“I liked tennis because it was an individual sport. I wanted the responsibility on me. You could either win or lose, but because of your own fault. There is not something specific that threw me into it, but the whole thing — I love the whole thing. The competition, the screaming, the match after match. Being a defensive player, I was winning a lot from the mistakes of the others. My coaches were pushing me to be aggressive, and then I lost my game because I don't think players should change their games. We started the tournaments when I was 18. 350 with so much pressure of winning, and I start losing. I was not sleeping, I was dreaming that they would take off my contract. I was on court. I was suffering. I had no one to rely on. You question if you're doing the right thing. In my case, I really enjoy playing and I love tennis, so I was never like, "Oh, do I want to do that?" because I knew. Deep down, I always believed in myself, and I always knew, like, "Okay. Maybe I have some p...