Olympics the main regret on Austin's resume
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-19 16:03

LOS ANGELES - While former world number one Tracy Austin has few regrets over a glittering career that was cut short in its prime, she is bitterly disappointed she never had the chance to compete at the Olympics.

Tennis returned to the Summer Games as a full medal sport in 1988 after a 64-year hiatus, nearly half a decade after Austin's best seasons were behind her.

"I would have loved to have played for the United States at the Olympics," Austin told Reuters. "I played many times for FedCup and for Wightman Cup and I was always stoked up and felt very special playing for my country.

"When they played the national anthem before the matches, you got the chills and the goose bumps. But I never had that opportunity and the Olympics never even entered my thought process because I was retired when tennis came into play."

A child prodigy, Austin became the youngest U.S. Open champion in 1979 aged 16. She clinched a second U.S. crown in 1981 and racked up 30 WTA tournament wins before her dazzling but short career was truncated by a series of injuries.

She survived a near-fatal car accident when she was 25 and made several unsuccessful comeback attempts, the most recent of them in 1994.

However, Austin retains positive memories of what she achieved during her all-too-brief heyday on the tennis court.

CUT SHORT

"There is no way you can play, compete and train that many years doing something you love and think you are going to be doing it for a good 10-15 years and have it be cut short without being disappointed," she said.

"But then I look at the other side and I have to knock myself on the head and say: 'Hello, there are so many people who trained as hard as you did who didn't make it to number one in the world'.

"I look at the car accident I had when I was 25 and when you look at the car that I really shouldn't have gotten out of, I shouldn't be here. That's when I say: 'Wow, I'm so lucky'.

"I tend to be the type of person who looks at the glass half full instead of half empty," added Austin, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992.

Still living in her native California, Austin keeps in close contact with the game through her role as a television analyst. Overall, she believes the sport is thriving.

"I love it and there is very little I'd change. I like how physical the game has become, although I would like to see a few more serve-and-volleyers," the 45-year-old said.

"I always enjoyed the rivalries between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi and Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, the diversity in the way that they played with one player being aggressive and the other more in the back court.

MORE POWER

"However I don't think that's going to happen because the rackets are so much more powerful now and the strings allow you to hit with so much more power and spin. It is a different game than I played 15 years ago."

A topic close to her heart is the need for players to protect themselves from the ravages of the sun.

"When I came up, I didn't have the benefit of sun cream because it really wasn't that mainstream," said Austin, who is spearheading a skin health awareness campaign with compatriot Lindsay Davenport, also a former world number one.

"Growing up in California, we didn't play tennis indoors at all. The only time we did was when it was raining outside and those days were few and far between. I was probably around 20 when I first started to use sun screen.

"Now I never go out without sun screen, even on an overcast day," added the fair-skinned American. "I've got a collection of 40 different hats because I wear a hat every single day.

"Because I didn't have the benefits of sun screen, I have gained signs of ageing a little earlier than I would like.

"I asked my dermatologist if there was something I could do about the lines between my nose and my mouth. He recommended to me Juvederm, a dermal filler injected into the skin, and I have been using it ever since."