Rettenmaier: Once Retired, now Champion

Travis Rettenmaier.

MOBILE, Al -- Travis Rettenmaier is a journeyman. He took nearly two years off the tennis tour and took what he called 'a normal job.'

Rettenmaier was a bright student and went to the University of California at Los Angeles at the age of 16. He played college tennis for two years before hitting the road and playing professional tennis. He found professional tennis to be harder to break through than he had envisioned.

"I had a breakdown and was in a really bad place," he said. "I wasn't really enjoying tennis anymore. It became businesslike for me and I felt pressure from the money and decided I was done completely."

It was his girlfriend who talked him into getting back on the Futures tour. "She kept telling me to get back on the court and I began taking yoga. I needed to see what was going on inside myself instead of all the exterior stuff. I figured nothing gives me more joy than playing tennis. So I decided to give it a run."

Rettenmaier is a journeyman. A journeyman always thinks that he has a shot, an outside chance of success. That is what motivates a journeyman.

Rettenmaier has gone from a job as an assistant coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas to winner of the Mobile Futures.

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Travis Rettenmaier's Hometown Newspaper. Quotes in above story appeared here first.