So this is new...

Hi I’m Claire, nice to meet you. I’ve noticed whenever I introduce myself I go with my name, where I’m from, that I’m a professional tennis player… and that’s it. I stop not necessarily because I want to, but because I don’t really have anything else to say. I have two reasons: partly because that’s the attention grabber and all people will want to talk about, but also because I don’t really know what else there is to me.

I’m not going to get into my entire life story because I feel like that’s such a boring way to start things off. Hopefully you’ll want to stick around and over time will learn more about me. I was 17 when I made the decision to go pro and to be honest, it was not very well thought out. I was a top junior at the US Open, just having qualified for the main draw, sought after by agencies, and loving the attention. Whenever I get asked about making the decision to forgo college I always say that I still thought I was going to school right up until the minute I decided to go pro. I basically made a life-altering, career-defining decision without much guidance and pretty much on a whim. And while I was young, immature, and naive, I know and I’ve always known that I made the right choice. I just don’t know if it was for the right reasons. I saw the paycheck and didn’t want to throw it away. I was on a winning high and didn’t think that would change. With very little life experience I thought I had it all figured out.

Five years later and I’ve had plenty of bumps in the road… or more like giant potholes. I’ve gone up and down in the rankings, and had too many identity crises to count. I’ve also realized that while I’ve lived my whole life around tennis, it doesn’t make me who I am. That’s been, and still is, one of the hardest things for me to wrap my head around. I’ve dedicated my life to this sport but I’m more than that. Tennis doesn’t define who I am as a person, it’s just one small part of me. And while I’m proud of the way tennis has shaped me, my friends, family, hobbies, and other passions do that too.

So this is me trying to develop those other parts of myself. It wasn’t until a year or two into my career that I started journaling and I have been ever since. I’ve always found it easier to express myself through writing than through talking. I feel like it helps me sort through my thoughts instead of vomiting out half-sentences and expecting whoever’s listening to piece them together. I’m also a pretty private person and very introverted so doing this will definitely result in a call to my sport psychologist, but I think it’s a good step forward. While my job title and career path may be a little out of the ordinary, I’m still just a person trying to find myself and navigate through life. Each person has their own unique story, but maybe some of you can relate to mine.