Category: Story

Jason Collins

September 6, 2019

September 6, 2019 “As athletes, we’re trained since we are little to compete in all areas, but after my basketball playing days I wanted to compete in a more enjoyable way. One day, I was walking by these tennis courts and remember seeing this guy playing doubles; he looked like he was 80 years old. I was thinking to myself, that’s what I need, a sport where I can stay physically active for the rest of my life. If this 80 year old guy can play, I’m sure that I can get out there and not hurt my body. I went to Stanford with my twin brother Jarron, a year behind the Bryan twins, who we obviously became friends with— it’s a twin thing! I remember going to a match where they played in Los Angeles. My brother and I went and sat right behind Mike and Bob’s bench as we cheered them on. The Bryans were totally in game mode but that didn’t stop us from trying to get their attention. They kept ignoring us since they were so focused. I remember being that way too when I was playing basketball. It was very hard for someone in the (more…)

Coco & Breezy

September 3, 2019

September 3, 2019 “I think our end goal is building community. Through self-expression of producing music it becomes a universal language. If you think about it, you go to a party or any sporting event, it’s bringing people together. Through all the mediums in our life, we’re about building community and making it very inclusive for everyone. We want people to feel like they’re a part of something. Music and eyewear (Coco and Breezy Eyewear) are just a part of our lives and a part of our hearts that we get to share with the world. Sport has always been a part of us. We played basketball when we were younger and many Sundays we would watch football games with our father and rest of the family. I think sports for us, brought our family together. From a young age we were all for anything that brought people from different backgrounds together. It was really exciting to get the call to perform in Arthur Ashe Stadium. For me (Coco), tennis is life for my boyfriend. He grew up playing tennis and so it felt great that I got to be a part of something that my partner truly loves. He (more…)

Anastasia Potapova

September 1, 2019

September 1, 2019 “It’s a nonstop battle. When you begin playing Juniors, you’re starting from the bottom. I worked my way to the top which made me really happy but I immediately realized I had to start it all over again. As soon as your junior career ends you have to begin to do the same thing as a professional. It’s not easy coming in playing girls older and more experienced than me. Physically and mentally, to go from constant success to losing early every week is difficult. It doesn’t matter what I am doing, whether I’m playing tennis, in school or any other activity, I want them to go as planned, because I’m super competitive. I thankfully have an incredible team by my side that helped me. I’m also so stubborn. If I say yes to something I will do whatever it takes to get what I want. I never thought that I should be playing another sport. I just took my chance with tennis and worked everyday to achieve my dream. I never look forward, I always just live in the moment with what I have now. When I started playing pro tennis, reaching top 100 for even (more…)

Ekaterina Makarova

August 30, 2019

August 30, 2019 “I never think that I should be playing another sport but the long year of tennis is exhausting. Other sports have two-three months off to use as a break. I understand that other sports may push their players harder during the short seasons but there is no way they are put in the same amount of stressful situations as tennis players are. It’s tough to say because very few of us have played other sports at this level. Looking at the other side it might be extremely nerve-racking knowing you have to do well in a shorter amount of time rather than having the chance to play every week. We just don’t know, I can only speak about tennis. After the Olympics in 2016, all other sports went on holiday, to relax and recover, some for even over a year. Some girls from home, in synchronized swimming, rested for two years and then began preparing for the next Olympics. For the tennis players, it’s totally different since we had to fly to the US Open the next day. Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy. The travel is really one of the toughest parts of (more…)

Michael Kosta

August 26, 2019

August 26, 2019 “I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and my siblings and I would get on our bikes and ride down to the Ann Arbor Racquet Club to play tennis. It was always this big family event. I fell in love with the sport because it would always bring the people I loved together. Fast forward 20 years to this small island off the coast of South Korea, called Jeju Island. I was competing in a 10k Future. I’d been on the road maybe six or seven weeks and was just worn down. It wasn’t like I was winning every week. I was maybe making second round in singles with the occasional win/final in doubles. I was alone in this small fishing village where it was constantly raining. I managed to overcome loneliness and get to a point where I was playing well. I remember the moment when I felt the change. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why my confidence all of sudden improved, especially without a coach by my side. I’m playing on my own savings and a little bit of money I raised. I was up 5-1 serving in third and I can’t (more…)

