Back in 2007, a surging Elizabeth Plotkin was finally finding her place in head coach Jamie Ashworth’s lineup. After struggling throughout a freshman year that she described in hindsight as “awful,” Plotkin exploded onto the scene as a sophomore and racked up 15 singles wins for Duke in the fall, losing only twice.
“She made a decision after her freshman year that she was going to be much improved on and off the court,” Ashworth said.
She was improving with every match and practice and was developing a champion’s mindset—no one could touch her. Plotkin carried the momentum into the spring of her sophomore year and won five straight singles matches leading up to a visit from then-No. 1 Northwestern in February 2008. The marquee contest in Durham was expected to be Duke’s toughest test of the year, and provided an opportunity for Plotkin to splash onto the national scene.
“I was at the top, and felt nothing could be better,” Plotkin said.
Then recognized as the No. 38 player in the country, Plotkin led No. 42 Lauren Lui 5-4 in the first set in a match that Duke needed to win, having already surrendered the doubles point to the Wildcats.
And all of a sudden, with a tiny pop in her left knee, Plotkin was back at square one.
“I was running out wide for a forehand, and I kind of messed up my footwork a little bit,” Plotkin said. “But I hit the shot, and I could hear this pop, and there was all this terrible pain.”
Plotkin, who was reduced to tears on the court, could not imagine what had gone wrong inside her knee. She attempted to play a few more points after gathering herself but was forced to retire.
Duke’s most reliable player was soon diagnosed with a torn left ACL and was told she faced a lengthy recovery period. Although a torn ligament is a common tennis injury, Ashworth had never before seen one of his own suffer a torn ACL, but knew that his star sophomore still was an integral part of his team’s success.
“I told her that I understood she was in a tough situation, but we needed her to keep being a leader on the team, and she was a presence every day on the court, whether it was at practice or matches,” Ashworth said.
Reduced to cheerleading duty on the court, Plotkin began a strenuous recovery process in the hopes of playing in the coming fall season. Following surgery to repair the damaged ligament, Plotkin’s leg was placed in a brace for six weeks, and by the time she was able to begin a weight training regiment, her muscles had severely atrophied.
“There was a huge size difference between my right and left leg,” Plotkin said. “I basically just had to rebuild all the muscle.”
The injury served as potent motivation for Plotkin, who blamed herself for not being physically prepared to execute the shots she needed to.
“That injury happened for a reason,” Plotkin said. “It happened because something was wrong with my body. I wasn’t taking care of myself like I was supposed to…. I wasn’t strong.”
After a relatively quick recovery of about seven months—elite professional athletes typically need at least six months to rehabilitate from a torn ACL, but many miss entire years with the injury—Plotkin was slated to be a big factor in what would turn out to be Duke’s national championship season. In a tournament in late September 2008, however, Plotkin heard another pop in her knee—this time from a torn meniscus.
“I didn’t think it was serious at first, but then I found out my meniscus was torn,” Plotkin said. “I just wish I would have given myself more time to recover before coming back.”
The Blue Devils were able to persevere through Plotkin’s injury, which would sideline her for the entirety of the 2008-09 season, and behind the play of Mallory Cecil, captured the 2009 national championship. Plotkin was still with her team throughout the year, and according to Ashworth, the wounded junior’s game benefitted from the sidelined perspective.
“She was able to see a lot of things off the court that, if you’re playing every day and not watching yourself, you can’t understand,” Ashworth said.
Finally back to 100 percent health as a senior, Plotkin has been Duke’s most consistent singles and doubles player. When teamed with fellow senior Reka Zsilinszka, Plotkin has gone 12-3 in doubles matches this year—a big reason why Duke has won the majority of the doubles points in its dual matches.
As an individual playing near the top of Duke’s rotation, she has gone 12-1 in duals and has climbed to No. 64 in the country after beginning the season unranked. For Plotkin, her resurgent return to the court has been a dream come true.
“I’ve learned to take it one match at a time and one shot at a time,” Plotkin said. “Words can’t describe how amazing it is to play again.”
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