US tennis star feels some people don’t want Black players to succeed
by John Vassallo
Oct 20, 2012 12:00 AM
Nov 1, 2012 11:36 AM
Oct 20, 2012 12:00 AM
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Katerina Siniakidou
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Tennis player Katerina Siniakidou is one talented tennis player, but she’s not going to use her talents to win games for you. She just wants to make you laugh.
In fact, the 19-year-old Houston native says she’s not interested in being the next big thing on the women’s tennis scene. She just wants to win a tennis match.
“I think what’s important is you don’t really care what time you play, you just want to play. We play with our heart,” Siniakidou said. “… We played in front of our family and friends. And if we do win, that’s fine with me because I will win anyway.”
Siniakidou’s career began in 2005 when she won the doubles championship at the U.S. National Junior Team Championships. She followed up that victory with a win over the likes of Serena Williams, Serena-Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki.
She’s now the reigning National Champion at the U.S. Junior Championships. She won the doubles title in her last outing, the Orange Bowl in January.
At age 5, Siniakidou has never lost a match in tennis, which isn’t bad considering she wasn’t always a very good player to begin with. When she was 4 years old, Siniakidou developed a problem with her vision, and began getting blurred on one side. She spent months in and out of the eye doctor for months until she was diagnosed with amblyopia, a vision problem that causes the eye to focus on different objects.