How a cocktail server became Australia's No.1 pickleball player
By midday, the 39-year-old is at an indoor pickleball facility with just a few hours to play and train before clocking in for another shift at Magic Mike. Although she doesn't have a coach, has played for only 10 months and competes against full-time athletes, Giltinan is the highest-ranked Australian on the Professional Pickleball Association Tour.
'I just love going out there and being able to compete with the best girls in the world, knowing I don't train anywhere near as much as that, but it's a shame because I think, 'gosh, if I was just, you know seven years younger or something, this could be great',' she said.
Greatness is something Giltinan once thought was within her grasp in a different sport. While her life in Las Vegas is a far cry from her childhood in the northern beaches suburb of Manly, being on the PPA tour has similarities to her teenage years, which were spent competing for trophies on the ITF junior tennis world tour.
The daughter of Davis Cup champion Bob Giltinan, Lara played in the Australian Open and Wimbledon junior championships, among other tournaments. That led her to travel across the world and play against the likes of future world No.1s Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki.
But at 18, during a Challenger event in South Australia, Giltinan leant over to pick up a tennis ball and felt a twinge in her lower back. That twinge was a bulging disc, which, exacerbated by her scoliosis, began a series of injuries, ending her competitive tennis career.
'It was awful because that was my whole life and everything that I knew,' she said. 'It was pretty depressing to be honest because ... life as you know, it just kind of stops.'
For a few years, Giltinan remained in the sport, working as Tennis NSW's tournaments and operations manager. In 2013, she planned a brief hiatus to traverse the US with some friends. Making the same pilgrimage as many others, Giltinan stopped in Las Vegas and was drawn to the lifestyle of being a poolside, bikini-clad, cocktail server. She inquired about a job, planned to stay for a year, but never left, leaving tennis behind her.
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