Brush with reality has tennis star celebrating
IT was a random media stunt, but it was a moment that drove home to Lizette Cabrera how lucky she is.
Cabrera, along with a couple of Queensland Tennis teammates, swapped a racquet for a brush and took to the roof of the Queensland Tennis Centre to celebrate a return to the training courts.
With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions over the weekend, Cabrera was able to return to a little bit of normality getting one-on-one training from her Queensland Tennis Academy coaches at the state-of-the-art facility.
But it was high above the centre in a cherry picker when the Townsville tennis star had a moment of clarity.
“They gave us all a brush and I had to pretend like I was painting the roof, it was really nice and really peaceful up there,” she said.
“I had never seen the centre like that. Since I moved from Townsville when I was 13 I have trained in the academy there but I had never seen it from that high up.
“I had a moment of clarity, I am just so happy to be training in a facility like that. It didn’t hurt the weather was so nice.”
It was the first day Cabrera had been back in the centre since the COVID-19 restrictions forced players off the courts.
But she has not taken a backwards step through the lockdown, getting the opportunity to hit the ball on the home court of fellow tennis ace Priscilla Hon as well as working on court at a local private school.
Her coaches had given the 22-year-old professional a daily fitness program.