Going into the 2023 Australian Open, I decided to wear the number 3 patch to honor Damar Hamlin. Ironically, yes, I was ranked No. 3 in the world. However, it didn’t feel like it was just for him, it felt like it was for my mom as well. To see the attention it garnered in Australia, across the world, in a different country, just reminded me why I love sports and the beauty of coming together. Some of my close friends who know every detail of what has happened tell me, “I don’t know how you have made it through the year, let alone finished No. 3 in the world.” I just say I have no freaking clue. I guess one thing I learned from the past year is it can be a great year, and a bad year, both can be true.

My mom is working hard in her recovery, she is improving, but where she ends up is still unknown. Luckily, we have some amazing people around us who have been crucial in helping her and without them I am not sure where our family would be. As people have gotten to know me more on court, and through interviews, they always tell me how calm, cool, and collected I am (for most part haha). I definitely get that from my mom (sorry, Dad). I like to think that our similarities helped prime me to deal with the obstacles of the past year. I have been writing this throughout the Australian Open as a sort of therapy whenever I feel some anxiety or just the need to vent. I didn’t know what my result would be but before I left, my mom told me to “take it seriously,” which my family and I laughed about because we weren’t quite sure what she meant. But like she always told us, “If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.”

It has been a tough year but at the same time I feel lucky and blessed.

[Thanks to my friend and former colleague Cortney O’Brien for the hat-tip on this. It’s a very inspiring essay about family, illness, and how to persevere, even if that doesn’t necessarily mean an instant overcoming. — Ed]