Sport’s richest schoolgirl wants Wimbledon

Press, 16 July 1980, Page 32

Sport’s richest schoolgirl wants Wimbledon

Ah array of rather shabby cuddly toys sprawl over her. bed. In the small space left, a teen-ager with brilliant blue eyes sparklint? from her deeply tanned face, fries a few basic chords on her guitar. Tracy Austin, the 17-year-old whom the pundits tipped — mistakenly as it turned out — to win this year’s. Wimbledon championship, is enjoying a few- minutes of precious relaxation. : ,The fact that she is now probably the richest schoolgirl in the world, means little to the. youngster who.rarely has more than a few dollars in her purse . . . “if I have any more I’d only spend it on hot-dogs.” But the fact that she now has two full-time accountants to control her financial empire, speaks . for itself. And this year, s,h e could make money than in the rest of her career put together. She made her first Wimbledon appearance at 14, when she still wore braces on her teeth. Last September, she became the youngest player ever to win the United States open. ; And in her first year of turning professional, she raked in more than §500.000 in prize money alone. - This, together with the very few advertising endorsements which her parents have allowed her to do, while, she is still at school, have already made her a millionairess. / "But it honestly doesn’t mean verd much to me at the moment,” she told me, “because there isn’t anything I need. “It’s n good feeling, of courre; to know there is- money in the bank and in. investments, but I generally make, do on around £lO a week pocket money, when I’m at home.”

Home, . which she doesn’t see nearly as often as she would like - she is away ; on tour at least two weeks out of four ■— is in a ; suburb of Los., Angeles. And her tiny bedroom is crammed with posters, souvenirs of her travels and the huge assortment of soft toys she had as a child. .. ' There’s also the guitar which, she says, one of these days she is going to learn to play properly. “If I ever have the time,” she laughed. "I just always seem to be so frantically busy travelling. And then, when I get home, of course, I’m even busier trying to catch up on the school work I’ve missed. “When I go away, my teachers set work for me to do, and I take my text books with me, and study at nights . in my hotel room. ! • “I sometimes think it would be nice to have a tutor along with me on trips to help me with things which I find difficult — like mathematics. But it wouldn’t be worth it, realty. . • “And, anyway, I know what I’m going to do for a living after I leave school — I’m doing it right now. And later on, when I stop playing, I’ll probably take up coaching.” She has few interests, she says, apart from tennis. . “I used to love ice-skat-ing,” she told me. “But I broke my leg doing it when I was ten and I don’t want that to happen again. I also swim quite a lot, but I avoid the more dangerous sports like skiing, because when you are dependent on your physical fitness for a living, it’s silly to tempt fate and take risks.” Some critics suggest that young Tracy has missed out on a lot of her

childhood, having come into big-time tennis at such an early age. But she - dismisses this - as,. ■ "Just;.; plain silly.” . , “When I go back to school, I get treated just., like anybody else. And it’s always been that way. "I’ve always had to spend my time on tour mostly with grown-ups, but there’s still been time for fun. “I haven’t had much time for boyfriends, of course. And I think maybe they are a bit scared to talk to me. But now, if I: want to meet someone, 1 just go up and say: ‘Hi, ; there. ' I’m Tracy’. And they. can take. it from there! “I could never have » done that a few years ago, * though. I used to be ter- : ribly shy. “And when I first went < to Wimbledon and had those braces on my teeth, I I usid to hate it when the; . photographers : asked me'; to smile. . “Now, it doesn’t bother ; me at all. 1 suppose as -. you get older, you get ; more confidence in yourself.” ‘ After this year’s semifinal failure, is she confident of her chances at ■ next year’s Wimbledon? “I like to think so,” she | grinned. "And of course my big goal right now is to be Number One. Wimbledon is always the j big dream. “The first time I played ; on the centre court there, | I thought I was going to “ die of nerves.” ’ '’ .1 She has certainly changed a lot since those I early days. She’s taller — f up from 1.51 m to 1.64 m g — and admits she has to g watch her weight. | “The trouble is,” she confessed. “I love food — , hamburgers, ice-creams, milk-shakes. It’s just as

well I play tennis so hard, or I’d probably be enormous.

, “They say when you fall in love that you just don’t feel like eating. Maybe

that’s what I ought to do to get thin .. . but not before I’ve won Wimbledon.”