The Grand Inquisitor

under the training of his uncle, Rafa turned pro when he was fifteen. At the age of seventeen he beat Roger Federer to become the youngest player to ever reach the third round of Wimbledon, which is one of the four grand slams. Then two years later he played in the French Open, another grand slam, for the first time and won the tournament. He won the same tournament every year for the next three years and at the end of his run, he was named ATP newcomer of the…

The professional athlete I chose to research is Serena Williams. Serena is an American professional tennis player who is ranked number 1 in women's singles tennis. I choose to research Serena because she has always been an important role model in my life. Ever since I have started to play tennis, I loved watching Serena on TV and going to the US Open to watch her in person. Every unique swing she does I like to recreate myself to become a better athlete like her. She has a determined and kind…

years later she completed her career grand slam in 1999. Then in 2002 she received her first ranking of world number one. But it took a lot to get there. Serena finished porley in three event, ending she and her sisters 16 event win streak. She and her sister had to pull out of wimbleton's double event because of injury. But she came back strong winning a few events and tournaments in a row then finally beating the former world number one to win her first grand slam in 1999. After that she was…

I’m a competitive tennis player and I am preparing to play one high school teams this spring(even though I am only an 8th grader). I constantly want to improve, but I wasn’t sure how to do that. I train three times a week and matches every Saturday, but I didn’t do anything else. I know that tennis is a very mentally demanding game, same goes for physically.The best players in the world win because they are in great shape and because they break their opponents mentally. I also know that anything…

“The Battle of the Sexes” between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King was an iconic re-enactment of one of the world’s oldest conflicts in history: the battle of man verses woman, played out on a simple green and white painted concrete court. Yet the spectacle surrounding the match was anything but simple; hosted in the futuristic Astrodome with a crowd of 30,492 present, this match became the most watched tennis match in the US. This landmark match was televised to over 90 million people around…

Last year, before school started, my friend convinced me to join the tennis team. Even though I had never picked up a racket in my entire life, never hit a tennis ball, and didn’t even know that it was a legit sport, I decided to give it a try. I absolutely fell in love with the sport; it has taught me so much about myself. My first year, I played exhibition, I wasn’t in the lineup, but that’s where I aspired to be. I promised myself I would come back next season a whole new person and the…

Rafael Nadal is a professional tennis player. He is a twenty nine year Spaniard. At this time, Nadal is ranked number eight in the world. Since turning pro in 2001, he has won countless tournaments. A few of these tournaments include: the French Open, the US Open, and Wimbledon. After watching the US Open these past two weeks, I decided to write this paper on him because he a very well-known athlete due to a particular set of rituals that he performs before and during his matches. Rafael…

Every member in a group takes on a specific role, whether it be positive or negative, that provides a special function in the group dynamic. In 1948, Benne and Sheats, in their acclaimed essay, listed various group roles that may occur during group communication and sorted them into three categories; group task roles, group maintenance roles, and self-centered roles. These roles each have a different motive that help to either lead or derail the group from their common goal. In the classic movie…

As I walked into the stadium, the smell of hotdogs and popcorn filled the air. It was a familiar setting. A setting I had grown to know very well because my dad loved baseball. The red white and blue colors were everywhere as fans came from every direction into the stadium. My dad and I walked to the outfield where the opposing team was warming up for the game. Turner Field in Atlanta was not only home of the Braves, but a home to many baseball fans. The concessions and amenities for the fans,…

In 2016 Gatorade released a new commercial with iconic athletes which included Usain bolt, Serena Williams, April Ross, and Paul George. In the commercial the athletes were pestered by their younger selves. The child version of these athletes helped motivate the athletes, such as wake them up, help them train, and be there moral support. An example of this is the first scene in the commercial where younger Serena Williams yells at older Serena Williams to get out of bed. Throughout the…