Category: Story

December 3, 2020

#LegendaryBTR- “One of the most difficult parts of my career was my confidence. I was too hard on myself and went through times where I would automatically lose matches. My ranking would drop because I put too much pressure on myself. I wish I could have handled those times better.  As a child, I was very shy. I sat in the back row at school. I had a modest personality. When I went on tour, I became more social because I had no choice. On the court, I was alone and off the court, I had to gain confidence speaking English. That helped me get to where I am today.  The tour is very different now. If you are a top player, you have an entourage. You probably spend more time with your team than your competitors. If you get wild cards into big tournaments and play well, you quickly break into the Top 100. Other guys have a longer path to the top. They start with lower-level events and gain confidence in themselves. These players become friends because they only have each other, they can’t afford to travel with their coaches.  After my professional career, I partnered with my friend (more…)

November 26, 2020

“I started playing tennis on a recreational level. At age 10, I decided to compete and become a professional. My dad was my coach but is new to the tennis world since he was a soccer player. My dad surrounded us with other coaches who understood our philosophy, style and game. I never felt pressure from my dad to play sports or do anything in life. He gave me the green light to make my own decisions and introduced me to many different activities. I played baseball, soccer, volleyball and ran track.  However I loved tennis and once I realized there were Junior Grand Slams, I set a goal to win one. Last year, I reached the Junior Australian Open final and was disappointed to lose. A few months later, I won the Junior French Open and became the first Canadian player in seven years to capture a Junior Grand Slam. This year, I started playing on the WTA Tour.  It is difficult to balance tennis, school, and friends. When I started playing tennis, I was in regular school. I had friends and teachers who supported me but I constantly traveled to compete. I missed moments in my friends’ lives so it (more…)

November 19, 2020

“I grew up in a small town in southern Brazil. At age 5, my dad taught me to play tennis. He tried to play on tour. He played challengers and the qualifying draw at the French Open. He coached me until age 14 when we moved to Rio de Janeiro. In Rio, I worked with a local coach for three years. In 2018, I won the US Open Junior title and started working with the former Brazilian Davis Cup captain who is still my coach today. I have a secret passion for Harry Potter. I have Harry Potter tattoos on my body. I have the Golden Snitch, Hermione’s eyes, the Forbidden Forest, and Hedwig’s head. I started watching the movies when I was 14. Harry Potter taught me to surround yourself with people you love and trust. In 2015, I realized that tennis is what I wanted to do with my life. The tennis court was the only place where I could drown out all of the world’s problems. That same year, my parents decided they didn’t want me to play tennis anymore. My mother wanted me to go to medical school and become a doctor like everyone else in (more…)

November 12, 2020

“In 2014, tennis changed my life. I played in my first Grand Slam final at the French Open. No one in Romania had reached a Grand Slam final since 1978. Emotions exploded and everyone had high hopes for my future. They started to believe I could win a Grand Slam. I became popular overnight. People recognized me on the streets and asked for pictures and autographs. This was a big change and was tough to manage but I learned many things during this time. I tried to enjoy the attention but it was stressful because it took a lot of energy. I did not want to lose focus on my career. I tried to find a balance. I was generous and open with fans but stayed focused on the hard work needed to earn results on court. At first, I felt I had to show the world I could keep winning. This feeling motivated me to improve every day but was always in my mind. Over the past few years, I have improved in the way I deal with both negative and positive aspects of pressure. I embrace pressure after a big win. I face the pressure and try not (more…)

November 5, 2020

“My father passed away April of 2019. In 2018, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I found out the day I got home from the Australian Open. Chemotherapy is one of the worst things you can see somebody go through. It is almost worse than the disease itself, especially with pancreatic cancer because the survival rate is so low. You have to decide if you want to go through treatment or just live as well as possible for as long as you have to live. You face this situation only in your wildest dreams. I am an only child and my father and I had a great relationship. I was never forced into tennis. It was always my choice. Until age 12, my dad and I played tennis together. He would come home every day from work and we would go out to the local high school courts and play. My tennis had a special place in his heart and when the sport became my career, my dad was proud. Our father-son activity turned into my job which is pretty rare. After he was diagnosed with cancer, tennis did not matter as much. I won my first Grand Slam title (more…)

