{"id":56470,"date":"2025-07-11T09:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T09:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/56470\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T09:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T09:19:10","slug":"i-was-a-wimbledon-finalist-at-18-and-had-razor-blades-put-in-my-trainers-but-quit-sport-to-become-a-nun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/56470\/","title":{"rendered":"I was a Wimbledon finalist at 18 and had razor blades put in my trainers but quit sport to become a nun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrea Jaeger embarked on a hugely unexpected new career after retiring from tennis<\/strong> more than 40 years ago.<\/p>\n

After turning professional at the age of just 14, Jaeger quickly rose through the ranks and became the No.2 ranked female tennis player in the world at just 16.<\/p>\n

\"Jaeger<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Jaeger was a teen talent on the tennis courtCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The American defeated almost all the top-ranked tennis stars. <\/p>\n

In 1980, she became the youngest person ever to be seeded at Wimbledon and beat home favourite Virginia Wade.<\/p>\n

Later that same year she became the youngest ever semi-finalist at the US Open.<\/p>\n

Jaeger went on to win the French Open alongside Jimmy Arias in mixed doubles in 1981 and also reached the final of Wimbledon<\/a> at 18, in 1983, losing 6-1, 6-1 to Martina Navratilova.<\/p>\n

However, just one year on from her impressive run at the All England Club, a shoulder injury forced her to hang up her racket.<\/p>\n

Rather than going into a new role within tennis, or a different sport, she completely switched up what she was doing.<\/p>\n

Jaeger, now 60, immediately switched her focus to going to college to study theology and ministry training before eventually becoming a nun.<\/p>\n

“I just knew that God existed and that we were friends and had a personal relationship,” she told The Mail<\/a> in 2008. “None of my family knew I prayed every day of my life.<\/p>\n

“In August 2006, I received an associate degree in Ministry Training and Theology. Then I entered a Dominican Sisterhood Programme.<\/p>\n

“It’s a strict discipline. I wake at 4am, do my prayers and my spiritual study, then I start work at 5am or 6am fund-raising, scheduling programmes and running those programmes.<\/p>\n

\"Now<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Now she makes a racket about God and helping othersCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“We have something happening for children somewhere in the world every day.”<\/p>\n

When asked if her religious clothing is a permanent fixture, she said: “How often I wear the nun’s habit depends on what I’m doing. I have three of them. They get dirty pretty fast.<\/p>\n

“I keep getting the robes stuck in buses and escalators. Once I jumped in a cab and left half of it outside the door. The first week I wore it, at a huge global conference in New York City. A bird went to the bathroom on me.<\/p>\n

“I thought that was God’s way of saying, ‘Maybe it’s OK to be a little muddy on the edges \u2013 you’re the one who used to dive for balls on the tennis court.’<\/p>\n

\"Jaeger<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Jaeger was beaten in the 1982 French Open final by NavratilovaCredit: AFP<\/p>\n

“I believe I’ll always be a Sister. I have a joy and love of life and it’s easier to express that in this field.”<\/p>\n

Since retiring, Jaeger has revealed she was sexually harassed by an unnamed WTA staff member.<\/p>\n

She told the Independent<\/a> in 2022: “I went with her and her girlfriend in the car. The person was swaying while driving and I remember we hit either some garbage or a mailbox. When we got to my condo, she walked me to the door and tried something on with me.<\/p>\n

“She was trying to kiss me. I was so sickened that I was crawling up the stairs inside trying not to throw up so my dad wouldn\u2019t see me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"And<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

And Navratilova beat Jaeger in the Wimbledon final in 1983Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

She also had her tennis kit destroyed when on tour and her experiences caused her to avoid the locker rooms when playing in a Wimbledon legends game in 2019.<\/p>\n

“I had situations where I\u2019d go to get my racket and the strings would be cut,” she added.<\/p>\n

“When I went to put on my shoes, someone had left razor blades inside them.”<\/p>\n

Now though, Jaeger is focusing on creating positivity in the world and has done ever since she quit tennis.<\/p>\n

\"Jaeger's<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Jaeger’s tennis career was curtailed by injury but sport’s loss is Christianity’s gainCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

After calling time on her career she sold her car, her jewellery and watches and made charitable donations before setting up her own foundation.<\/p>\n

She started by running activity programmes for children with cancer.<\/p>\n

Now 39 years on, the Little Star Foundation offers long-term care to ill and neglected children across the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tennis fans may have lost out on watching Jaeger put in stunning performances on the court.<\/p>\n

But she’s certainly still bringing plenty of joy to the people in the US every year.<\/p>\n

In December 2024, she even rejected the chance to attend a Hollywood premier in order to visit people affected by hurricanes in the Tampa area.<\/p>\n

Instead, she arranged a private film premier screening, with the permission of the producers, for those affected by the hurricanes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrea Jaeger embarked on a hugely unexpected new career after retiring from tennis more than 40 years ago.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":56471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[41385,62,1464,67,132,68,2071],"class_list":{"0":"post-56470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-andrea-jaeger","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-wimbledon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114833861260379779","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}