Re: !!lindsay Lee-waters!!
Lee-Waters balances family, tennis
INDIAN HARBOUR BEACH - At first glance, one would spot Lindsay Lee-Waters pushing a stroller with a 6-year-old girl walking alongside and think, "That nanny has a pretty good tan."
Twenty minutes later, however, Lee-Waters is again spotted, this time warming up on Court 6 for her quarterfinal doubles match at the $50,000 MIMA Foundation/USTA Pro Tennis Classic. The children -- Sevyn (6) and Heath (1) -- are now with their father, Heath Waters, who happens to be Lindsay's husband and coach.
"Go, mom," one tournament player yells after a crosscourt drop winner by Lee-Waters during her Thursday afternoon doubles win. She teamed with fellow American Carly Gullickson to defeat Sofia Melikishvili and Anna Tatishvili 6-3, 6-2 to move into today's semifinals.
Lee-Waters, a 29-year-old Oklahoma native now living in Georgia, is the only touring pro she knows with two children. A mother and traveling pro tennis player is a rarity, although there is another in the MIMA field, singles quarterfinalist Rossana de los Rios (10-year-old son). One top 30 player, Sybille Bammer from Austria, also has a child.
As the players shook hands following the doubles match, Sevyn asked a spectator, "Did Mommy win?"
"She loves it," Lee-Waters said. "Every day here, we've gone out to the beach."
A Ladies Day crowd of more than 300 watched Thursday's play at the Kiwi Tennis Club. The lovebugs, plaguing the area, were also out in force for a second consecutive day.
Two more seeds fell as the singles draw moved into today's quarterfinals, No. 1 Shenay Perry and No. 7 Raquel Kops-Jones. That means of the eight seeded players, four did not reach the quarters. Two seeds who advanced, No. 2 Edina Gallovits and No. 8 de los Rios, will meet in a quarterfinal rematch of last year's MIMA final.
Ranked No. 73 in the world, Perry, who breezed in Wednesday's first-round match, squandered a match point in the second-set tie-breaker and fell 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3 to 23-year-old Chanelle Scheppers from South Africa.
"I thought I played OK," Perry said. "She played well. There's not too much you can do about that."
"It gives you confidence," Scheppers said of beating the top seed. "But the more matches you play, that gives you more confidence."
Seventh-seeded Kops-Jones fell 6-2, 7-6 (5) to Estefina Craciun from Uruguay. Craciun is also alive in doubles competition with partner Bettina Jozami and will face Gullickson/Lee-Waters this afternoon.
For Lee-Waters, this tournament and next week's $25,000 event in Palm Beach Gardens are part of a multi-year plan to defy time and traditional non-children pro careers. In 1996, Lee-Waters reached her career-best ranking of 33.
This week, Lee-Waters tumbled out of singles qualifying in the second round. She won four matches last week in a $50,000 event in Charlottesville, Va., but three of those were in qualifying.
"One of the things when I was pregnant with him was that I had goals I wanted to reach," Lee-Waters said. "For me, I still feel I can get to the top 50 or where my ranking was. I don't feel like just because you have a family, you have to stop going for your goals. I'm still young."
Several factors are providing Lee-Waters with the opportunity to make up the years lost through two pregnancies. One, she and her husband run the Virtual Tennis Academy, which provides online instruction. Two, Heath also is a coach for several promising players.
That provides the economic base for their travel expenses since no player at this professional level is becoming a millionaire through prize money. Sevyn is home-schooled, allowing the family to travel throughout the year.
"We're like the traveling hillbillies," Heath Waters said.
Lee-Waters said through the heart of the tennis schedule, the family will be on the road about three weeks each month. Her ranking has reached No. 420 after her layoff that ended last year (Heath Jr. is close to 13 months old). A Women's Tennis Association rule also allows her entry into eight main or qualifying draws of WTA Tour events at the ranking she owned when she left the tour.
"I'll give it a few years," Lee-Waters said. "It's getting there. Each day is better and better."