Posts tagged dream
Cara Black’s dream of last grand slam
Apr 3rd
Sunday, 03 April 2011 12:47
BY BRIAN NKIWANE
SHE has also won all four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and three of the four Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles, yet Cara Black is still hungry for more success.
At 32, it could time for Zimbabwe most successfully tennis player entertained thoughts of retiring but in fact, Cara dreams of another grand slam.
The tennis ace could not hide her ambition for more glory when she spoke to The Standard last week.
The player who is in the country on three-week break said all she could do was cutting down on the number of tournaments she compete in this year.
“I have just discovered that age is catching up with me. I am not saying I am retiring, no, but I have to do with a lesser schedule,” she said.
“I used to play 40 weeks a year, but now I am looking forward to reducing the number of matches that I play per year. My body still tells me to go but I have to make a decision so as to manage my body,”
Cara is also recovering from a knee operation she underwent last year.
“I have to fully recover from operation that by giving myself a lesser schedule, these are some of the results that come with 25 years of playing tennis. So I have to manage my body,” added Cara.
It remains to be seen if Cara, who is ranked the 34th richest tennis player by the Women Tennis Association, will not go back to her routine once her knee has healed.
Being constantly on road has been Cara’s business since 1998 when she started the hunt for titles.
And in that journey she reaped 63 women’s doubles titles, and US$6,4 million prize money.
While her career prospered Cara had to put other important things on the backburner.
She told Standardport that though she was married five years ago to Australian Brett Stephens, her wish to sire a “bundle of joy” had not materialised since she put her career first.
“At times one has to consider your career first,” she said.
“I have been in marriage for the past five years but I do not have any kids. It is my wish like any other grown up or married woman to have kids, but because of the profession, at times you have to measure twice and cut once.
“I got married to an Australian guy called Brett Stephens who used to play Australian football but later joined the tennis field as a fitness trainer,” Cara said.
Stephens was the fitness trainer for the world’s best tennis player Pete Sampras before he retired for four years. Stephens also worked with Cara’s brothers, Byron and Wayne Black as their fitness trainer.
Cara has not lost her love for her mother country and comes back to the capital every November to mix and mingle and coach tennis.
“I make it a point that when I come for a holiday, I liaise with Tennis Zimbabwe so that I have a day which I spend with kids just to show them that you can be someone in life through tennis and that they can also have chances to be celebrities as well,” Cara said.
But one thing that the tennis Queen will never forget in her life are the days that her late father (Don) used to wake them (Byron, Cara, Wayne) up early in the morning for an hour of training before going to school, after school and in the evening.
“We have four grass tennis courts and one hard tennis court which our father constructed for us when we were still young.
“He would work us up at 5:30 am to train for an hour, at 2pm to 3pm after school and 4:30 to 5:30pm a day which made us all what we are today. But as an athlete, you must watch whatever you eat, your diet might put everything astray,” she concluded.
From www.thestandard.co.zw
It’s a dream for me to represent the country: Paes
Sep 14th
CHENNAI: Leander Paes is once again back in Chennai.
It was here that he learned his tennis and the 16-year-old kid who played his heart out, partnering Zeeshan Ali, to beat Shuzo Matsuoka and Shigeru Ota of Japan in his first Davis Cup match in Chandigarh, is still as passionate about his tennis, 21 summers later.
“I remember it clearly. It was in February, 1990 and the fifth-set score was like 18-16. What a match it was. It was a great way to start my career and it’s one of my favourite matches.” Since then Paes has played a number of memorable matches and he’s ready to play one more this week to try and take India to the World Group.
“I’m quite used to the heat and the weather conditions here. I just need a few days to get used to the surface. Playing on a hard court is no big deal because most ATP events are played on hard or clay courts,” said Paes who feels that there is no big advantage to the home side. Doubles has always been India’s forte in the Davis Cup and with Paes partnering Mahesh Bhupathi this time is going to be no different.
“Generally, the opening day is very important. Mahesh and myself have quite a nice record coming into this tie. Even the team has a lot of options. In fact, having too many options can be a headache for the captain. SP Misra has been a lucky captain for us and a great mentor. I’ve played with many different teammates and this is my favourite team and captain,” he said.
Paes feels Brazil, with the likes of Thomaz Bellucci in their ranks are a pretty strong team and India need to be very careful.
“The Brazilian team is strong and fit. Weather is no problem for either side but rain is a cause for concern. Some events before this were cancelled in Chennai because of the rain.” Always someone who wore his heart on his sleeves, Paes thrived in tense situations and used his passion to great effect to win matches.
And it is no surprise when he says, “It’s a dream for me to represent the country. I will choose an Olympic or CWG medal over another few Slams. My sense of responsibility to my captain and a billion people is more than my responsibility to just myself when I play on the Tour.”
