Please know that this is everything i could have ever wanted. I love this so much. so so so so much.

Ok. So. My dad is a tennis teacher hahaha

It's not just that, tho, i started learning it when i was seven? I think it was. He never wanted us to play bc he didn't want us (me and my sister) to spend so much time and effort into something that wasn't for us, so he would have preferred us to compete at any other sport. My sister chose first bc she is the oldest, I chose second bc if my sister did it, then it was the right choice.

When i was a kid/teen I liked it well enough! Got to travel a LOT, and meet a bunch of new people, and experience the competitive world which I think it's very valuable, especially when we are younger. Ofc i don't think everyone has to be an athlete and compete and all that haha but i did. Even though i honestly hated tennis for a while there.

It's a very... strange sport haha most of the tennis players you'll meet will tell you that, at least once, they hated it with all their passion. it's very lonely, and mentally taxing and frustrating. And honestly? I only got to play as much as i did bc of scholarships and sponsors at the place i played while growing up: it gets very expensive very quickly bc of equipment maintenance (racket stringing, grips, stuff like that).

love all is loosely based on the athletic structure of US based universities - that's bc i did just that haha i moved abroad to go to school and played for my school for four years. It was there that i realized just how much i loved it - very complicated stuff, very specific stuff that could dox me in a second so no haha. But I was nineteen when i realized that i had spent my entire life as a tennis player, and it would hurt me badly if i couldn't be one anymore.

Sometimes i still struggle with it haha to be a retired athlete and all that. I haven't competed in like... seven years haha but i still play every once in a while. Not nearly as much as i would want to!! but i try to whenever the opportunity arises.

There is a lot about tennis that i love!!! the smell of new balls!!!! the feeling of clay (yes, even when it gets stuck on your ankles)!! The weight of the racket and how you are never fully rested when you're playing a match. Just the game itself, it's fun, it's exciting, it's a life in miniature!!

I wish I would have known sooner just how much I cherished it. But i don't hold my teen-self too harshly on this; she was definitely doing the best she could (most of the times)