| Dennis Ralston was at the top of his game in the early 1970s. As a Wimbledon champion in doubles and coach for the U.S. Davis Cup team, the esteemed tennis professional and father of three was moving confidently through the prestigious arena of world-class sports. What else could he possibly need for a fulfilling life? For that matter, what else was there?
Then God intervened.
After a two-month-long tour in 1972, Ralston returned home to learn that his wife, Linda, and their children had barely escaped tragedy in a California flash flood. The event spurred Linda Ralston to ask some tough questions.
"I remember well the feelings of fear and helplessness as the car tossed and turned along the highway with us inside. I didn't know where or how we would end up," she said, reliving the experience that seemed an ironic parallel to her life at the time.
With her husband often away from home for long periods of time, she was trying to fill the multiple roles of mother and father, friend and disciplinarian. With diapers and dirty dishes a constant burden, she felt out of control and overwhelmed.
Miraculously, Linda maneuvered the floating car to an off ramp.
"After we escaped the flooded highway," she said, "I immediately noticed a sign at the intersection advertising a Vacation Bible School class on the Bible and discipline. I'm not a charismatic person, but I felt God speaking to me in a very real way. I knew what I was going to do."
Linda and the Ralston children began attending church. As she prayed and read Scripture, Linda also discovered the answers she sought were found only in Christ.
Dennis Ralston, meanwhile, did not know what to make of this cross-court, change-up volley in his life. "In Linda I saw something profound happening," he said of the events nearly 30 years ago. "Her life was taking on new direction, new purpose. I saw something I wanted too."
A few months later, Ralston attended a three-day spiritual revival at a nearby church. Though he heard the Gospel presented each night, he could not reconcile something critical in his mind.
"The biggest hurdle for me in accepting Christ was that I could be forgiven," he said, reflecting on his celebrity lifestyle and self-serving attitude. "It just didn't seem possible to me, knowing everything I had done. But when I finally understood why Jesus went to the Cross, it changed my life and my attitude about everything."
On the final evening of the revival, Dennis Ralston, one of tennis' golden stars, humbly accepted Christ's gift of salvation.
Today, the international Hall of Fame athlete directs the tennis program bearing his name at a popular U.S. hotel and resort. He spends his days helping make a difference for youth and adults, teaching them tennis and serving Christ through word and deed. What has he learned about himself and his unique roll in reaching others as a Christian athlete?
"When I became a Christian," Ralston said, "some people suggested I change my career, that I get out of tennis. But God showed me the issue is not in what I do here on earth as much as what He does through me wherever I am, in whatever I do. For me that is tennis - that's where I can make a difference.
"Many athletes today do not feel any sense of responsibility to those who look to them as leaders and achievers. They often think they're bigger than their sport. But they cannot deny that the sport makes them heroes - especially to kids. And being a Christian athlete in the spotlight of professional sports is not easy. When athletes, Christian or not, mess up, the press is always there to make it public record.
"But that's not the real challenge for a Christian athlete. Our challenge lies in how we use sports as a platform to convey a message - positive or negative. Many people "out there" may only have exposure to Christ through the personal testimony of an athlete. They may never see Him any other way. That's how athletes who are sharing their faith when given opportunity and living it out through their lives and their sport are having the most impact for Christ."
Ralston, who has either coached or played with tennis giants Chris Everett, Jimmy Conners, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Yannick Noah, Gabriela Sabatini and the late Arthur Ashe, has shared his faith openly with many of them. He said his reason for doing so is not about how it reflects on him, but rather about the heavenly prize described by Paul in Philippians 3.
"Many athletes have fame and money, but that doesn't mean they're happy," he explained. "Tennis is like life in many ways. It's full of bad bounces, bad line calls, and high and low balls.
"How I live says a lot about who God is in me. As I'm growing older, I'm seeing life differently. Being a Christian does not mean I'm perfect; it just means I've been saved for a purpose."
For professional athlete Dennis Ralston, that purpose has everything to do with serving Christ and not just returning a serve.
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