When Gustavo Kuerten, the three-time French Open champion, refers to a “one-in-a-hundred-million” chance of making it in professional tennis, he is not referring to Novak Djokovic or Serena Williams, who have combined for 32 Grand Slam titles.
Those enormous odds more accurately describe Teliana Pereira, a Brazilian compatriot of Kuerten’s who has a 2-8 record at majors.
But wins and losses, the usual formula with which to assess success in sports, are only part of the equation for Kuerten. The path to becoming a tennis professional was littered with obstacles for Pereira, 27, which makes her winning two clay-court singles titles on the WTA Tour and reaching the top 50 in the rankings particularly astounding.