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LAKE NONA, Fla. - It could have been a quintessential portrait of America, the kind major brands try to artificially create for advertisements.

Three teenage girls eating pizza and sharing laughs as they escaped the summer heat. One was white, one was black and one was Chilean.

Sophia Edwards (Left) and Amber Fuller Shake Hands
© Manuela Davies/USTA

But instead of a forced gathering of diversity, this one occurred organically.

Sophia Edwards, Amber Fuller and Paula Cerda had met only a few hours earlier at the USTA All-American College Combine. They were placed in the same group during the fitness testing portion of the event.

They became fast friends, and spent the rest of the day at the USTA National Campus hanging out and learning more about each other.

“I think that is such a great thing about tennis and what makes it special. It brings people together from so many parts of the country and internationally,” said Edwards, a rising blue chip junior from Nokomis, Florida. “I probably would never have met two great people like them without tennis.”