She used to be known as the “brat of the women’s tennis tour,” now she’s known as Sister Andrea. Sometimes miracles do happen. At least that’s what those close to Andrea Jaeger believe.
Twenty-five years ago Jaeger was the No. 2 women’s tennis player in the world. She was a hot commodity and didn’t let people forget it. She had a reputation for screaming at linesmen and was standoffish to competitors.
Fast forward to the present and you’ll find the former tennis star wearing a traditional habit, surrounded by a group of young cancer survivors in the halls of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Jaeger’s dramatic change in professions has made headlines around the world: two months ago the former “tennis terror” officially became, Sister Andrea, an Anglican Dominican nun. At 41-years-old Jaeger says she has dedicated her life to the care of kids in need, visiting hospitals and running camps for kids with cancer.
Sister Andrea says the turn of events was “God’s plan,” though she admits she didn’t hear the call to become a nun until earlier this year. She says her calling came in the form of a dream: “I was getting a tour of a monastery. My tour director was Catherine of Siena, who mission was to help the sick, the poor and the suffering.”
Helping the poor is a far cry from what Jaeger did on the tennis court. Her tennis career ended at the French Open in 1985 when she popped her right shoulder. Jaeger retired from the sport in 1987, took the money she won on the tour, and moved to Colorado to start a foundation. Today, her Little Star Foundation provides programs for more than 8,000 children a year that are seriously ill, abused or at-risk.
During a recent interview with reporters Jaeger was asked if she missed professional tennis. Her reply: “My answer has always been, ‘No regrets.’ God wanted me to do something else, and it happened to be helping children with cancer. I love what I do.”