Category: Story

Thomaz Bellucci

December 15, 2019

December 15, 2019 “It’s very tough to be playing small tournaments, ones I didn’t play often when I was younger. It’s a process for me. Two years ago, I had a problem with my supplements and medications and I was forced to stop playing for about five months, and that is when my ranking dropped. This was a really sad time in my life, while I was home, not competing. I was extremely depressed for many reasons. I was worried about my image and the example this was setting for the kids back home. We don’t have many players in Brazil and for them to now see one of their top players suspended is never a good thing. It took some time but I am in a better place now and looking how to push forward. After this, I had no confidence that I could be back in the top 100. On top of this all I dealt with a few injuries that made the situation worse and worse. Regardless of what tournaments I play I still enjoy competing, but I am giving myself a couple more years to try to break back into the top 100 until I stop. (more…)

Alizé Cornet

December 10, 2019

December 10, 2019 “In 2018 I received my final ‘no show’ with the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme, which ended up being the toughest six months of my life. I didn’t know if I would be able to continue my career. The first no show was in November of 2016. I remember I had an early flight where I had to be at the airport around 6:30 and I forgot to change my appointment with the doping control officer. They came to my house when I was already on my way to the airport. I then asked them if I could turn and come home but they said I would be too late and they couldn’t count it. I knew that was my first no show. It happened exactly the same way for my second no show in July of 2017. I had an early flight in the morning to go to the States where I had to be at the airport at 6:00 or 6:30 and I forgot to change it again. They called me while I was at the airport and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is not possible.’ I asked them to come to the airport to (more…)

Hubert Hurkacz

December 7, 2019

December 7, 2019 “I grew up in Poland. I truly enjoyed my childhood back then, playing basketball and a little gymnastics. I was pretty busy for a kid, after school I would start with individual lessons followed by more group practice. My love for tennis came from my mother. She used to play all the time and became a national champion. Funny enough I fell in love with the discipline required by a tennis player. As I was playing junior tournaments, I knew this was what I wanted to do. There were definitely times when I was young where I questioned if I was good enough or if I could make it. You just don’t know what to expect or what you’ll encounter. There is always something new to learn and always a player better than you, so it is a must to constantly improve. For some it may seem strange that I am working with an American coach but it just clicks. The knowledge that he brings to the table has been crucial to my development and a different voice than I have had before. You sometimes have to look outside of your own country to get a unique (more…)

Jamie Murray

December 3, 2019

December 3, 2019 “I guess it’s something that I was used to, starting around 16 or 17. Andy made his breakthrough into the big leagues around 18 when he played Queens and then made third round of Wimbledon. For a long time, people would talk to me just because they wanted to ask Andy questions, which still happens today. People come up asking me where Andy is and how he is doing. People would do interviews with me in the hopes that they could get to him. The last five or six years, I feel like that’s changed quite a lot. People now want to talk to me because of my own achievements that I’ve had in my career, which to be honest feels pretty nice after all this time. I don’t mind talking about my brother, It really never bothered me, but if that’s the sole purpose for doing an interview, or a chat, it just doesn’t seem necessary. He’s been such a big star of the tennis world for the last 10 years or so and I am proud of him. I was always his number one supporter. It was never really an issue for me. I wouldn’t (more…)

Alison Van Uytvanck

December 1, 2019

December 1, 2019 “I was around ten or eleven years old when I first went to the Belgium Federation to train. I quickly realized it was not going to be what I thought it would. I began to be bullied every day by the other kids, who were mostly guys. They would constantly make fun of my hair and it would make me feel miserable. I never felt so alone, having no friends and unable to really talk to parents. I felt like opening up about my bullying, especially to my parents, would just make other people’s lives tougher and I never wanted that. After about a year of dealing with this I finally said something to the coaches. They spoke to the kids about the issue, which only helped for about two days until it went back to ‘normal’. I had no one to lean on for help and found myself crying in my room day after day. It came to an end when I was kicked out. Beyond not fitting in I was consistently injured and the people at the top didn’t believe in me and how my tennis was improving. It was the toughest moment of my (more…)

