state area. 

She practices from 1 1/2 to 3 hours Monday through Thursday and competes in tournaments most weekends. 

But, she still has time to earn a straight-A average. She’s a seventh grade at Visitation Academy. She also is an avid reader with a home library of over 2,000 children’s books. 

In school, her favorite class is science. “I like to learn about the solar system and how the earth was formed,” she said.

When asked about her tennis, she said, “I like the challenge. It’s fun to play.”

She also enjoys the practices. That’s even when practice include extra running, skipping rope and other exercises. 

She likes the running well enough that she wanted to be on the track team at school. “But, I couldn’t fit in the track practices with my tennis practice,” she said. 

This year, all the practice has paid off in some big meet wins. In January, she won a Super I tournament in St. Louis. She won twice in February. One was a Super II meet in Oklahoma City. The other, a Sweet 16 meet in St. Louis. 

All were major Missouri Valley tournaments. The St. Louis’ region includes Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. 

Craig Sandvig in one of the owners of the Sunset Tennis Center in South County. He said, “Raquel is one of the two best players for her age in our five-state region,” he said. 

Raquel also is starting to compete in national meets. Early in May, she played in a national meet in Columbus, Ohio. She won two of her matches and lost two others. 

Early this spring, Raquel attended a one-week session at a tennis academy run by John Newcombe. He is a former pro player from Australia.

This gave her a look at a more intensive type of tennis. There, she competed against youngsters who live full-time at the academy. They go to school in the morning and practice every afternoon.

But, her tennis situation in St. Louis is almost ideal. Her grandfather, Bob Quevreaux, is one of the owners of the Sunset Tennis Center. He started her on tennis at an early age. 

She gets plenty of court-time and practices against boys and girls. Some of them are older. 

She said she needs to improve her game. “My serve isn’t strong,” she said. She wants to develop more top-spin and also more consistency. On ground strokes, she uses a one-hand forehand and a two-hand backhand. 

Raquel said she’d like to be a pro tennis player. Or, she said she’d also like to be an author. 

She says her favorite books are either mysteries or fantasies. “I love the Harry Potter books,” she said. 

Raquel is the daughter of Tony Wagner and Aimee Quevreaux. The family lives in Brentwood.