By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
Most 11-year-olds spend their days playing Nintendo Switch, watching hours of brain rot TikTok videos and adjusting to the perils of middle school.
When Cristina Tiglea was 11, she left home to join the Italian national tennis team.
“I always wanted to play tennis,” said Tiglea, a senior Texas Tech transfer. “There were some days where I’m like, ‘I don’t have a life; I feel kind of lonely,’ because I left home when I was 11 to go practice with the national team. So it was kind of hard.