PREVIEW-Tennis-Dream US Open final edges closer to reality
Sep 10th
PREVIEW-Tennis-Dream U.S. Open final edges closer to reality
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By Julian Linden NEW YORK, Sept 10 (Reuters) – After almost two weeks of action, Novak Djokovic and Mikhail Youzhny are all that stand in the way of an ultimate grand slam final showdown between the world’s two best players, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal. The pair have already played each other in the finals of three of the four majors and while the U.S. Open remains the odd one out, that anomaly will be erased if they both win their semi-finals on Saturday. If history and current form is anything to go by, the top two seeds should advance but neither player is guaranteed an easy ride. Their opponents are dangerous and willing to spoil the prospects of a dream final. “I’m ready to be bad person. I love to be bad person in this case,” said Youzhny, who is drawn to play Nadal. Djokovic is not in a charitable mood either. The Serbian was beaten by Federer in the 2007 U.S. Open final and the semi-finals in the subsequent two years. The thought of losing to him again this weekend holds no appeal to the world number three. “I’m sure that the crowd wants them in the finals but I will try to not make that happen,” Djokovic said. Federer has already achieved his life’s ambition by winning all four majors and breaking Pete Sampras’ record for grand slam titles but the Swiss shows no signs of wanting to stop adding to his collection of 16. The 29-year-old has been involved in each of the last six finals of the U.S. Open, winning the first five before his shock loss to Juan Martin del Potro last year, but is playing as well as ever this time. The second seed has not dropped a set in the tournament and battled his way through scorching summer heat and gale force winds with a minimum of fuss. GAINING MOMENTUM He has won 10 of his previous 15 meetings with Djokovic, including their most recent meeting in Toronto last month, but remains wary of his opponent. “He is one of the best players in the game right now, especially on this surface,” Federer said. “That’s why he’s been able to play consistent here at the Open. He’s obviously waiting for a breakthrough where he can win this title.” After a slow start to the tournament, when he was pushed to five sets in his opening match, Djokovic has been steadily gaining momentum and content to play the role of underdog. “I like playing under the radar sometimes. It releases the pressure on myself,” he said. The only reason Federer has never played Nadal in the U.S. Open before is because the Spaniard has never made that far. He reached the semi-finals in each of the past two seasons but the wear and tear of playing on hardcourts proved too much and he lost both times. However, the 24-year-old lefthander is playing much better this year, running less and serving faster than ever. Like Federer, he has sailed through to the semis without dropping a set and says he has learnt his lesson after losing to Youzhny here before. “It was a painful match for me,” Nadal said. “During the tournament I was playing better and better but I think I lost that match because I was too anxious.” Youzhny, seeded 12th, has done it the hard way, winning just one of his first five matches in straight sets. His quarter-final against Stanislas Wawrinka went to a fifth and lasted four hours. But the Russian is not without any hope. He was a semi-finalist at the U.S. Open four years ago and has won four of his previous 11 meetings with Nadal, including their only previous clash at the U.S. Open, in 2006. “It’s another time and other opponent, so anything can happen,” Youzhny said. (Editing by John O’Brien; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
McGarity realizes lifelong dream as Georgia’s new athletics director
Aug 14th
(Source: The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Ga.))
McGarity knew what that meant. He was getting the call.
“I said, Well it’s either thumbs up or thumbs down,” McGarity said, then holed himself up in a colleague’s office, locking the door, to take the call.
It was up. And a lifelong dream was finally realized. McGarity was chosen as the next athletics director at Georgia, a job he was formally hired and introduced for on Friday.
“It was one of those things where you just had to say, ‘This really did happen,’” McGarity said Friday, a bit after a news conference on campus. “I’ve gotta pinch myself, this did happen.”
Georgia hired McGarity hoping he can continue a period of on-field and financial success, but restore some stability after the disgrace of his predecessor. Damon Evans, who like McGarity was a Georgia alum, resigned last month days after an embarrassing DUI arrest.
McGarity, 55, was a favorite from the beginning. He is an Athens native and former Bulldog tennis player, but has been at Florida as associate athletics director since 1992.
Georgia president Michael Adams gave McGarity a five-year contract, with terms identical to what Evans was getting before his last raise. He will get $420,000 the first year, and increasing by $20,000 each year. He will also receive a longevity bonus of $125,000 payable at the end of the five-year period.
Evans started his new contract, worth $550,000 per year for five years, about an hour after he was arrested in Atlanta.
McGarity will start on Sept. 1.
“It was also clear to me that anyone who spent 18 years at Florida had suffered enough,” Adams joked.
Adams said he was looking for “somebody that had been there, at the highest levels of intercollegiate competition. You could argue that he has not sat in the chair, as an A.D. But he’s been about as close to it as you can be.”
Adams also admitted that after the Evans situation, he also looking for “personal integrity.” He ran background checks all over Florida, as well as people who had known McGarity at Georgia.
“I got a little bit worried when I couldn’t find anybody to say anything bad about him,” Adams said.
As a 10-year-old, McGarity chased tennis balls for longtime Georgia tennis coach Dan Magill. He later played for Magill and on Friday referred to Magill as “a second father,” getting emotional when he saw him in the audience.
One of McGarity’s first jobs, after graduating, was as an assistant sports information director. He remembered running tennis stats to Furman Bisher, which he called a “big deal.” He rose up to assistant athletics director at Georgia before Florida lured him away.
McGarity thought he had a chance to come back to Athens in 2003. But Evans was hired, and McGarity admitted Friday that was a “shot to the gut.” But after he recovered, he said it “re-ignited” him.
Then Evans had his situation, and he had another chance.
McGarity interviewed with the search committee on Aug. 7 in Chicago, at the airport Hilton.
But prior to that he was called by Adams to a private lunch in New York. They had never met before, even during the 2003 search, McGarity had interviewed with the board of trustees, and Adams wasn’t there.
The fact that Adams wanted to speak separately with McGarity only added to the perception that he was the favorite from the start.
“Given the circumstances that surrounded this opening and led to this announcement, there’s some healing here yet to be done,” Adams said. “And I believe that Greg is the type of person that can facilitate that healing.”
McGarity and his wife, Sheryl, also a Georgia graduate, came home twice a year. Now they will come home for good.
His parents, Stuart and Francis, are 85 and still live in Athens. His brother and sister still live in town too.
“I was the first one to leave,” McGarity said. “And when you leave, it just makes you appreciate home that much more.”
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