September 12, 2021
Dear Emma:
Sorry I missed the US Open final today. Incredible that you won it, becoming the first qualifier in the history of tennis to win a major championship. I am in Seattle celebrating my oldest daughter’s wedding. Emily is 27 years old and much like you, an incredibly hard worker who loves challenging herself in academics and athletics.
Emily’s tennis career ended when she placed 8th in the high school championships in the state of Oklahoma at #1 singles. I hope yours continues for many years and that your shocking, surprise title at the US Open does not become an expectation and burden you can never live up to again.
It will take dedication and luck, but you have a chance to equal or surpass two of your role models: Li Na from China, your mother’s country, and Simona Halep from Romania, your father’s country. Two great champions. Two national heroines whose countries followed their every step.
Whether your tennis career goes well or not, hope you can attend university one day. Emily learned so much there. Read lots of books and wrote lots of papers. She learned to think and write, discover her own voice and how it might impact the world. Wishing the same for you.
Fingers crossed.
Sincerely,
David Linebarger
Artist Bio: Born in the French Pyrenees, Miki de Goodaboom moved to Goettingen, Germany at age 19 to study mathematics and physics. After graduating, she worked for many years in German industry as a mathematician and consultant until she moved to Spain, Andalucia, where she lives now. A self-taught artist, Miki kept creating more and more art until it finally became her full-time profession. She most enjoys painting sport themes since she loves movement and the challenge of reducing it to 2 dimensions on paper or canvas. If you check out her countless “Sport Art” paintings and posters on her website, you will see almost 300 images from the entire world of sport. But as you can see from her website, she loves to paint almost anything she encounters in the world.
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