Andrea Jaeger

Andrea Jaeger

Andrea Jaeger arrived in pigtails and left too soon. A pro at fourteen, the youngest seed in Wimbledon history at fifteen in 1980, world No. 2 at sixteen, she reached two major finals and lost both to Martina Navratilova: Roland Garros 1982, then Wimbledon 1983. The night before that final she fled a row with her father and ended up knocking at the house where Navratilova was staying; by her own later account, the guilt of disturbing a rival's preparation meant she barely competed in a 6-0, 6-3 defeat.

Her shoulder gave out at nineteen, and the playing career, 12 career titles deep, was effectively over. The longer story started in 1990, when she poured her prize money, around 1.4 million dollars, into what became the Little Star Foundation, giving long-term care to children with cancer. In 2006 she took vows as an Anglican Dominican nun, Sister Andrea, and left the order in 2009; the foundation's work has never stopped.