I Always Wanted To Be Somebody: Part 7

All of my problems weren’t solved because I was the champion tennis player of the world after winning Wimbledon and Forrest Hills in the same year. Not by a long shot. I was only thirty years old and I had the best part of my life still to live.

I had to think about making enough money to support myself, about fitting myself, a black girl, into the larger world that I had come to know and to enjoy, and about whether or not I wanted to get married–and if I did, what was I going to do about it?

As far as making money was concerned, I had my mind pretty well made up. I might play professional tennis if a good opportunity presented itself, but I wouldn’t become a professional unless I thought I saw a chance to make a lot of money. I didn’t want to be a teaching pro all my life. I would rather remain an amateur, earn my living doing something else, and play tennis strictly for kicks.

Singing

Furthermore, I knew what that something else would be. It would be singing. I was very serious about it and I was sure of my…