Tracy Austin Visits Jacksonville to Promote Cardio Tennis, Lindas Legacy Charity

Austin began officially representing Cardio Tennis last year after realizing it was something she had been participating in for years.

“[The USTA] called me last year to see if I would be interested and I went online [to learn more about it], and I realized that at the club we were members at, I’d been participating in what we called our ‘Club Workout,’” Austin told JAX Tennis Magazine. “It was very similar to Cardio Tennis, so therefore it was a slam dunk for me to do Cardio Tennis. We’re trying to bring people into the game in other ways as well.”

Austin first raised the eyebrows of pro tennis observers when as a 14 year old she won a pro Futures event. Two years later her career officially took off when as a 16 year old she won the tour event at Rome, in the semifinals ending Chris Evert’s record 125-match win streak on clay. Later that year she beat Evert again to become the youngest winner of the US Open. The following year she became the then-youngest player to rank No. 1, ending the six-year No. 1 domination by Evert and Martina Navratilova.

She won the US Open again two years later, but injuries and an automobile accident put a halt to her career at age 26.

“I suffered a stress fracture in my back at Wimbledon in 1983, and then I had the car accident and smashed my right knee and that was my career over. I have a screw in it,” Austin said. “But you know it could have been a lot worse and I was very relieved when I woke up. It was a big reality check and put everything in perspective and I had to get on with the rest of my life.”

With the dual effects of technology and the heightened physicality of today’s game, Austin says it would take a unique physical specimen to rise to the top of the game at age 16 as she did.

“They’d have to be pretty physically strong with today’s game. The players are bigger and stronger and better athletes, and they hit harder because they grew up with these composite racquets,” Austin said. “When I came up with the wood racquets my mind-set was different. I had to hit two or three-shot combinations to get my opponent in trouble before I could come up with a winner. Nowadays you can take one monstrous swing from seven feet behind the baseline, and if you’re accurate enough you can come up with a winner.”

Austin says be it technology or fitness or other factors, pro tennis is making radical shifts and the players are forced to keep up.

“Every five years or so I think the game elevates, and the last elevation was created by Venus and Serena [Williams]. Even when they are in a defensive position, they can come up with an offensive shot. I think they raised the bar, and then you had the Kim Clijsters and the Justine Henins who had to go to the gym and get stronger to keep up. It’s a very much more demanding sport physically, and I think that’s why you see many more injuries with the top players.”

Austin is in Jacksonville on Sept. 27-30 for the Linda’s Legacy women’s doubles charity event benefiting lung cancer, held at the ATP Headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach and open to the public. Austin will hold a Cardio Tennis clinic on the Sunday finals day and will participate in a pro-am doubles match on the stadium court. The first-time event is organized by Michelle Paul, whose sister Linda died from lung cancer.

Austin has no history of lung cancer in her immediate family, but the event has other meaning for her.

“Her story is obviously heart-wrenching,” Austin said. “We have illnesses in our family that I don’t want to go into, but so many families have issues with different diseases. Your heart really goes out to them.”

Austin was attracted to the event through hearing of the charity and meeting Michelle Paul.

“When I met Michelle — her energy level is pretty high,” says Austin laughing. “What she’s done since just January to get this event on paper and on the board and ready to go is phenomenal. She has very high energy and dreams big and goes after it.”

For a tennis and health advocate like Austin, the convergence of the Linda’s Legacy event, where organizers expect more than 450 participants, and Cardio Tennis is a win-win for everyone.

“I think it will be a fun weekend and that for me is what it’s about,” Austin said. “When we do our Cardio Tennis, people say ‘Wow, that was a great experience,’ and that’s the way I want it to be for the Linda’s Legacy event. At the end of the weekend I want people to say, ‘Where do I sign up again for next year?’ because they had a phenomenal time, raised money for a great cause, and met a lot of great people.”

This article appears in the September 2007 issue of JAX Tennis magazine, Northeast Florida's Tennis Source at www.jaxtennismagazine.com.