Serena Williams and her hardships

Serena Williams / Edwin Martinez - Flickr.com

Serena Williams is one of the top women’s tennis players in the world, ranking first in women’s singles on six separate occasions. Becoming the successful player that she is today has been an uphill battle, overcoming many challenging obstacles in her career.

At the age of three, Serena and her sister Venus started playing tennis with her father's instructions on the courts of Compton, California. The courts there weren’t in the best condition, riddled with potholes and sometimes even missing a net. This challenge helped her to get a better understanding of the game and staying determined in tough climates.

Another hardship that Williams had to overcome was the loss of a loved one. Serena Williams’s sister Yetunde Price was murdered in Los Angeles, California in 2003. Losing her beloved sister wasn’t easy for her to cope with. She lost her drive and motivation to play tennis in the time period following this tragedy and had to go to therapy to overcome her death.

“It real dark period in my life. I went through a depression. I never even talked about it to my Mom,” Williams said in a 2014 article on The Telegraph.com.

Furthermore, Williams career has been riddled with injuries. Most recently she injured her back in the 2014 Australian Open between her second and third round matches. As a result, she had to withdraw from the Qatar Open. This isn’t the first time she got injured in this tournament. For three consecutive years Serena Williams has managed to injure herself during the Australian Open. In 2012 and 2013 she was out with ankle injuries.

“I think I was really, really close to panicking because a similar thing happened to me last year, almost on the same side, same shot. I just had to really remain calm and think things through.” Williams said in a 2013 article on bleacherreport.com.

She didn’t let that injury slow her down, and she played through the pain showing her dedication and determination.

Williams has had to endure her sister’s murder and the lack of motivation that followed. She also had to deal with the aftermath of injuries and recovering from them. Nevertheless, she overcame all of these obstacles and is now still one of the best women’s tennis players of her generation.

Michael Chang: Outstanding Athlete

Chang at 1994 Thriftway Championships
-James Marvin Phelps-Flickr

With all the “Linsanity,” nowadays, people often forget Michael Chang, an Asian American who achieved success in sports years before Lin.

Chang was born February 22, 1972 in Hoboken, New Jersey to Chinese parents. His father, Joe, had fled China’s Communist regime and came to America in 1966, where he met and married Chang’s mother, Betty. As a child, Chang’s older brother Carl taught him to play tennis and Chang worked intensively to hone his skills. He participated in and won numerous youth championships, setting several “youngest-ever” records.

In the year 1988, at the age of 16, Chang turned pro. About a year later, at just 17 years old, he won the French Open, becoming the first American to win it in 34 years. He also became the youngest male to win a Grand Slam.

Chang, at 5’8” and 135 pounds, because of his stature, was often told he couldn’t excel in tennis, but he went on to defeat opponents larger than him, using his perseverance and speed on the court. At the French Open, he defeated top ranked Ivan Lendl and went on to beat third ranked Stefan Edberg.

Later in his career, Chang continued to maintain his high level of success. He played in three more Grand Slam finals and won the Davis Cup. Throughout the ‘90s, he remained in the top 10 of the ATP world rankings, even reaching as high as number two. He retired in 2003, and in 2008, was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Chang believes that Asian Americans should play in more sports, and shake off the stereotypes that have been attributed to them. He acknowledges, though, that they will face some resentment "You're going to have a little bit of racism," Chang said "Unfortunately it's to be expected. Sometimes people put things up that they might find humorous. It's difficult sometimes when you have somebody who is of a different culture trying to make light of something that is maybe not quite something that they understand."

Overall, Chang, an unparalleled tennis player, is a paragon of Chinese American athletic excellence.

Why I like tennis

I like tennis because the outcome of the match is completely dependent on the individual player. It's as simple as if you play better than your opponent you win and if you don't you lose. In other mainstream team sports one can feel like they did everything they could but their team came up short. This is difficult because on one hand you are happy you personally did your best but also upset that the team could not get a win. In tennis you don't have to deal with these conflicting emotions because it the sole responsibility of the player to either win or lose.

I also like tennis because it is not only physically tasking but also mentally challenging. Matches can be long and grueling and wear down a player physically however the most challenging aspect of tennis is the mental side. A player can win a hard fought point hitting shot after shot but if the player loses focus and misses his next forehand that negates all the hard work they had previously done. In sports like baseball, basketball, football and soccer players can have a momentary mental lapse and usually suffer no consequence. In tennis every mental lapse will almost surely cost a player the point.

Lastly tennis involves very little luck, you simply make shots or don't. In other sports you can catch a lucky break and win but in tennis the superior player will win.