I was introduced to tennis at the tender age of 6 when I participated in my first lesson at the Hyde Park Racquetball Club in Chicago, Illinois. I didn’t grasp any of the concepts or mechanics at the time, but I had a lot of fun running around the facility playing with the other kids my age. All I knew was my entire family played tennis and loved it, and most likely, so would I one day.

I vividly remember playing tennis with my 60+-year-old grandmother as a small child and early teen. In preparation, she’d put on her V-neck tennis top and shorts, pack a thermos filled with water and two cups, and bring two chairs to sit in when we needed a break. We’d laugh and talk, and I´ll never forget her smile that lit up the world. She was so excited (and grateful) to play a sport she truly loved. I saw the same excitement and reverence when the grand slam tournaments were televised. You couldn’t pull her away from the screen. Tennis all day, everyday . . . I really couldn’t understand it at the time. Quite honestly, it took several years for my true passion for the sport to emerge.

At the age of 13, I decided to completely break ties with the sport. I took new interest in volleyball and almost abandoned tennis completely. My high school didn’t even have a tennis team so I felt validated in some way to find other activities to pursue. However, tennis snuck back into my life in college. I had a huge crush on a guy that loved to play tennis . . . so of course, I loved tennis too . . . again . . . sort of.

Fast-forward some years to my relocation to Atlanta. Tennis Town is what I call it - everywhere you go there’s a tennis team, tennis center, tennis courts, etc. It was then that everything melded together: my family’s legacy and tradition in tennis, the acquired discipline, the camaraderie developed amongst teammates, and the life lessons learned on and off the court. I quickly realized how my entire life had been shaped and molded by tennis. In 1997, I finally acknowledged my true love and passion for tennis and that’s when the real fun began.

I started studying the professional players, identifying who I liked and why I liked them, and I began to appreciate their playing styles and techniques. From more well known players like Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, and Venus Williams to the lesser known players like Gustavo Kuerten, Goran Ivanisevic and Max Mirnyi, I began to relate to each of them and dreamed of one day meeting them to learn their tennis secrets. I soon realized I was becoming the very person I couldn’t understand several years prior – my grandmother – everything tennis.

From tennis lessons to family outings, tennis has become more than just a sport. It is a inherent symbol of love that binds my family together in a unique and special way . . . an activity that has created memories over eight decades for the Douglass family. So as I write about tennis, I write with sincere passion, reverence, and gratitude for it.

I hope you find the subsequent tennis articles shared in this forum to be informative, inspirational, and thoroughly entertaining.

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