Behind The Racquet • Shares A Behind The Scenes With Tennis 10sBalls • WTA’s Katerina Stewart

Editor’s note: 10sBalls thanks Noah Rubin for giving us permission to repost these great stories. We wish him and this endeavor the best of luck. Great seeing Noah wearing K-Swiss and playing Solinco Strings.

 

“Around the age of 12 was when I realized that I was gay. I lived many years dealing with denial, confusion, and pretending to be somebody that I wasn’t. Tennis, unfortunately, is such a judgmental sport that causes people to believe that they need to portray a certain image or meet a certain standard. Hiding who I truly was for so long, led me to develop depression and anxiety which affected my play because I was worrying about what people thought about me rather than focusing on my game. I was always so afraid to be my true self because being gay wasn’t really accepted as is, and even more so in the tennis world. It took me until I was 19/20 years old to understand and realize that there was a life outside of tennis. Once I overcame the fear of being judged and feeling like an outsider, I finally was able to accept myself ,and by doing so, I found happiness within myself, a newfound enjoyment for the game of tennis, and was able to find the love of my life.”-Katerina Stewart

 

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