Leave It Behind THE BASELINE

MAMATA VENKAT has learnt a lot about herself from playing tennis. Especially, it taught her how to let go of imperfections and move forward in a healthy way towards continuous improvement in all aspects of life.

- MAMATA VENKAT

I was twelve years old the first time I stepped onto a tennis court, reluctantly encouraged by both my mom and my cousin to take up the sport as a way to strengthen my college eligibility and build my stamina, and also face my aversion of trying new things.

Fun fact: I’m not good at trying new things.

I was skeptical, stubborn, and totally terrified as I walked onto the court for the first time, gripping my dad’s dinky old Head racket in my right hand and my water bottle in the other. And when coach Kent smacked that first ball at me and my return shot embarrassingly soared way over to the other side of the court, I became even more determined to hate tennis and prove that my mom and cousin were wrong.

Spoiler alert: I fell in love with tennis.