Parents are harsh - Hidden corner after tennis legends

When Steffi Graf has just greeted a few hours, Mr. Peter announced his daughter would become a champion. When Steffi was 3 years and 10 months, he put in her hand a wooden racket with a short handle. Soon after, the father and son began to fight back and forth the balls on the sofa in the living room. If the ball is beaten 25 times in a row, Steffi will be rewarded with ice cream and strawberry. At the age of 13, she won the German youth championship for the U18. In 1988, Graf conquered all four Grand Slam and gold medals at the Seoul, South Korea.

Steffi as a goddess. But people always wonder, what is the price to walk through the door of Olympus peak? Once, in an interview with Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), Steffi said that between the scores, she often looked towards her father's seat to find inspiration. "He was so good to me", she said. Peter once slapped his daughter if he broke a shot or could not complete a new technique.

For famous players with parents who are the people who go ahead in the profession, no paradise exists, only the ground, grass and concrete. The parents in the tennis village, are coaches in the army. They have their own "commandments", and cruel methods.

The prototype of parents obsessed with the development of children is Mike Agassi. "In short, am I a tyrant? Yes. I am strict and strict? Yes. But I emphasize: It is better to be a father, a parent, stand beside my children in sports, rather than a coach ," Mr. Mike once told journalist Emanuela Audisio in RepuBlica (Italy). As a response to "Open ", the autobiography written by his son Andrre Agassi, which has become the basis of the tennis village and is the story of hatred that can germinate in a child. The book is opened with a quote by artist Vincent Van Gogh. Legendary artist Barbra Streisand is mentioned in the thanks. The writer is JR Moehringer, a journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize, who worked for the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. But the shadow weighed on Andrre throughout the book, like being squeezed in the throat, by Mike itself. Mike tries to turn her children into stars.

Rita, the first child born in 1960 of Mike, is a strong girl, both physically and strength, but Panko Gonzales, a former player, "rob" her from Mike's hand. Panko became Rita's coach, loved her, married her even more than 20 years old. And everything ends. "He made her distant and destroyed it ", Mike once said. Tami is also talented, but his physical strength, always tired and chose to study instead of playing.

So, Mike put all expectations on Andrre, the youngest child.

He tied the racket to Andrre's wrist since he was a tiny, forcing him to practice harsh every day. He built a tennis court right in the yard and built a ball -shot machine called "Dragon ", throwing balls at a speed of more than 100 km/h. defeat ".

Andrre called his father a tyrant. Human story is often a prolonged conflict between oppressed and oppressed, among those who want to impose and resist. And behind it was the battle between generations. "I put too much pressure on her. I should have given it more space. Instead, I cook for it and live with him 24 hours a day. Sometimes he says: 'This week I don't want to practice'. But I still insist on preparing it for the next tournament ," he said. White in his hand, Mr. Stefano told the New York Times that: "" You cannot create a good player with just an hour of training every day. You cannot have a champion without the companion of your parents ".

but in Jennifer's story, there is always a burden - the burden of youth. "Just because I took a week off to focus on studying, did it mean that I was exhausted? Be realistic. Suppose that one day I decided to hate tennis and want to give up. Then I will need to study. And if I like to stay at home with my friends, temporarily leave the tennis, what's wrong? " Regulations on young players, leading to the application of age limit and number of tournaments to athletes under 18 years old since 1995.

is not always the story "Father and son ". Sometimes, generation conflicts extend to the scope between fathers and girls, and hard to describe in words. The singer Bob Dylan once sang "Your children are not in your control, " as the lyrics The Times they are A-changin ". But in tennis, it seems to be a weird notion. Due to a series of disagreements and disappointments because the coaches and officials of American tennis lack support, he believes that girls will have a better chance elsewhere. "But I was too tough to stop helping my children. When I was young, I left home and no one helped me to do anything. She had an opportunity in her life. I don't want it to look back and wonder why her father did not help her " Authorous father. Jim mocked the opponent, argued with their parents, then openly scolded her daughter. And he also likes to show off that. In 1992, the incident was peaked: he was kicked out of the yard after punching two Dutch fans. WTA issued "Jim Pierce Law", stipulating that a member of the athlete's entourage may be banned from participating in any event. Dokic's autobiography in 2017, called "Unbreakable ", is described as "a study of the vortex of abuse and the cruel power in escaping from the father ", Mr. Damir, in controlling the life of his daughter.. This book, one of many works, is a reminder of the excessive intervention of the parents in the tennis village in the 1990s.

Richard Williams, the father of the two most famous sisters in the United States - Venus and Serena, used to sit at home in Long Beach, California, watch a match at Roland Garros. The $ 40,000 prize for the champion has attracted his attention. The New Yorker Magazine (USA) has found the origin of the man where the cinema later depicted through Will Smith's face. Richard moved to California, studied tennis from a man nicknamed Old Whiskey, paid with wine bottles. According to the US magazine, when Venus and Serena were born, Richard "hanging signs in the yard to emphasize lessons about life - 'Venus, I have to own my future ', and tennis techniques - 'Serena, I need to learn to polish TopSpin more than ' ". He forbids his daughters to have a boyfriend and to prevent any thoughts about being a mother, Richard tore his head all the dolls that Venus took home.

Today, young athletes are well prepared with nutrition experts, psychological coach, even a private chef. They are systematized, but also more vulnerable. When parents control that weakness, the risk of making their children collapse is huge. But this is not the only problem in modern times. He introduced his daughter with tennis when he was 10 years old, applied a strict training regime and forced her to repeatedly hit a handkerchief on the field. He also let his daughter click Brandy from a bottle of wine between matches. When retiring, Suzanne told journalists: "Let me live a little". She died of leukemia at the age of 39, in 1938.

nearly half a century later, Gloria built a backyard after the house and coached her son Jimmy Connors - the former world's number one tennis player every day. Mrs. Gloria once revealed the terrible practice method: "I told him to try to polish my throat, and he learned how to do it because he knew if I had the opportunity, I would fight back in his throat ". Others gradually release the burden of the soul. So the children's resentment of parents become a classic motif, full of prejudice and pain. It is a world that sometimes needs to look back.