How BYU tennis player Cara Korhonen balances school, sports
By Gracie Belle Richards,
September 18, 2026
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BYU’s women’s tennis team will start their fall schedule on Sept. 24 at the USTA SoCal Championships in San Diego, California, and this year the team has a new addition, Cara Korhonen.Cara, a 20-year-old star, came to BYU at the very end of April, but before she entered the state of mountains and dirty soda, she had a lot of experiences that have shaped her. Korhonen was born in Finland and moved to Australia when she was 2."I officially started playing tennis when I was four,” Korhonen said.Growing up, Cara played many sports, but around the age of 12, she knew she wanted to go professional in one of them.“I had to figure out which sport would suit me best, and it was between swimming, golf, and tennis. I would say I was the worst at tennis out of the three,” Korhonen said. “I just loved it the most, I was dedicated, and that's the one I decided to continue playing in the end.”
Photo by BYU Photo
As Cara began her tennis journey, she expressed the value of her education. Coming from a Finnish background, she was always taught the importance of school.“Both of my parents are from Finland, so I’ve always had that push to do well academically,” Korhonen said. “Finland is notoriously known to have a pretty good education.”Cara lived in Sydney, Australia, at the start of her high school career. High school begins at year seven there, and although there were a lot of girls playing tennis at the school she was attending, she and her parents felt it wasn’t the best environment. The family made the decision to move to the Gold Coast.“The Gold Coast is where I went to high school. It was pretty much purely academic, so everyone who played a sport stopped playing when they got there because it was just too academically vigorous for them,” Korhonen said.Tennis was too important for Korhonen to give up on. Instead, she figured out a way to make both academics and sports work hand in hand.“When I'm playing tennis, I take a break by studying, and when I’m studying, I take a break by playing tennis,” Korhonen said.After making the move from Sydney to the Gold Coast at the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 lockdown followed shortly after.“There were massive lockdowns for six months, but I was in a really good position where my coach had access to some courts which weren’t closed, so I was lucky to be able to train during that time,” Korhonen said.She graduated from high school in November of 2023. She then had six months until she was starting her education at the University of Southern Queensland, so during that time, she continued to play tennis, as well as travel overseas to compete.“I was in Asia most of the time playing lots of ITF and UTR tournaments, which I think was a really good opportunity,” Korhonen said.She got her bachelor's degree in Psychology online in just 17 months. As she attended her classes online, she worked hard in tennis and maintained competing.“The biggest reason why I chose to go online was so I could continue training,” Korhonen said. “In the U.S., there is a good system where you can play tennis and study at the same time, but in Australia, we don’t really have those opportunities.”Korhonen spent a majority of her time training in Thailand as she got her degree. It was just her and a coach training hard for around eight months. She valued that time and used it to develop her skills and play some tournaments from time to time.In addition, her mother has been with her traveling, practicing, and competing.“My mom has basically been my coach. She is on the court with me, and so it's pretty much been us working on it all,” Korhonen said.
Photo by BYU Photo
Korhonen has now been with the team since April 2026. Growing up playing singles and competing by herself, the team has been a great change for her.“I have honestly been blessed with such an amazing team, from all the girls to coaches, everyone is just amazing. I think we have a really good dynamic,” Korhonen said.She explained how tennis is traditionally a very lonely sport. Most tennis players train alone and compete by playing singles, so the addition of a team has brought unifying and positive aspects to her.“If you come to training and you’re in a bad mood, instantly when you see the girls out there, you know they are supporting you and you really just feel cared for,” Korhonen said.Not only is Korhonen playing for the women's tennis team, but she is continuing her education by pursuing a master's degree in nutritional science. Her strength in academics continues to match her power on the court.“Sometimes I’ll wake up at 4:30 in the morning, and I will start studying. I feel that is when I am most productive,” Korhonen said.Although Utah is quite a change from the warm Gold Coast in Australia, Cara is adjusting just fine and is loving the people she is surrounded by each and every day.“I can’t even describe how much I really like it here. It is just so pretty, and everyone is so nice,” said Korhonen. “The only thing I would say which is weird to me, I never thought I’d say this, but I miss the Australian accent.”
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byu women's tennis
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