Kim's goal was to get good enough to play with her dad. She got good enough to play Wimbledon. 

A year after hitting her first ball, she won her first tournament. Her junior career ended with a Missouri Valley No. 1 ranking in singles and doubles in both the 16s and 18s, and a national ranking of No. 15 in the Girls 18s. She became the first woman to receive a full tennis scholarship at SMU, then transferred to Trinity University, where she made All-American twice and led her team to two top-10 NCAA finishes. 

She turned pro and climbed from No. 188 in the world to the Top 100 within three years. Over a decade on tour, she made 26 Grand Slam appearances, reached the third round at Wimbledon and the French Open, and collected doubles wins over Steffi Graf, Hana Mandlikova, and Betty Stove. Her biggest singles win came at the 1988 US Open, when she defeated Natasha Zvereva, ranked eighth in the world. 

In 1990 she retired, became Tennis Director at the MAC, and came out of retirement to play for the St. Louis Aces in 1994. 

Soon after, Kim held a garage sale. She'd pulled all her trophies and silver plates out of boxes at her parents' house and set them on a table. A girl about ten stopped and stared. 

"Who won all these?" she asked. 

Kim's sister pointed. The girl looked Kim up and down. 

"If I won one of these trophies, I would be so happy," she said. "But if I won all these trophies, I would be so proud." 

(2000)