tennis
Following her retirement from tennis in 2003, Monica quickly became a reality TV star in America, and was most recently seen in Dancing with the Stars, America’s equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing. In contrast, seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras has shunned the limelight since retiring from tennis in 2002. Always modest about his achievements, Sampras was motivated by a burning desire to make the most of his natural talent. He worked ferociously hard to perfect his game as a teenager, and reaped a rich harvest with career earnings of over $43 million. Since 2002 Sampras has made brief appearances in ATP Legends Tour events, and in 2010 he played in a special event to raise funds for victims of the Haiti earthquake. In the same year many of Sampras’ tennis trophies were stolen from a storage facility in Los Angeles, close to the family home he shares with his wife Bridgette and their sons Christian and Ryan. In 1990 America’s Jennifer Capriati became the youngest player ever to appear on
Wimbledon’s Centre Court, and the youngest ever to win a match at the Championships. She finished her first year on the WTA Tour with prize money of $283,597 and a ranking of No.8 in the world, all at just 14 years of age! For the next two years she continued to make headlines, becoming the youngest player to reach $1 million in career earnings in 1991 and winning the gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. But then it all started to go wrong. Early in 1992 rumours spread that Jennifer was unhappy with life on the pro tennis tour, and some difficult years followed during which she dropped out of tennis and was arrested for shoplifting and possession of marijuana. Jennifer battled back, winning the Australian and French Opens in 2001 to take her first two Grand Slam singles titles. Injury finally forced her into premature retirement in 2004, and the years since then have been another difficult time, with media reports of further drugs problems. But Jennifer, like Monica Seles, will be remembered as a talented teenager who lit up the Centre Court with her cheerful personality and infectious smile. Former World No.1 Ivan Lendl spent many years trying to become a professional golfer on the
US PGA Tour. Sixties champion Margaret Court became a pastor of a church in Perth, Western Australia. Romania’s Ilie Nastase stood unsuccessfully as a mayoral candidate in his native city of Bucharest. For every tennis star there is a different way to play the game, and a different path to follow when they walk away.