Family Matters: Shelby Rogers' road to the U.S. Open

NEW YORK—While Jim Gabrish was celebrating his stepdaughter Sabra Rogers’ graduation from Emory, his younger stepdaughter, Shelby, called with some news: She had turned pro. Sabra played college tennis, but Shelby went another route, joining the pro tour at age 17.

Garish, who played pro sports for the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns of the National Football League, fully supported the teenager’s decision.

“I would have regretted not giving myself a chance,” Shelby says. “I knew I could always go back [to college] and study. I wanted to go and play on tour when I was young and had the opportunity.”

It’s an opportunity the now-22-year-old has made the most of this week in Flushing Meadows. Ranked No. 154, Rogers won three matches in qualifying—the last a three-set victory over 15th seed Alla Kudryavtseva—to reach the main draw of the U.S. Open for the third consecutive year.

The South Carolina native, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 70 last year, nearly missed out on another trip to the Big Apple long before last week’s three-match run. Earlier this summer, Garish received a text at 5:30 a.m. from Shelby’s coach, Marc Lucero, saying that she was taken off the court in a wheelchair. While playing a grass-court tournament in Birmingham, a wrong slip forced her to retire from her match. The injury turned out to be a torn MCL, which luckily didn’t require surgery.

Determined to play Wimbledon, Rogers threw caution to the wind—and lost 6-0, 6-0 to Andrea Petkovic. It was a clear signal that she needed to recover, which required hours of rehab, lots of patience, and the right attitude. But Rogers looked at things from a positive point of view.

“[An injury] gives you opportunities to strengthen something else you maybe wouldn’t have gotten to work on if you hadn’t been injured,” Rogers says. “It’s helpful at keeping perspective.”

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Rogers’ stepfather, a former all-American football player at The Citadel, has an unsurprisingly tough approach to injuries. She’ll always be playing in some kind of pain, Garish says, but his experience on the gridiron and athletic background has aided in getting her through it.

“I helped Shelby at a young age to take care of injuries,” Garish says. “She was 9 or 10 and I would say, ‘You’ve got to stick your foot in that ice to play tomorrow, or you can’t play tomorrow.’ Shelby learned to take care of herself.”

Support has followed Rogers throughout her career, from her parents to the USTA to her older sister Sabra.

“She keeps me sane,” Rogers says of Sabra, who became a psychologist after graduation (and is working on a graduate degree at The Citadel). “She has a third-person vantage point, and I know I can always vent to her. She can be very unbiased so that’s nice.”

Last year, Rogers earned her biggest win of her career over then-No. 8-ranked Eugenie Bouchard in Montreal. She also reached her first WTA final in Bad Gastein, where she won six matches (three qualifying, three main draw). While she has yet to go beyond the second round of a major, this week she’s looking to make her family—and the home crowd—proud.

“Being an American at this Slam is unbelievable,” says Rogers, who will play fellow American Sachia Vickery in the first round. “The crowd gets behind you and wants you to win every point, it’s a special feeling.”