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Tennis - 20-year-old British woman Harriet Dart says her goal is to follow in the footsteps of her chiildhood idol Maria Sharapova and become the top-ranked player in the world. In an interview to The Independent,, Hart says, "If I didn't enjoy doing it and love competing I wouldn't be in this sport.
I love everything that comes with it even though there’s a lot of bad things - travelling isn't always fun for 24 hours on your own sitting in economy. But I love competing. I want to see how far I can get and just be the best I can be.
I’ve dreamt of being world number one and winning a grand slam since I was very little and saw [Maria] Sharapova on the television. Pretty much all my life has been around tennis. It’s always something I wanted to do.
Family support is essential as I wouldn't be able to play otherwise… I'm not making money but I'm not heavily in debt either.” Dart also spoke about how she needs to become her own personal assistant and find cheap hotels and tickets for her travels around the world.
“I'd rather do it myself than anyone else because at least I know where everything is, what’s been done, what’s been paid for, what hasn’t. You have to try and find cheap tickets and ways that you can make them flexible in case you lose and get out straight away.
It’s difficult. You have long travel days on your own, you're on your own a lot of the time, you have to like your own company a lot. You go all that way, you maybe lose in the first round, then you've got to motivate yourself to go practise and train for a whole week.
A lot is last minute - plans can change, you can get injured, suddenly get into a higher tournament so then you go there. You have to be prepared for anything. You pay for your hotel, you pay for your flights, your food, and then if you get your coach to come you pay for all of his expenses plus his fee.
It’s why I’ve travelled a lot on my own.” Dart is currently ranked 279th in the world and has won 2 ITF singles and 9 ITF doubles titles in her short career so far. Also Read - Petra Kvitova Closes in on Top 10