Taro Daniel

August 20, 2019

August 20, 2019 “I definitely feel some true pressure. It’s mixed, mostly from myself, but also triggered a little bit by maybe some fans in Japan. I think I receive extra financial help or sponsors than most people around my ranking or even higher have. Sometimes I feel almost guilty for having them. You’d have players around my ranking struggling financially sometimes. I feel the pressure to keep on improving my ranking in order to maintain the status I have gained in Japan. Last year was basically the first year I made a satisfying amount of money. When I was younger I would think, ‘Hey, if I can make this much out of tennis a year, then I would be happy or satisfied and wouldn’t have to worry about money anymore. Then I can concentrate more on the process or improving’. When money or sponsors come into your life they bring new problems. There are unexpected problems that you’ve never dealt with, that I’ve had to deal with this year, that I’ve struggled with a bit more than anticipated. Last year was the first time I had ever gotten into some big TV shows in Japan and made a name (more…)

Petra Kvitova

August 18, 2019

August 18, 2019 “The story of my attack is unfortunately not great, but how I came back is what I want people to know. It was obviously not something I expected to deal with and made me feel empty inside for a while. The attacker took my love, tennis, away from me. I didn’t want to just come back, I wanted to come back and play at the highest level. It was like a challenge for me. Mentally, it helped having resounding support from everyone in my life and others I didn’t know. I had lots of messages and emails, I had fellow tennis players, even tournaments, who filmed videos wishing me a good recovery, which helped me get through everything. It was heart warming to see all the faces smiling as I made my way back to my first tournament. Some players didn’t know how to act towards me at first, but there was a feeling of comfort to see all of them again. I truly missed the competition of being on the court. As a tennis player you have to deal with many tough aspects such as being on the road for long periods, the ups and downs (more…)

Timea Babos

August 15, 2019

August 15, 2019 “It’s obvious Hungary is not a tennis nation but I was lucky in two ways. My dad could actually coach me, so that didn’t cost the family anything. Also my sister, helped me through it all since she has been the tennis path before. My parents didn’t even want me to play tennis, they started me as a swimmer. I knew as a swimmer I would receive the right support from my country. I then started tennis when I was like nine or ten years old. In the beginning I just did it for fun and then my mom started traveling with me to some local tournaments. Out of nowhere I started winning, and she told my dad, ‘This girl really has talent, but just has no clue how to play’. I combined that with speed and fighting spirit on court and it led to success. My dad finally took me to a tournament and I begged him to start working with me when I was ten. My dad is still one of the best coaches in Hungary so it was a big deal for me. It’s not easy without the help of a federation and without (more…)

Makenzie Raine

August 12, 2019

August 12, 2019 “I cannot imagine my life without tennis. It has been so engrained in me, with practice basically every day, I am sure life would be boring without it. My dad started it all. He used to watch tennis all the time, so I guess he wanted me to love the sport as much as he did. For me now, it is extremely fun. All I want to do is to become the best player I can possibly be. My dreams are to first go to an incredible college which will hopefully lead to me becoming a professional tennis player at some point. At the moment I practice with the team at the University of Minnesota, which is one of my top dream schools, so I can stay in state. If not, I am all for going to a school down south to get away from these winters. I am trying to juggle my other passions, like acting and modeling, with tennis. I understand that in the future it will be difficult to manage but my goal is to try to find a way to intertwine them and make it all work. For now as I grow as (more…)

Jonathan Pham

August 8, 2019

August 8, 2019 #MyBTR– “For somebody soft-spoken like myself, stringing is the perfect craft to become adept at in the tennis world. It’s all behind the scenes, and I’m mostly content operating in anonymity. No glamour, nor big salaries involved, and there are a very select few who would be crazy enough to actively pursue this line of work. I’ve been extremely lucky thus far, being granted opportunities to grow and remain involved with high-caliber programs. I worked my way from a student manager earning $8/hour, 7 years ago, to getting a business license and freelancing exclusively as a racquet tech for 2 years after graduation. I was then rehired this past fall as a part-time Operations Coordinator, for a coaching staff who created an administrative position that previously didn’t exist, to go along with my stringing duties. Here, I’m surrounded by an incredible group of people who look out and care for each other, and I’m grateful to be part of the team atmosphere despite not having any on-court accolades. I pride myself in being a problem-solver at work and for others, to a fault, where I spend more time addressing them than at home with family. Working with (more…)