Vania King discusses how difficult it was for her older brother, Phillip, when their parents pushed him to go to Duke University rather than to the pros because they were focused more on academics. Phillip King won the 18s Nationals twice and was the No. 1 junior in the country. He played four years at Duke and was an All-American, but did not make an impact on tour after he graduated and quickly moved on.
"It was tough for my parents because they came from Taiwan and they didn’t want to risk their first child to play pro tennis," King told Tennisone.com. "They were reluctant and didn’t want to give him the chance. It's very difficult to even reach the Top 100. Personally I think he always wondered because when he was 17 or 18 he was ranked around No. 280 and he was beating Andy [Roddick] and Mardy [Fish] and all these great players. He wondered how good he could have been."
The 22-year-old American added that her parents learned from the experience, so when she told them she had accepted an offer to go to Stanford University in 2006, they told her she couldn’t go and should instead turn pro.
"They saw that he suffered by going to college," she said.