DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Four years after she reached the junior singles final at the United States Open, Tornado Alicia Black, once the most promising young female player in the country, moved gingerly on a quiet tennis court behind a set of condominiums, coaching a 10-year-old girl.
While many of Black’s peers were preparing to play in this year’s Open, she was lobbing balls to the student and then cajoling her to pick them up.
“Move your shoulders,” Black said patiently. “Come on, you have to stay with it.”
But staying with it is becoming increasingly difficult for Black herself.