An interview with a competitive teenage tennis player

¶ … start playing tennis?

When I was five. I took to it right away

When did it start getting serious for you?

When I had the chance to play for the city or county and then with middle and high school. My parents saw that I took to it really well and they enrolled me in lessons.

Do you think they pushed you too hard at all or were you entirely into it?

Oh, I love it. I had a passion for it right away. They stressed several times that I didn't have to play tennis if I didn't want to. But I always told them I loved it.

Do you think they could have spoiled it for you, in theory?

Yea…but it never came to that. They know better than to force that on me or anyone else.

Your best moment?

When I won my first tournament final…I was 12 years old.

Your advice for people that consider tennis?

Figure out what and how much you want from the sport. If it's just for fun, make sure it stays that way. If you take it too seriously and you're not willing or able to put in the time and effort, you will get frustrated very easily.

Tennis is a sport that bores many people but there are those that live and breathe it. Whether it is playing the sport themselves, watching the tennis pros of America and other countries over the years like Sampras and Graf, or a combination of the two, there are those that revere and cherish tennis as a passion. Many of those people are teenagers are younger and one such person sat down with the author of this brief report.

Jenny advises that she got her start very early. Her parents pushed her to embrace it…but only if she wanted it. She sounded the clarion call that many people talk about when it comes to parents living vicariously through their children and/or pushing them too hard in general. Jenny waxes eloquent about her best times and her worst times. There have been times where she's been euphoric and she has not had a feeling to match it before…and in a good way. However, there have also been times where she's been less than pleased with her progress and passion.

Jenny has no regrets. She has fought through the hard times and relished in the good times and she said she would never do it over again for anything. She says the challenge is part of it and that the exhilaration is a reward for doing one's best. She wishes more people in life would react and think that way about life.