Own the Arena by Katrina M. Adams

Author:Katrina M. Adams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amistad
Published: 2021-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

7

No Woman Is an Island

However great your dedication, you never win anything on your own.

—RAFAEL NADAL

It feels as if I’ve been receiving the gifts that tennis has given me with open arms from the first moment I picked up a racket. Making a difference and succeeding in anything, takes courage, stamina, perseverance, self-confidence, and discipline. All skill sets that are learned through the sport of tennis. Tennis changed my life in the doors it has opened for me. My experiences on the court provided lessons beyond the classroom, such as being prepared to own any room I might walk into.

One autumn morning in 2016, I was sitting across the table from Billie Jean King enjoying a hearty brunch of waffles at Barawine, near the 369th Regiment Armory HJTEP facility. Billie Jean, one of the great sheroes of our time, has done so much for women’s rights, demonstrating by her own actions how much we can achieve by working small scale and one-on-one, or leading monumental movements. As an advocate for gender equality who has fought hard for social justice, I have admired her since I was a young girl. So I paid attention when she fixed me with her steady gaze and asked, “Well, what’s next?”

It was the beginning of my second two-year tenure as head of the USTA, the first time in history anyone had been given another two years in the job, and I’d been more preoccupied with the question: “What’s now?” I was still catching my breath and thinking about everything I needed to get done while I was still in my role. Count on BJK to remind me that I should continually be setting goals for myself, aiming high and believing I could exceed them.

BJK has always been my sage in sneakers—a caring voice who never once told me what to do. Instead, like the best coaches in any sport, she always encouraged me to think for myself. I looked up to her, but just as important, she never looked down on me, always making me feel like I belonged. She’s been a constant guiding light.

I’ve known Billie since before I turned pro. She was living in Chicago with her partner, former doubles champion Ilana Kloss, and the couple used to play tennis at Midtown Tennis Club, where I often practiced. We were all hanging out one day after a workout when I got up the nerve to ask her to talk to my communications class at Northwestern. Not only did she show up to inspire a bunch of freshmen, she’s turned up at pivotal moments in my life ever since.

I’ve been fortunate enough to come across many other mentors along the way, from my mother and father to the coaches who volunteered their time to instruct me both on and off the court, sharing values not just to make me a better player but a better person. In the beginning, we didn’t have the money to pay for their time. My first coaches found me and chose to share their wisdom and experience.

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