Jason Tartick

November 26, 2019

November 26, 2019 “I grew up in a suburb of Buffalo, New York, in a huge sports family. My dad was a college football player, my mother played lacrosse growing up and it led to me playing lacrosse, soccer, and hockey at a young age. The thing is I started to play tennis after I graduated from playing division three soccer. What I found was there weren’t many recreational sports that were competitive, social and also a good workout. For me, I just gravitated towards tennis because it’s all of those. It’s a heck of a workout and honestly, especially in my early 20’s, its a cheaper alternative than golf and consumes less time. As I started playing tennis more frequently, it became a sport that my friends and I play every Monday. We would have round robin tournaments in the park. Tuesday we put bets on the line for the weekly finals. It’s been great to be recently re-connected with the sport via a collaboration we did with Heineken at the US Open with Andy Roddick. It’s been full circle from recreational and social, to being across the court from Andy Roddick serving. A really cool learning experience. The (more…)

Steve Darcis

November 24, 2019

November 24, 2019 “I’m already 35. It is difficult that I am forced to stop, not because I want to, because i am dealing with too much pain. It is not my decision, but it is great to have more time with family. I have two daughters. One is six years old and the other is two. The six year old had a serious heart condition in early 2016. It got to a point where she needed surgery. After scheduling this surgery, I was playing in the Delray Beach quarterfinals, less than a week from the operation. It was okay because the surgery was planned so the date was no surprise. In my head all I could really think about was that but it took my mind away from the results which actually helped me play better. Before entering Delray I knew that if I got to the quarters I would’ve had to pull out. I defaulted from the tournament and I came back for the surgery. It was a really scary time in my family’s life but we got very lucky in the end. The surgery was definitely a bit complicated. They had to stop the heart to work (more…)

Dinara Safina

November 22, 2019

November 22, 2019 “I turned pro when I was 15 and I quit when I was 25. It was 10 years of quite an experience that came to a tough end when I fractured my lower back. Even with all the hard work and lots of pressure day to day, I really enjoyed my time and I was happiest when I could wake up and just get on court. It is funny, once I quit I was really missing the adrenaline and energy that you experience from tennis. It has been very difficult to find anything that can take its place, something that truly motivates me. I am proud of what I have achieved and am not blaming anyone for my injuries, just thankful that I was able to enjoy all those years. I still do not see myself coming back on tour like Kim Clijsters or Tatiana Golovin, but I can definitely see myself coaching and sharing my experiences with another player. I see many girls today content with what they are achieving, while when I played each person wanted to be better than the one ahead of them, more than anything. It is tough to judge when you (more…)

Bruno Soares

November 15, 2019

November 15, 2019 “For the first six years of my life I grew up in Iraq. My dad was a civil engineer and worked with a large Brazilian company back in the ‘80s. My parents moved to Iraq, while my mother was pregnant, to build a highway. My father moved first, alone for the first seven months, before my mom was ready to leave with me. I was about two months old at the time. It was a very interesting experience back then. Saddam Hussein was still in command, but it was quite a normal place, besides the cultural differences from Brazil. Few years after we moved the Gulf War began and we were forced to move back to Brazil. After leaving we lived in a few places in Brazil. We spent some time in Belo, some time in Fortaleza, four years in Rio de Janeiro and then ended back in Belo. This moving really didn’t stop until I was 17. I actually began playing tennis when I was in Iraq, starting around five years old while my family and I were living in camps. These camps helped us live along the highway my father was building so he didn’t (more…)

Bobby Blair

November 10, 2019

November 10, 2019 “I grew up in Orlando, Florida on a dirt road in a two bedroom home. My brother and I shared a bedroom that was filled with dreams of a better life one day. My mother was an incredible athlete. One of the sports she played quite well was tennis. At age 10 she made it clear to me that tennis was my pathway to a happy and rewarding life. 8 years later she sat in Louisville, Kentucky with only a few weeks to live fighting cancer, as I fought incredibly hard in the finals to win the USTA National Boys 18 & Under Clay Court Championships and the #1 National tennis ranking in the United States. My opponent was one of the best junior players of all time, Aaron Krickstein. I lost a marathon 3 set battle. In that match I knew I had a secret. I knew every sacrifice my mom had made was at risk if my secret was known. If my secret was known I could lose my scholarship to college, even though I was the #1 NCAA recruit in the class of ’83. The USTA would have likely not supported me or had (more…)