I picked up tennis at the age of three and had a lot of early influences on both my game and style. I was born in the former Yugoslavia, so it was only natural for me to look up to Monica Seles. Like her, I moved to the United States at a young age, played with a two-handed forehand, wore Nike apparel and swung with a Yonex racquet.
At my family’s home in South Florida, we have a wall dedicated to most of the racquets I’ve played with. I had an oversize Yonex early on, but around age 14, I needed a frame that suited my growing game. To select the right stick, my parents and I sought out Warren Bosworth, the original mastermind of racquet fitting and customization.
Bosworth was the go-to racquet man for legends like Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Martina Hingis and—you guessed it—Seles. Sitting in his office, he explained the importance of patience. It takes time to get used to a new frame, he said, just like it took him time to get used to the little lines on his oversized, square glasses. Eventually, though, the glasses helped him, just like my new racquet would.
After much testing, adjusting and swinging, I ended up with a Yonex RD Ti-80 Ultimum, despite my strong aversion to its orange cosmetics. Paradorn Srichaphan was the only top pro to wield that particular stick. While a lot of players imitate the pros by using their frames, they don’t realize that their racquets are heavily customized and are virtually unrecognizable from what you can buy at the store.
I played with the RD Ti-80 for the rest of my junior career and throughout my stint as a pro. It was this racquet that helped me win an ITF Pro Circuit tournament in El Paso, TX. For years, the Ultimum and its numerous replicas went with me all over North America, seeing me through victories and breakthroughs as well as losses and pitfalls. The RD Ti-80 also carried me through my freshman year at UCLA.
Now years removed from playing the game competitively, I’m still swinging a Yonex. The RD Ti-80 was discontinued, so I’ve embraced the green-and-black Ezone Ai 98. Not quite the same, but finally not orange.