Have you ever thought about playing tennis?
How do you leave behind the only life you’ve ever known? How do you walk away from the courts you’ve trained on since you were a little girl, the game that you love—one which brought you untold tears and unspeakable joys—a sport where you found a family, along with fans who rallied behind you for more than 28 years?
The importance of tennis in the sporting history of Australia can hardly be overestimated. Some Australians look back on their country’s former dominance of world tennis with the same degree of nostalgia as some British remember their past empire. By analysing trends in Australian tennis history, a large, influential, important and as yet untouched aspect of Australian social history may be revealed.