Romana
Caroline Tabak is a name that does not sound new to tennis experts and many
fans.
The Slovak,
born in 1991, is a former junior Wimbledon
semi-finalist, her career best ranking as a professional player came a couple
of years ago, when she reached the number 240, but ever since she has almost
disappeared.
Having
conquered the hearts of many fans –and not only, as many remember a rumoured
story with Grigor Dimitrov- thanks to her beauty and aggressive tennis, Tabak
played her last ITF match in September 2012, but her problems had begun way
before.
The 23 year
old had struggled with injuries in her first few years as a pro and when things
started to pick up, she contracted a severe form of Lyme disease during a successful
series of tournaments in America.
The fall in
the ranking and the struggle to heal properly left her with no sponsors and so
playing tennis became more and more hard for her.
“As I was
forced to deal with a high stage of Lyme disease and no sponsors, my
parents have been more for studying on college after all those injuries,” she
told me.
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| All Pictures credits to: Martin Halik |
“I am
currently studying in New York, where I play
college matches against other schools and we travel a lot, so I had time to
explore New York
and other states.”
She was not
too sure when she left for the States, but she told me how things suddenly
changed in her life.
“Now I feel
great,” she said: “I see life from different perspective. After I stopped playing
tennis, God blessed me and I started to believe in Jesus Christ for this
blessing.
“I’m so
thankful my life is so much easier and full of joy. After studying maybe I will
return to professional tennis, depends on how I will feel and how the situation
will be.”
She added:
“With God everything is possible, sky is the limit. I was really surprised how
many successful people such as Michael Chang, Bono from U2, American football
team Seattle Seahawks, who won Super Bowl this year, Johnny Cash and many
others are true believers...it’s amazing!
“To all my
friends who are coming to visit New York, I
recommend to come to Times Square
Church and see the
amazing sermons.”
She used
her free time for charity too. She said: “I had the chance, last year in India,
to be part of a mission trip, where we served and helped sick and poor people.”
Does that
mean that we will never see her fighting for her childhood dream of becoming a
top tennis player? Maybe not.
“I am
missing competitive life and co-operation with my coach Martin Zathurecky,” she
said: “Tennis is pure joy for me since I was a young girl.
“Tennis taught
me what love is, tennis gave me the ability to travel around the world and
explore other cultures. Tennis keeps me living my dream and kept me from living
the life that any other teenager did.”
She know
that a comeback would be hard, after many injuries she knows what it is like: “The
hardest thing is the lack of confidence and on top of that you are scared that
you may get injured again.”
It is not a
comeback, but the past weekend she came back to Europe and played in the German
Regional-liga for the LTTC Rot-Weiß Berlin, where she won her
debut match over Carolin Schmidt, world number 1263, 6-1 6-1.
“I enjoyed
every moment in my tennis career, even when I was up or down,” she said: “So
now I would like to graduate and after my studies, maybe, I will return to
tennis, but for sure at some point I would like to be in charge of charities,
serving and helping people and for sure one day to have a big family.”
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