All for love: A story that pulls the heartstrings

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Grace loves tennis. She loves to practice, compete and socialise with her friends. The only thing she loved more than tennis was her mum, and when she passed away suddenly, all of the love she had for tennis disappeared. 

Grace and her two sisters grew up in Sri Lanka — a loving household that shared a love of family and tennis. The girls would have lessons and play with their friends during the week, and then the whole family would play together on the weekends. The girls attended the local school where both mum and dad were school teachers. They had a great group of friends and a local community, and life was good. Then one day, disaster struck.

Anitha, the girls' mother, was walking to school when she suffered a massive heart attack and could not be saved. This was an incredible shock to the family, as Anitha was a fit and healthy young mother who played lots of sports and looked after herself, and nobody could imagine this happening to her.

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As the family dealt with this unimaginable tragedy, their father, Aravinda, could see that his beloved girls were in a rut, and he was not sure how they were going to get through this time.

Grace withdrew from her friendship group, stopped going to the tennis club and would only leave her bedroom to go to school. Her sisters and father did what they could to help, but they were also still dealing with their own grief, so they struggled to help.

Then, after much thought, Aravinda made the decision to move his girls to Australia. He got a job as a relief teacher and decided a fresh start would be the perfect tonic for him and his girls. Once they arrived in Sydney, the girls started at a new school, which can be daunting at the best of times, let alone when you have moved from an entirely different country. One of the local girls befriended Grace in her first week at the new school, and they realised they had a common interest: tennis. Her new friend encouraged Grace to attend her tennis club, so they started playing regularly. Grace then joined a squad, and her sisters joined as well. 

Whilst the girls and Grace in particular seemed to have their mojo back, Aravinda was now struggling. Being in a new country with no support network was not easy. His role as a relief teacher had not worked out as planned, and he was relying on casual teaching days. The girls were all asking for private tennis lessons and wanting to attend tournaments. He wanted to give his girls everything, but it was proving difficult on one wage.

Aravinda thought outside the box. He joined the club as a member, so court hire was included. He would then book the court next to the head coach so he would listen and then replicate the lesson with his daughters. He would watch matches on television, read articles and organise hits for his girls with other members.

Grace was showing the most interest and potential and wanted to test herself against other girls her age. She could get lifts to tournaments, and often her friends' mothers would look after her between matches and make sure she had enough to eat and drink. 

I was coaching another girl at one of the tournaments and got talking to Aravinda about parents coaching their kids, and he told me his story. He said obviously he would love his daughters to have the best coaching, but he was doing his best with what he had and would continue to provide what he could.

Their story really pulled at the heartstrings, and you had to feel for the family and what they have been through while at the same time admiring their resilience and love for each other.

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I have gotten to know Grace and the family well over the course of the last year. Grace has become one of the highest-ranked players in her age group and is thriving in her new environment. Her sisters are also loving life in Australia and continue to enjoy tennis, whilst Aravinda has continued to have a smile on his face and will do anything for his girls. He recently told me that he will "do anything for my girls and keep reminding them how much both their mother and I love them."

No matter what they are doing in their day-to-day lives, everything they do is all for love. Love of tennis, each other and the memory of their mother, who is never far away from their thoughts and would be extremely proud of her girls.

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