Candles are part of Christmas celebrations all over the world. A shining ‘candle’ we can hold aloft this Christmas season is a marvel of a woman, who was a tennis prodigy as well as a Dominican Sister.
Andrea Jaeger, born in Chicago, U.S., in 1965, grew up watching her parents play tennis. Coached by her father, she became a sensation as a high school athlete who won successive national titles and became a professional at the age of fourteen. Quickly she became World No. 2, who won 10 singles titles and defeated some of the tennis legends like Chris Evert and Billie Jean King. She reached the singles final of the French Open in 1982 and that of Wimbledon in 1983.
What was strangely new in this teenager, hailed as a prodigy, was her deep and active concern for children, especially the sick and poor children. Unlike the usual athlete who is ready to do anything to win, she felt bad about defeating people. “I think that’s why I struggled so much on the tennis circuit because you have to be selfish to succeed.” She found it difficult to reconcile her desire to be good to others and help them with the narrow-minded focus a top tennis player is expected to have on winning.
“I remember playing at Madison Square Garden, and there had been some suicides at a nearby school. They were worried about cluster suicides, so I gave the school a call and went in to speak to the student council, teachers and parents. I didn’t tell anyone about it. But one of the parents happened to be a photographer for the New York Times and it got on the front page of the sport section.” The organizers “threw the paper at me and told me it was making the tour look bad and I had to stop doing all my charity efforts. I left the room and asked God for guidance.”
During tournaments she began visiting hospitals. “The first time I went into a hospital and met young people with cancer was when I was sixteen. That’s when I knew that helping people like them was what I wanted to do.” Andrea suffered a shoulder injury at the 1984 French Open and by 1987 her career was over. She saw it as a blessing rather than a burden. She believed that the injuries that forced her to quit was God’s way of guiding her.
Jaeger sold her Mercedes Benz and used about 1.5 million dollars that she earned from tennis to create the Silver Lining Foundation, which transported groups of young cancer patients for a week of togetherness and fun activities. It also provided money for reunions, family camp-outs, college scholarships, medical internships, and other programs for children. Soon she won the support of prominent athletes like John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. In 1996, Jaeger received the Samuel S. Beard Award for Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Under. Her autobiography, First Service, was published in 2004, and all proceeds from the book were donated to children’s charities.
In 2006 her life took another turn. Having acquired a degree in theology she joined the Anglican Dominican Order and became ‘Sister Andrea.’ People could not believe their eyes when they saw the former tennis star in a nun’s habit. Jaeger established another Foundation called the ‘Little Star Foundation’, which helps an average of 8,000 children suffering from serious diseases, neglect and poverty. But, because of conflicts between the traditional requirements of a religious congregation and her commitment to her Foundations, which required about $4.3 million a year for its charitable activities, she quit the Order. She did so to continue what she was doing for children with problems.
Oprah Winfrey calls her “a superstar who has become a superhero.”
During the festive season when we keep gazing at a helpless little Child in a manger, Andrea Jaeger will help us think of God’s little children who suffer due to poverty or disease.
M.A. Joe Antony, SJ
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