“That’s like saying Achilles was a great warrior simply because he lived during wartime. Achilles was a great warrior because it was his destiny to be one.”

Achilles is a recurring symbol throughout the novel. Javier refers to Carrie as “his Achilles,” teaching her that it is her destiny to be great, just as it was Achilles’s destiny to be great. From the start, then, Carrie sees her greatness as inevitable. If she works hard enough, she will certainly achieve it. She will be the greatest tennis player of all time.

“My mother rolled her eyes at him as she began to put dinner on the table. ‘I would rather she was kind and happy.’ 

‘Alicia,’ my father said as he stood behind my mother and wrapped his arms around her. ‘No one ever tells stories about that.’”

Javier focuses on Carrie’s potential even when she is a child. Her mother, on the other hand, hopes that this pursuit of greatness will not consume her daughter. It is only years later, long after Alicia’s death, that Javier tells Carrie he wants her to be happy, just as Alicia once did.

“The time I got to spend with him felt like a gift that other kids didn’t get. Unlike them, my time had purpose; my father and I were working toward something of meaning. I was going to be the best.”

Carrie misses out on a lot of typical experiences because she plays tennis. However, she also sees the sport as part of a great quest in and of itself. She is destined to be the greatest, so she finds meaning in that, even if she feels lonely in her career.