Meet Mariko: Tennis has been a driving force in my life since I was about 7 years old, when my parents first put a racket in my hands. My father told me that if I hit the ball over the fence, we’d go for ice cream. We went for ice cream. For anyone who has seen me play, this explains a lot. (For those who haven’t: I hit hard and flat.) We moved to Tokyo when I was 13 and I joined a tennis academy there. I started playing Jr. ITF tournaments shortly after, and within two year