The tennis legend Billy Jean King once said, “Champions keep playing until they get it right”.

It is tempting to say that the 12-year-old Mahlako Legare won’t really know about King’s on-court heroics. But then again, when talking tennis, the young star of the TuksTennis club might surprise many with her knowledge about the game.

For example, who knows who won the men’s singles title in 2009 at the US Open? Many will have to do an internet search to get the answer, but not so with Legare. As a tennis fan, she immediately would tell you it was Argentine’s Juan Martin del Porte. If pushed, she would add that Del Porte had beaten Rafal Nadal in the semifinals in three sets and that in the final, he outplayed Roger Federer in a marathon battle, eventually, winning in five sets. He was not intimidated by his opponent’s reputation and that is why the Argentinian is one of her role models.

Knowing about Del Porte’s on-court heroics proves that Legare is a student of the game.

The American Ben Shelton is her role new model in the current era.

“His serve is his big weapon. In one game, he served at 203km/h. I want to serve aces like he does. I also greatly admire how composed Naomi Osaka is during challenging games. It is no surprise. She is on record saying, ‘You got to keep going and fighting for everything so one day you will get to where you want’. It is a motto I try to abide by,” Legare remarked during an interview.

Legare got her love for tennis from her parents. They are avid fans. So, it is no surprise that her first memories of tennis are watching the greats of the game slogging it out on television. At the age of seven, she started playing. The deciding moment of her career happened when she was ten, playing in a tournament.

“When I lost, I could not help myself. I started to cry out of frustration. It was a good thing that I lost because, on that day, I promised myself I would become a better player,” she explained.

The Tuks player did precisely that. Recently, she won a Primary School Tournament and an Interprovincial Tournament. She credits her success to her forehand.

“My forehand is undoubtedly, at the moment, my biggest weapon when playing,” she said.

Like most youngsters, her ultimate goal is to be good enough to one day play at Wimbledon and other grand Slam tournaments. But she knows doing so will take many hard hours on the court working on it to perfect her game.

“I owe a lot to my coaches at Tuks, Prince Madema and Khutso Selelo. Sometimes, they are hard taskmasters because they believe success starts with doing the small things right,” Legare concluded.

Of course that is what Billy Jean King also believed.

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