By Erin Bruehl, USTA.com

Tennis has been a part of Mary Joe Fernandez’s life since she first picked up a racquet at age three.

She had a successful professional career on the WTA Tour, with seven career singles titles, 19 doubles titles (including two Grand Slams), as well as three Olympic medals – two of them gold.

Since retiring from the Tour, tennis has continued to play a central role in Fernandez’s life as a tennis television commentator throughout the year (for either ESPN or CBS), including broadcasting all the Grand Slams. She is also the captain of the U.S. Fed Cup Team, which just advanced to the Fed Cup final for the second year in a row.

But tennis is not just something Fernandez, 38, does in her professional life. It is something she does with her family, including husband Tony Godsick and children Isabella, 8, and Nicholas, 5. And she hopes it will continue to be that way for quite awhile.

Both Isabella and Nicholas already play tennis and have learned to play thanks to QuickStart Tennis, the USTA’s play format that tailors the game of tennis to children under 10 years old.

“I am hoping to instill a love of the game to my children because I think it is a great sport. It is a sport you can play at any age, any level, anywhere in the world, and I think it is a family sport, as well,” Fernandez said. “I am not very pushy or go out there and play with them everyday, but they see me enjoy it, they see me commenting, they see me during Fed Cup, and that is one of the reasons they enjoy it.

“You learn a lot of discipline, hard work and so many different aspects of everyday life that you can transfer from tennis to later on,” she added. “Dedication, teamwork, sacrifice – there are so many things that you can get out of playing tennis, and I am hoping it is something we can do as a family for a very long time.”

Isabella is already playing tennis on a full-sized court (although still not using the full-sized racquet), while Nicholas started learning tennis with QuickStart, and the smaller court, racquets and softer balls made him immediately able to play – and love it.

“When Isabella just started, QuickStart had not started yet,” Fernandez recalled. “I remember taking her out to play with some of her friends and play with some of the pros in Cleveland (Ohio, where the family lives), and it was frustrating. Unless you can feed right to the child, she did not hit any balls. After half an hour, she would say, ‘That was not much fun, Mom.’

“QuickStart for me is great because they have success right away,” she added. “My little guy immediately connected with the ball and can play with his friend, which you really can’t do with the bigger racquets – it is too hard to get a rally going. So he absolutely loves it, and it so much fun to watch him.”

With her children still so young, Fernandez does not have to field too many questions about her own career from them, but they have seen some video of her – courtesy of their grandmother – and know she played professionally. During Olympics time, Fernandez brings her three Olympic medals (a bronze in singles and two golds in doubles) to Isabella’s school for a little show-and-tell.

For any working parents, balancing a job and family time requires planning and care, but Fernandez and Godsick make doing it right a priority. Godsick’s job is also in the tennis world as an agent with IMG, representing players and events with clients like Roger Federer, Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles, as well as the Wimbledon Championships. His work also causes him to travel – to many of the same tournaments as Fernandez when she is commentating.

And much of the time, Isabella and Nicholas accompany their parents on trips, including to three of the four Grand Slams. The French Open is the only one they do not attend because it is right at the conclusion of the school year. Fernandez sees tremendous value for them in traveling and getting to see what their parents do for a living.

“Ninety-eight percent of the time, one of us is always home with them. One of our priorities is to always have a parent with the children,” Fernandez said of herself and Godsick. “I bring them with me 80 percent of the time. So far it has been OK. The only big chunk of school they miss is during the Australian Open. But I think the lessons, the experience they get from traveling and seeing the world, seeing me work is pretty irreplaceable. They are still young enough where it is not costing too much at school, and hopefully we can do it for a few more years.”

During the French Open while Fernandez is gone, Godsick is usually only in Paris for a few days, and in the small overlap, Fernandez’s parents come to Cleveland to stay with the children.

And when she is not working at a tournament or a Fed Cup tie, Fernandez is at home in Cleveland, and her job concern is being Isabella and Nicholas’ mom. As a whole, she feels fortunate to be able to balance so many great jobs – but one is by far the best.

“When I am away, you feel the guilt a little bit, but when you see they look up to what you are doing and appreciate what you are doing, it is very much worth it,” she said. “It is a balance. I feel very lucky because with what I do, I do not work at home. When I am at home, I am 24/7 a mom, and it is the best. It is my favorite job – the hardest, but my favorite.”