IT ALL STARTED WITH TENNIS
Tennis has shaped nearly every part of our lives.
Growing up on opposite sides of the world, it gave us the chance to come to the United States. It gave us an education. It brought us some of our closest friendships, mentors who believed in us, communities that became home, and opportunities that changed the direction of our lives.
Most importantly, it brought us to each other.
And ultimately, it gave us our family.
To us, tennis has never been just a sport.
Tennis gave us a life we could never have imagined.
And this is the story we want our children to know.
TWO DIFFERENT JOURNEYS
We grew up thousands of miles apart — Eduardo in Brazil and Tamo in the Republic of Georgia.
Different countries. Different cultures. Different childhoods.
But we shared one thing: tennis.
We spent countless hours on courts growing up — practicing, competing, traveling, making friends and dreaming — without ever knowing where tennis might one day take us.
Years later, tennis gave each of us an opportunity that changed everything: the chance to leave home, come to the United States and receive an education through the sport we loved.
At the time, we thought tennis was giving each of us a chance at a different future.
We had no idea it was doing something even bigger.
Tennis was bringing us to each other.
Everything that came after started there.
IT WAS ALWAYS THE PEOPLE
When we think about everything tennis has given us, it's easy to think first about the opportunities.
But more than anything, it's the people.
Some of the strongest friendships in our lives began on a tennis court when we were children.
We practiced together. Traveled together. Competed together.
Celebrated wins, worked through losses, spent countless hours at tournaments, and grew up beside one another.
Decades later, many of those people are still some of our closest friends.
Even now, when we go home to Brazil and Georgia, we naturally find ourselves surrounded by many of the same people tennis brought into our lives all those years ago.
And the circle only grew.
Tennis friends became family. Coaches became mentors. Tennis clubs became communities. Along the way, people believed in us, helped us, introduced us to opportunities, and changed our lives — sometimes without ever knowing how much their presence would eventually mean.
Countries changed. Careers changed. Life moved forward.
The people stayed.
And when we think about the greatest gifts tennis has given us, so much of it comes back to them.
THE FAMILY TENNIS BUILT
EVERYTHING LED HERE
Tennis continued shaping our lives long after our college matches ended.
The communities we found through the game became part of our professional lives. Relationships became introductions. Introductions became opportunities. People we knew through tennis helped us see possibilities we never could have planned when we first picked up a racquet.
Tennis didn't simply open doors for us. It put people in our lives who showed us doors we didn't even know were there.
But of everything tennis has given us, nothing compares to what came next.
Our family.
Sometimes we look at Luca and Mateo and think about just how unlikely this story really is.
Their mom grew up in Georgia. Their dad grew up in Brazil.
Thousands of miles apart, two children happened to grow up playing the same sport. Years later, that sport brought both of them to the United States, to the same university, to the same team — and eventually, to each other.
Then came a life together.
And then came them.
When we trace our story backward, tennis seems to be there at almost every turn — behind a friendship, an opportunity, a community, or a person who changed what came next.
Eventually, all of those little connections became something much bigger than tennis.
They became our life.
Our family exists at the end of a story that, in so many ways, started with a tennis racquet in the hands of two kids who had no idea where the game would take them.
That is how much tennis means to us.
A STORY WE WANT THEM TO KNOW
FOR LUCA & MATEO
That is why we started Our Tennis Family.
Today, Luca and Mateo are too young to understand any of this.
To them, tennis is a racquet in their hands. A ball to chase. A morning on the court. A game with Deda (mom in Georgian) and Papai (dad in Portuguese). A high five after getting one over the net.
And we love that.
But one day, we want them to be able to look back and understand what was behind all of those little moments.
We want them to know about the sacrifices their grandparents made so tennis could be part of our lives in the first place. We want them to know about the friendships that lasted across countries and decades. The education tennis made possible. The coaches and mentors who believed in us. The communities that welcomed us. The people who helped us along the way. The opportunities we never could have predicted.
The two lives the game brought together.
And the family that came afterward.
When we put a racquet in their hands, we're not simply introducing them to a sport.
We're sharing one of the most meaningful parts of who we are.
THEIR STORY
We don't know where tennis will take them.
Maybe they'll compete seriously one day.
Maybe tennis will help with their education.
Maybe they'll meet lifelong friends.
Maybe they'll find mentors who change their lives.
Maybe the game will take them around the world or open doors they can't possibly imagine yet.
Or maybe none of those things will happen.
Maybe tennis will simply become something they remember doing with Mom and Dad when they were little.
Sunday mornings on the court. A hopper of balls. Laughing between drills. Running over for a high five.
And that would be enough.
Their tennis story belongs to them.
WE JUST GET THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING THERE AT THE BEGINNING
PASSING IT ON
The same hope we have for our boys is what we hope to share with other families.
We don't share tennis because we believe every child needs to become a great player.
We share it because we know how impossible it is to predict what one sport, one court, one coach, one friendship, or one opportunity might eventually become.
For one child, tennis might simply mean afternoons on the court with Mom or Dad.
For another, it might bring confidence. A friendship. A mentor. A community. An education. A chance to see the world. An opportunity they never imagined.
We can't promise another family that tennis will give them what it gave us.
That's not the point.
Our hope is simply to inspire more families to begin — to spend time together, enjoy the game, and give their children the opportunity to write a tennis story of their own.
Because somewhere, a child may be walking onto a tennis court for the first time with absolutely no idea where that little moment might one day lead.
Once, that was us.
We don't know what tennis will mean to our boys.
And we don't know what it might mean to yours.
But we know what it has meant to us.
It gave us friendships.
It gave us opportunities.
It gave us a community.
It brought us together.
And ultimately, it gave us our family.
Tennis gave us so much.
Now we're passing it on.