Former Tennis Pro Found Identity in Christ, and It Changed Everything

Published: May 12, 2025

By Mallory Mattingly

Former tennis pro Shelby Rogers didn’t always follow Jesus wholeheartedly, but now that she lives for Him, she knows that Christ has made all the difference.

The athlete grew up in a Christian household in South Carolina with her older sister and mother. As a single mother, Rogers’ mom wanted her children in church every Sunday.

“That was the routine we were used to, and we believed in Jesus that He was our Savior,” the tennis star said in Sports Spectrum’s recent “I Once Was” video.

When Rogers turned 4, she picked up a tennis racket and began to fall in love with the sport. By the age of 18, she moved away from home to pursue her tennis career full-time.

“I officially turned pro, and when I was in Florida, I continued to go to church. I stayed plugged in. I had friends, I had community,” Rogers explained. “But then I would go on tour, and I had nothing. So when I was home in Florida, I would be one person, and on tour, I was another. So I was sort of one foot in, one foot out.”

“A few years into the tour, I realized that was not sustainable,” she continued. “I was walking around on tour with my ranking on my forehead. Your latest results are your identity. You’re either a winner or you’re a loser. Your value is either good or bad depending on how you do on the tennis court.”

When she came to that realization, Rogers took a long look in the mirror and knew she needed to shift her foundation from tennis to Jesus.

“A personal relationship with Jesus changes everything. It changed my life. I was more free than I’d ever been on tour,” she revealed. “My value didn’t change based on my results, and I had more fun. I had one of the best seasons of my career following that.”

For more inspiring sports stories, check out Sports Spectrum.

“A few years later, I was able to go through multiple knee surgeries with a positive attitude and come back from those,” she added. “And just anything that was thrown at me was sort of filtered through that faith I had and that anchor I had in Jesus Christ.”

The athlete announced her retirement from tennis last August, saying, “When you start playing a sport as a kid, you never think about it ending.”

“The Lord has truly done more with this dream than I could’ve ever asked or imagined (Eph 3:20), and I give Him all the glory and praise,” Rogers continued, reflecting on her career. “Jesus has been my foundation and my anchor through this crazy life on tour. I am forever humbled by the blessings and joys He has gifted me through both the nights and lows.”

Rogers declares she’s a “Christ follower” in her Instagram bio and includes the Bible verse Ephesians 2:8: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

She also uses her social media platform as a way to talk about her faith. This past Easter, Rogers shared a photo with her husband.

“Happy Easter! Today we celebrate a new beginning! Hope lives. Grace wins. Jesus is alive. He is not here. He has risen. Just as He said,” she wrote.