Martina Hingis is back. Yeah! She is definitely back! Am I happy or what? She did well at the Australian Open to say the least. To have reached the quarterfinals after four years of retiring is such an achievement. And yes, she did give a good fight against current world number 2 Kim Clijsters.
Martina Hingis has been such a great influence to me back when I was still young. I can still vividly remember watching her win the Australian Open way back then. I was so amazed with how she played because she was always thinking in the court and gave such great angles and shots. She isn’t like the power players such as the Williams sister, Capriati, Davenport, and Sharapova. She’s different and.. well.. gorgeous. She and Anna Kournikova used to play doubles and boy! were they a perfect duo!
Flashback
I was a freshman in Masci and was currently hooked up with Tennis. I was in training to be a varsity tennis player under Ms. Lava and was also training in Rizal Memorial Complex when I’m not in school.
I was so surprised when my mom agreed to my trainings because I knew that she has always wanted me to focus on my studies. More so because I got in at Masci, which is like, way harder compared to other schools.
So I gave it a shot. I was training around 6 am in the morning (weekends most of the time). I was at school Mon-Fri 7 am to 5 pm. I was definitely working hard to balance both school and tennis. But the sheer joy of playing Tennis and having your family to support you by showing up the bleachers during practice was more than I could ask for.
Sadly, things didn’t go well after a few months. I was finding it hard to practice since schoolwork seemed to be piling up. Plus, tennis is such an expensive sport because you have to pay for your trainer, the ball boys, the court, etc. My mom, since my parents got separated, has been raising my sister and me single-handedly and it was also hard for her.
So I gave up tennis. Or so I thought…
Though I gave up my dream of being a professional tennis player, Tennis has never really left me. Or should I say, I never said goodbye to one of the passions of my life. When I was in senior year at Masci, I made it to Tennis varsity and went on to represent the school and play my first ever official tennis match. The score doesn’t tell much (I got a bagel against my opponent) but the experience was such a high. Coach was proud of me and I was proud of myself as well.
Tennis introduced me to such a wonderful person and one of my best friends. To someone who was there through the sunny days and the rainy days. Yes, we complained the rigorous heat of the sun but would trade such day for any given rainy day that our chance of playing tennis is close to none. To someone who played with me at the SC court, Eng’g court, even at Camp Krame (spelling?). To someone who trained me (yeah, she was way better than me). Lastly, to someone who has been such a great inspiration to me. Thank you for being that person.
Tennis also bridged my beloved org KEM and me. It was Eng’g week during my freshie days at UP when I first represented KEM but lost my first match. Sophomore year when, once again, I represented KEM, lost the singles, and defaulted the doubles. BUT it was junior year when I placed second in the singles, and captured the doubles crown together with the best doubles tennis partner in the world.
I might not play excellent tennis but I love every moment of playing such sport. It’s as if I feel at home whenever I’m at the court. I feel free. It has taught me a lot. That even though my opponent is leading 5 to none, the game isn’t over. That losing the first set doesn’t translate to losing the game. That life and tennis have so many things in common and that when you look closer you’d see that. But more than anything else, when I play tennis, I am me.
Complexities of a prince\'s life... 