Mary Pierce

June 11, 2020

“When I was 13 years old, my dad was my full-time coach and my mom was my full-time mom. There was no income and sometimes we lived out of our car. My dad showed me a bag of money and was like, ‘This is all we have.” Then he told me, ‘You better start winning because we need money.” That was a lot of pressure to put on a young child. I originally wanted to be a pediatrician. But when I first picked up a racquet, I looked like I had been playing for years so I felt that God had given me this gift to play tennis. I started at 10 and turned professional at 14. My dad took me out of school and was my coach until I was 18. During this time, I played tennis because I had no choice. I had to win because if I didn’t, my dad would get abusive and I was afraid of what would happen. Fear was the driving emotion. I’m grateful that I had my mom who was my pillar of support. I also had my brother who was my practice partner and later became my coach in 2000 and

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