Category: Story

March 23, 2020

March 23, 2020 “When I was 12, I had to make a decision between tennis and figure skating; I decided to go with tennis. It was my choice, not my parents. It’s not as easy as people may think, it’s so freaking hard. It’s not always beautiful hotels or traveling to nice places. I was 16 and number one in the world in juniors. Within a year, I was #56 in WTA rankings and then everything went down. I went through tough times when I was 20. I was 20 years old when I got married. I was so in love. We only knew each other three months before marriage. We were together eight years before divorce. We both knew we were very young when it all started, but it was what we truly wanted. I was one of the few 20 year olds who rather have kids than travel and see players. I wanted to end my career and didn’t want to continue playing. I didn’t want to do it any longer. I couldn’t take traveling to different hotels every week and not remembering my room number. I was winning so often as a junior, and then it just (more…)

March 21, 2020

March 21, 2020 “There was always a little bit of a fight between my father and my mother. My mother wanted me to study more, which is why I was in school while playing tennis until I was 18. In Russia most professional athletes are done studying around 12 years old. It might have been the reason I wasn’t as good as my friends for some time, but I have no regrets. There were many tough times before the help from the federation and sponsors, when there wasn’t enough money. There were matches where I lost and all I was thinking about was the extra 100 dollars I could’ve made. The toughest period for me was the switch from juniors to pros. I ended at 13 in the world in junior tennis. I started to quickly understand, after playing futures, just how difficult it would be to get from 700 to 300 in the world. You needed to save as much money as possible while trying to win five or six futures as quickly as possible. At the time I was lost, didn’t know how to do that because there were so many other players trying to do the same (more…)

March 19, 2020

March 19, 2020 “I was studying forensic psychology at the time. I set goals of where I wanted to be after a year and if I didn’t move in that direction I was thinking of putting up the racquets. It gave me the option if things weren’t making me happy. After the first year of studying, it becomes more of a workload, so I had to make the choice of whether I would stick with studying or tennis. It was my father who originally told me to study and have a backup, not to be so close-minded. It helped me play much better at the time. It may not have been the best preparation to study at 2 am before matches but it took my mind off the pressure, made me feel relaxed on the court. As much as we all complain about tennis, I think everyone’s going to miss the feeling and emotions that come with being on court. It’s quite hard to replicate but it’s something that we don’t really talk about. It’s sad that girls don’t feel comfortable opening up. They feel that if they open up to one person it will get around to everyone in (more…)

March 8, 2020

March 8, 2020 “It’s a miracle that I’m holding a racquet. When I was 6 years old, my dad introduced me to the sport and I quickly fell in love with the game. Soon tennis turned into a way to escape my reality. I was constantly bullied at school and I developed terrible anxiety and depression. I tried to raise my low self-esteem by being the best at everything, including tennis. My need for perfection turned into insanity. I told myself that I had to be the #1 professional player in the world, or else I was a failure. My talent was noticed by many coaches and I was recruited to join a top tennis academy. Physically I was good, but my opportunities were ruined as I mentally self-destructed, resulting in an eating disorder when I was 13. I continued to play tennis, but any dreams of playing competitively shrank with every pound I lost. I hid behind a fake smile hoping no one would know my secret struggles, but that didn’t last long. I was forced to leave my freshman year of college due to the severity of my anorexia. My weight fell to 56 pounds and my parents (more…)

March 6, 2020

March 6, 2020 “ I still remember my first ever lesson, I was wearing a boy’s outfit because we couldn’t find anything else that looked like a tennis outfit. I went into my first lesson the coach told me to warm up by doing laps around the court. I refused to do it, “There’s no point because I’m not racing against anyone, I’m not just going to run for the sake of it.” I was about six and a half years old, useless unable to even catch a ball. I was a good visual learner and I eventually picked it up quickly. I remember when I used to go back home to Russia when I was younger and I’d always hit balls against the wall. The neighbors didn’t love it but they just had to deal with it. I moved to Australia end of 2013, when I was 18. I got my residency soon after and my passport citizenship after that. I started to officially begin playing for Australia in 2016. When I first moved to Australia, I had a busted knee, just after having torn my ACL. The first thing I did when I got to Australia was to (more…)

February 23, 2020

February 23, 2020 “You get used to it once it becomes a habit. For me, I enjoyed discovering another side of myself, another personality. I like understanding more about the world, in order to share with others. I don’t think many people would think I would be where I am now, but my PhD in Sports Science has opened up new opportunities. Injuries are never easy to deal with, as it takes away from your tennis, but it gave me a chance to study. Many tennis players don’t ever have a chance to see the other side because of people around them. There is always an idea that school is something you can come back to if your tennis career doesn’t work out. They feel that if you just stay focused on only tennis that’s the way to succeed, but it’s not always true. With my education I have interacted with so many different people, on different levels, in so many different fields, that I would never have had without it. Through my education it has allowed me to believe in myself more than ever. I can only picture myself playing another four or five years on tour. It may (more…)

February 21, 2020

February 21, 2020 “I grew up playing in a very small town in Germany called Warstein. It was very tough to find partners for training sessions, which is why we could never really schedule anything. My mom would pick me up from school with packed lunch so I was prepared for practice. She then brought me to the bus stop, which was about a 30 minute ride to the train station. The train ride was about 45 minutes which was where I used to do my homework. After practice and my return home, it would be about nine at night. At that age it was very long days. I always had this dream of becoming a professional tennis player. It helped that I had two parents who coached close to home. I remember when I was young waking up at 5:30 in the morning to watch the Australian Open for a few hours right before school. There were definitely times when I was late for school because I wouldn’t stop watching. I would then rush home after school to catch the night session. It didn’t matter how good I was, I always had the desire to be where those players (more…)

January 26, 2020

January 26, 2020 “My family wasn’t into tennis and they didn’t give me the support I needed. The passion for the sport came from within when I found tennis courts near my house. My coach was like a father to me as he also helped raise me. I was fortunate enough to get the help needed from the Slovakian tennis federation. I was constantly putting pressure on myself that I wasn’t good enough and I was supposed to have the ranking that past champions had at my age. I had trouble playing challengers when my mind was only thinking about grand slams. I just never had the team around me I needed. It was sad to see the agency that signed me not trying to help with the development of me as a player, just worried about the money opportunities and wildcards. It was within the same year of getting my best ranking when doctors found out I had Lyme disease. I was devastated by the news. Doctors did say that I would be able to return after a few months off, but for some reason I felt that deep inside my career was over. I was mentally exhausted and (more…)

January 24, 2020

January 24, 2020 “Throughout my whole career I thought it was as simple as one plus one. If you put in hard work and don’t give up, you will be successful at some point. It’s not that easy though. I have always worked very hard to achieve my goals however for a long time fell short of my aspirations. I was a very ambitious kid and looking back probably needed someone to help me with the demands and challenges of professional sport. It would have been helpful if someone had tempered and guided my ambition and enthusiasm rather than allowing me to push myself to the limit. In my mid 20’s, at the end of 2012, I decided to quit the professional tour as it was a very unhappy time for me. I was burnt out and just felt the need to take a step back. I started to study psychology, which was always a passion of mine, and also started teaching tennis on a recreational level for fun. That gave me a completely different perspective of this sport. I was still playing tennis during this break, but it wasn’t for results, ranking points or achievements, which I’d been running (more…)