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From competing in the Australian Open to winning gold at the Commonwealth Youth Games, Jade Hopper opens up about what inspired her to trade in her tennis racket for a career in law.
Speaking on a recent episode of the Protégé Podcast, Jade Hopper, a special counsel at Nicholes Family Lawyers, discussed the factors that influenced her decision to end her professional tennis career and fully dedicate herself to a career in law.
Hopper recounted how she started her junior international career at the age of 13, “the youngest age” allowed to compete at that level. From there, she went on to compete in professional tournaments around the globe.
Throughout her career, Hopper achieved numerous milestones, stating: “I still look back [on those moments] today; the memories will never leave me.”
One of the memories she expressed that she cherishes most is winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games in India.
“Standing on the podium, hearing the Australian national anthem play because you’ve won that medal for your country, is an amazing memory that I will never forget … You competed and played for your country. That was a very unique feeling for me,” she said.
Another moment Hopper holds dear is her experience at the 2011 Australian Open, where she received her player’s badge and had the chance to compete at her home Grand Slam.
Despite these remarkable achievements, Hopper expressed that her passion for tennis began to conflict with the challenging realities of balancing her athletic career with the demanding workload of completing a law degree.
“I’d already started my law degree through a university in Australia, and I think I was in my second or third year part-time in my law degree while I was competing, and I was really struggling to do both,” she said.
Although Hopper knew she would eventually transition into the legal profession after her tennis career, she shared that “trying to do both successfully was slowly killing me”.
“There were many weeks when I was attempting to finish legal assignments [which] aren’t short; there are many thousands of words. [I would] finish them at 2 or 3am and then try to show up at 9am for a tennis match,” she said.
Hopper reflected on the realisation that balancing both pursuits was unsustainable, explaining that she “wasn’t getting the marks that I hoped to get or at least know I could get”. Similarly, she noted that in tennis, “I wasn’t moving up the ranks as fast as I hoped for in tennis”.
“I felt like I was failing at both, even though I wasn’t. But I felt like I wasn’t dedicating my attention to either,” she said.
By the time the 2011 Australian Open came to a close, Hopper found herself at a crossroads, questioning whether she was “ready to do another year of this”. She ultimately faced the brutal truth that she was not prepared to continue.
She went on: “I looked at it and thought, even if I reach the highest levels of being a tennis player, is that something I want to do right now? It turned out that it wasn’t. I wasn’t ready to do another year on the tennis circuit.”
Fortunately, unlike many of her fellow athletes, Hopper expressed how fortunate she felt to have the option to retire on her own terms rather than having it taken out of her hands.
“It was my choice to end my career. A lot of my fellow tennis friends had their choice taken away from them either due to funding because tennis is very expensive to continue to travel around the world or through injury.
“So it was. It was a choice. It wasn’t their choice to retire. It was forced upon them. So, in saying the difficulties that I experienced, I still recognise how lucky I was to have had that experience and to also end my career on my terms,” she said.
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