To further her prospects at a professional career, Olmos decided to play for USC, where she learned what it was like to be a part of a team—beneficial for the doubles career she’d go to on have. She credits a lot of her growth to her time as a Trojan.
“I always told my [USC] coaches I wanted to be a pro after college, and I remember my coaches saying, ‘If you want to be a pro, you need to start practicing now—here at school, today.”
USC gave Olmos the necessary match experience and fundamentals, but more importantly, she was surrounded by supportive coaches to help further develop self-confidence, and seamlessly transition her into her professional career.
“Being able to represent USC and Mexico are probably my proudest accomplishments,” Olmos says.
Fitting enough, at the time of our interview, Olmos was playing in Guadalajara for its WTA 1000.
“Whenever I enter the stadium, I’m obviously playing for myself and Mexico because my jersey says Mexico next to my name, but when I see how full the stadium is and all the people that are there, it really hits me,” Olmos says. “I’m playing for every single person in that stadium.”
In 2019, WTA named Olmos as an “Agent of Change” for being a positive example for youth, and in 2020, Forbes Mexico named her as one of the nation’s Top 100 Influential Women.
These accolades do not relate to wins or losses. They are measures of inspiration beyond the tennis court.
“I was like, ‘Do I really belong on that list?’” Olmos says, laughing in astonishment. “It was such a big honor and just a motivation to keep doing what I’m doing. It wasn’t even a list that I thought I could make in my life or a goal I even had.
“I’ve always just tried to stay authentic. My biggest goals or priorities is to grow the sport to have more equality and inspire younger girls. I think it is part of my job to give back and be a good role model. I always take that very seriously. If I can do that just through just being myself or through my sport, I think that’s really important. Whether or not I still play tennis, I will always try to do that.”