BATON ROUGE — Sometimes finding someone’s story takes a little patience. Eventually, that patience paid off with a conversation that led to Sarah Ketchings and a story centered around a lifelong love of tennis.

“For me personally, it’s like a generational thing that was passed down from my grandmother, and my parents played,” Ketchings said.

Ketchings has spent most of her life on the court. She estimates she’s been playing for about 35 years, though there was a pause along the way.

“I took a break after high school while I was in college and didn’t play much,” Ketchings said. “I got back into it within the last four years and started playing competitively again.”

Now a mother of two, Ketchings says tennis offers something many parents search for: a moment of personal escape.

“While I’m playing, I’m just thinking about tennis and nothing else that’s going on in my life,” Ketchings said. “It’s definitely a ‘me’ thing.”

Her connection to the sport started long before competitive matches or adult leagues. It began in her grandmother’s backyard.

“My grandmother had a court in her yard, and so me and all my cousins and siblings grew up playing all the time,” Ketchings said. “She had matches all the time in her backyard for fun. The local high school also played their matches there.”

Ketchings says those early days watching and playing match after match helped shape a passion that never fully faded.

“I do feel really grateful that I was given that opportunity before I even realized what a great opportunity it was,” she said, “and how it would stick with me for my whole entire life.”

Her story is a reminder that sometimes passions pause, but they don’t always disappear. And for Ketchings, picking up a racket again proved it’s never too late to return to the game.