University of Georgia Athletics
Lopata Has Achieved Plenty At UGA
May 07, 2026 | Women's Tennis, The Frierson Files
Staff Writer
Anastasiia Lopata arrived at Georgia for her official visit as a talented, quiet tennis player from Ukraine.
"She's come a long way," Georgia head coach Drake Bernstein said this week, ahead of the top-seeded Bulldogs' NCAA round of 16 match against UCLA on Friday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
"We were chatting recently about her visit back four years ago. I remember picking her up and riding to the airport — not too talkative at the time, but you always got the sense that there was something special there. And it's just been one of the most fun rides. To see it continue to play out time and time again, and to see who she's become today, it's been a lot of fun."
Four years after that visit, as the senior heads into the final stretch of her Bulldog career, she's still quiet, still talented, and she has been a critical part of Georgia's multiple championships over the past few seasons. She's helped the Bulldogs win two ITA National Team Indoor Championships titles, an SEC regular-season title, three SEC tournament titles, and last spring's NCAA championship.
It has been a career of quiet consistency, one with an 83-29 singles record, a record of 50-30 in doubles, and all of those championships.
"I have had a lot of fun and a lot of cool experiences," said Lopata, from Kyiv, Ukraine. "I'm just happy that we're still playing in the (NCAA) tournament and we still have a chance to compete.
"My four years went by pretty quick, but at the same time, when I look back to my freshman-year self, it's a pretty big difference. It's, I would say, a little unrecognizable."
When Lopata got to Georgia, she spoke English but with nowhere near the confidence that she does now. She's gotten used to life in Athens, life on a college campus and college team, and she's grown in every aspect of her life, she said.
"There has definitely been a lot of personal development, and we have great player development," she said. "If someone told me when I was coming here what I would do and what would happen to me, I would be like, That would be very cool. I would be very surprised."
"I think that she's learned a lot about herself and her strengths throughout college," Bernstein said. "I think she's more in touch with what she has to offer, not just herself and her own little world, but what she has to offer to people. I think there's a lot of depth there."
Individually, Lopata's playing career has been quite the journey, as well. As a freshman, she played mostly at the No. 4 spot in singles, made the SEC All-Freshman Team, and was voted the ITA Southeast Region Rookie of the Year. As a sophomore, she again played at No. 4 and was a dominant 17-4 in dual-match play. She got into the NCAA singles tournament as the ninth alternate and made the most of her shot, making a surprising run all the way to the finals.
Last season, Lopata played at No. 2 and was even more dominant, going 14-1 in completed dual matches and finishing the year 10-0 against ranked opponents. She was first-team All-SEC, made the NCAA All-Tournament Team, and ended the year ranked No. 13 in the country.
After longtime No. 1 player Dasha Vidmanova, the 2025 NCAA singles champion, graduated following the 2025 season, Georgia had an opening at the No. 1 spot. Lopata and junior Aysegul Mert took turns playing Nos. 1 and 2 early in the season before Lopata took over the top spot in mid-March.
Playing No. 1 means facing the top player on each opponent's squad, and in the SEC, that means facing many of the best players in the country. Lopata is 8-5 at No. 1 in dual matches — she was 2-1 at No. 2 — and she is currently ranked No. 19 in the country. Mert has also had an excellent season, going 8-3 at No. 2, and is ranked No. 7.
"She has always been so open to challenge, so open to growth," Bernstein said. "For me, to have a front-row seat to it all, it's been one of the more fun coaching projects in a while."
In doubles, Lopata and freshman Patricija Paukstyte are 13-7 in dual-match play this season, going 6-4 at No. 1, where they've played since mid-March, and 7-3 at No. 2.
Lopata heads into Friday's match playing some of her best tennis of the season. She's won four of her last five completed matches, including a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing of Charlotte's Ni Xi last Sunday in Georgia's 4-0 second-round win over the 49ers. Lopata has always had excellent quickness and played great defense, but it's the offensive part of her game that's improved the most during her Georgia career, she said.
"When I came here, I was just making a lot of balls, which I still do, but I also learned to be a bit more offensive and like punch the opponents in some ways, as well," Lopata said. "Everything has gotten better because of the amount of quality matches that I had here."
Lopata is graduating this week with a Finance degree, and she will remain in Athens to attend graduate school and intern in the business office of the UGA Athletic Association. She's come a long way from the young woman who started a new chapter in her life with the Georgia women's tennis program, and she's grateful for everything she's experienced.
"When I started playing tennis, I didn't think I was even going to play tournaments. I just played for fun, and then my parents started putting me in tournaments. I didn't have any big plans, I was just doing something that I liked," she said. "And then all of this happened from it. Tennis has brought me a lot of things, which I'm very grateful for."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