October 29, 2020

“In 2009, I turned professional and gave up a scholarship to play at Vanderbilt. I was ranked around 220 when I had a family friend offer to support me and my coach until I could support myself. (He changed my life forever!) Out of everyone in my family, I was the one who doubted whether I was going to succeed on tour. My dad was a marine, a secret service agent and an FBI private investigator. He has a strong personality and is extremely disciplined and tough. I started playing tennis when I was three. My dad would take me out every single day. At first, he had me play without a net in front of our house. As I got older and transitioned to the real court, that is when he really forced me to put in the hours- kind of against my will. Competing was the one thing that held my interest to the sport because I liked to battle and win from a young age. Honestly, I owe everything to my dad. If it weren’t for him, there is no chance I would be where I am today. My mom has a sweet and simple personality and (more…)

October 22, 2020

“I am only 19 years old so nothing special has happened in my life. Growing up, I played tennis because I had a lot of energy as a kid. Tennis was a chance for me to be alone on the court and make my own decisions. I loved winning and was good at it. But I did not fall in love with tennis right away because I did not know how much it could bring to my life. At age 15, I played my first junior Grand Slam, the French Open. This was the first time I wanted to be a professional tennis player. I always knew I had potential. I was the top-ranked player in Poland but didn’t know if I was mentally or physically ready to play professionally. We do not have many players in my country so I was not around experienced players who could teach me how to make it on tour. I had to find my own way. I am not good at dealing with injuries. At age 16, I had surgery. I did not have a good relationship with pain and was not sure if I would overcome this obstacle. Two years later, I (more…)

October 15, 2020

“I grew up with my parents and three older sisters in Corsica, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea. At age 10, life put me on my knees when one of my sisters was diagnosed with cancer. For two years, I watched her fight for her life. When she lost her hair she was crying and hugging me and I felt powerless. After a long and hard fight, she beat cancer and made me promise to never give up. At age 12, I left home to train. I struggled with tennis because I was alone and my parents were getting divorced. Finally, I found my rhythm but then I experienced the deepest pain of my life. At age 14, my oldest sister passed away in a car accident at 28 years old. I felt like someone took my heart from my chest and I couldn’t handle the pain. My sister was a lawyer and my role model and she left me without a landmark. I became a totally different person, fighting my pain in darkness and solitude. I was seen as an outsider in the French Federation. I was alone and struggled to make friends. I watched my family fall (more…)

October 8, 2020

“I am a professional tennis player and a student-athlete at the University of Oklahoma. This May, I completed my undergraduate studies and entered graduate school at the University of Oklahoma. During summer break, I came back home to Ukraine. During practices I would rapidly feel fatigued. My heart rate was unusually quick while my recovery time was extremely slow. At first I thought I had lost my physical conditioning given the fact we all were stuck at home during quarantine. After finishing one of the workouts, my heart rate did not drop below 120 beats for an hour. I thought this was related to the harsh weather conditions that day – it was very hot and humid. A week after that, on August 8th, I got sick. I had symptoms such as headaches, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss (12lbs) and fever that could go up to 103 degrees. After long examination and countless tests I was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome with Myelofibrosis. My doctor said that Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) is needed to cure these diseases. At the moment I am at the stage when I can immediately undergo BMT without remission chemotherapy. We need this (more…)

October 1, 2020

#LegendaryBTR- “When I learned to play tennis in Puerto Rico, girls didn’t play sports so earning a living in tennis was not a possibility. I was raised to get married and have children but my older brothers played tennis and I wanted to be like them. When I started tennis, coaches would not teach me topspin because they thought girls were too weak. But that didn’t matter because there was no competition in Puerto Rico so I could still win playing with slice. Since the Puerto Rico Tennis Association was part of the USTA, I could play Summer Nationals where I was discovered by college coaches. I was recruited to play for Clemson University, where for the first time in my life I had to play tennis every day. The improvement was tremendous and  I reached the finals of the 1983 NCAA tournament as a freshman. I turned professional that year. But I was at a disadvantage on tour because I had to learn how to hit topspin like everyone else. As a junior, I rarely lost but as a professional I lost every week, sometimes even twice per week. I hated traveling. I was homesick and could not even afford (more…)