"It was in the middle of practice on December 8," Cooper remembers. "I was just bending over and I felt my back snap, and that was it."

Thus began the most unpleasant part of Cooper's time at Harvard. For over a year, her freak back injury made tennis impossible, exercise difficult and sitting painful.

"It was a lot worse than my shoulder," Cooper says. "With my shoulder I could do other things, but with my back I could do nothing. Absolutely nothing."

After an excruciatingly long junior year without tennis--when she says she began thinking of herself as a non-athlete--Cooper experienced a breakthrough.

In a surprise to everyone, her back condition improved dramatically the summer before her senior year. By the fall she was playing tennis once a week, and in the spring, Cooper returned to the team. She played in the third singles position for most of the year.

After some early season struggles, Cooper eventually hit her stride and won six out of her seven Ivy matches down the stretch--a crucial contribution to the team's league championship. "I had to have a new mindset," she says. "I couldn't measure myself against my old standards."

Her college tennis career was short, but satisfying. "It has been like a fairy tale for me. To come back after not playing," Cooper says. "After thinking I was never going to play tennis again, for the team to have such a great season and for me to have such a great season was unbelievable."

Now that she has finally recovered from her injuries, Cooper is unabashedly proud of her accomplishments.

"My personality is definitely that of a fighter," Cooper says, "A lot of people have never had to deal with the stuff that I've had to."