Going Back in Time - Reflecting on Older Tennis Memories
Today, I wanted to reflect a bit about older tennis memories I've had, and some of the life lessons I've learned from them.
When I was younger, I used to compare myself a lot to other tennis players, especially the ones who seemed to get huge successes at a young age. When they were shown on TV and received so much attention, I sometimes wished I was at their level.
I also struggled a lot with the criticism towards women's tennis that existed in the years of Serena's dominance in the sport. Although Serena rightfully took her place as a powerful champion in tennis, many commmentators criticized other women tennis players for not being good enough to compete at a high level. I still remember in 2016 when one of the tournament directors said that women tennis players should be "down on their knees" before Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for carrying the sport to a popular level.
Serena spoke up at the time and pointed out that women have come a long way in tennis, and we don't need to be bowing down to anybody. But during that period of tennis, which was often called the golden age of the ATP (with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic as the Big 3 stars), it was really common for some commentators and tennis figures to disparage women's tennis. So, I remember feeling really badly about being a female tennis player at the time, because I worried women's tennis wasn't good enough.
I think nowadays those commments about women's tennis certainly wouldn't fly today, which shows you how long ago that was! With Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, and many new names in women's tennis who are achieving amazing results, we definitely know women's tennis is just as high-quality as the men's game. Women's tennis was always full of good players. (By the way, Coco Gaff just won her first French Open title! It was an amazing win for her, especially since she is learning how to build her confidence on clay. Her previous French Open experience didn't turn out so well, but she learned from the experience and got even better. That in itself is a life lesson - don't give up and keep on trying your best!)
But I learned a lot from going through those challenges and self-doubt about my role in tennis. I know I don't have the same financial resources to reach the top levels of the tennis world as other people do, so now, I don't compare myself to players with higher rankings and better results. I appreciate where I am today, and I play tennis because I enjoy it, not just because I want to be in a major one day. I'd absolutely love to have the chance to appear at the US Open and compete there, but that's in God's hands. I can't force that to happen, so I just appreciate every opportunity I have to play the sport and do my best in it. I also don't see other players' success as a threat anymore; instead, I know I can be inspired by them and appreciate their wins!
Now, I feel more confidence in myself as a female athlete. Although it may seem unusual, there's really nothing wrong with being a woman who loves sports and physical activity. I think it's high time we realized that you don't need to fit into a box as a person, and a woman can enjoy competition, sports, and the great outdoors just as much as a man can. She can be just as good at those things, too!
When I think back on the past, I realize tennis actually helped me a lot with growing up. It kept me out of a lot of trouble. Because I was focused on sports, I didn't use social media as a kid, and I'm grateful about that because it allowed me to grow up in a more normal way. I spent a lot of time outside, and when I was in the house, I was often writing, reading stories, recording songs, or making art. Sometimes I'd use the internet, but I wasn't trying out Facebook or Instagram as a kid.
Tennis also helped me to stay healthy. Many of my peers were experimenting with drugs, from peer pressure or through other influences. I really feel for people who faced peer pressure to experiment with drugs. As an athlete, that was definitely not something I could do, because tennis tends to be very strict about drug use, so although I was a little curious about those substances, I never tried illegal drugs myself. I feel in the long run, not experimenting with drugs was the best decision for me.
I was rather lonely as a teenager playing tennis, but I was a keen observer, and I learned a lot from observing and paying attention to the people around me. I noticed my peers were caught up in their own worlds of devices, smartphones, and technology. It was really hard for me to make friends with them as a result. Even I got caught up in the world of technology later in life, but now I'm more aware of both the benefits and the downsides of social media, and I'm trying to create a balance in my life where I can use technology in good ways, not bad ones.
I feel tennis also taught me a lot about life, including building my resilience in the face of adversity. It always helped me to learn how to navigate life's complexities and challenges. In fact, in the next post, I'm going to write about the ways tennis helped to keep me grounded, and how I learned it was really important in my life after my experience of taking some time away from it.
That's all for today. I hope you found something interesting in reading my reflections about the past.