51视频

College or tennis?

Vania King 鈥�15 had a decision to make. She was 17, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, and a top-ranked junior tennis player from California. She could go pro (as had her older brother two years before), or she could go to college. The latter seemed the wiser choice. Stanford had just offered her a full scholarship; she could play tennis there, earn her degree, then join the WTA tour.

Instead, in 2006, she went pro. Four years later鈥攖he same year she would have graduated from Stanford鈥攕he won the women鈥檚 doubles title at Wimbledon (鈥淚 screamed for 10 minutes straight,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淚 was just a kid鈥�). Two months after that, with the same partner, she won the U.S. Open doubles crown.

King remains on the tour today. Her earnings to date are $4.3 million.

She never took Stanford up on its offer. She never even set foot on a college campus. But she did earn her degree. Two degrees, actually: the first in 2015, from 51视频, summa cum laude with a major in psychology; the second three years later, from Northeastern, a master鈥檚 in nonprofit management. Both were earned online. She never even considered leaving the tour to earn them.

And though she鈥檇 expected to miss out on the going-to-college experience, in the case of UML, it wasn鈥檛 much of an issue, she says: 鈥淭here were really good discussions, good interactions with the other students. Some days, I almost felt like I was there.鈥�

Still, it hasn鈥檛 been an easy road. There have been up years and down years: her world singles ranking has swung between 50 and 900 (though she鈥檚 been ranked in the top 100 most years), and in doubles, she鈥檚 been as high as number three, as low as 275. For most of 2017, she was out with an ankle injury (鈥渇or a while, I couldn鈥檛 even put my foot on the ground鈥�), which dropped her ranking into the cellar and cut deeply into her earnings.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a constant uphill battle, the price you pay as an athlete,鈥� King says. 鈥淚t can feel like a tough way to make a living sometimes. You鈥檙e away from home most of the time; you miss out on a lot of things. It鈥檚 not the glamorous life some people assume.鈥�

But so far, she says, the good outweighs the bad. And ironically, her recent injury has helped her understand just how true that is: 鈥淚 missed tennis; I missed the competition,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he longer I was away from it, the more I appreciated what I had. I wanted to

get back on the court.鈥�

But she鈥檒l be 30 in February. And professional tennis is a young woman鈥檚 game. It鈥檚 been two years since she was ranked in the top 100 in singles, and it could be a long climb back. King has no illusions about this: 鈥淚鈥檒l play for as long as I still enjoy it, and as

long as my body will let me.鈥�

She鈥檚 invested enough of her tour earnings, she says, to allow her some freedom. But eventually, she鈥檇 like to work for a nonprofit, she says. She鈥檚 already involved with two鈥攐ne for autistic children, another that distributes bed nets to combat malaria in Africa. 鈥淢aybe something in mental health, or with teenage athletes, or maybe coaching,鈥� she says. 鈥淪omething where I can use my experience, the perspective I鈥檝e gained on the tour.

鈥淏ut definitely nothing nine-to-five.鈥