Usually, sports interviews and major sports figures (at least in the United States) focus on one thing: achieving as much as possible in their chosen field as they can while they can, in order to maximize the money coming in.
Granted, there is more to the story than that. Each individual has his or her own story, and much like in real life, people have their own stories, their own baggage. Sometimes, you can see it easily, because the story is so incredible, or because the individual so personable or likable, or perhaps even loud.
Most of the time, you do not really ever get to see that side of someone. At least, not until they began to really accomplish something that inescapably draws attention.
Of course, few sports are as individual as tennis, so it is only natural that we hear of more personalities in tennis than pretty much any other sport.
That said, I sometimes marvel at some of the personalities that we have seen in tennis. I grew up in the eighties, and remember the loud and rather crass American big names at the time - Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. Listen to McEnroe now as a commentator, and you can see that he is actually a very likable guy, or at least seems to be.
Connors? Not so much (just my personal opinion). While McEnroe has shown another side to his personality, and a far more likable one at that, Connors still seems to be wrapped up in just one thing: himself. He just seems not to have grown up much. he does not show much of himself, but when he does, his personality and ego just still seem to get in the way. He may have been a great and accomplished tennis player in his day, but he did not hold himself with a measure of dignity, like Federer, and his respect for other players was, frankly, questionable. And from the little that I have seen, he has not outgrown that. The more I hear about him, the less I want to hear about him.
There was Martina Navratilova and Christie Everett, always seeming to compete neck and neck with everything, to the point that they almost appeared inseparable.
There was Ivan Lendl, he of the neon pink outfits, but remarkably stellar play. There was Boris Becker, the big strong German with the red hair, powering his way to a bunch of Wimbledon titles.
Then, there was a new generation of American tennis players, and we had all sorts of personalities. Pete Sampras would have the most success of this crop, but he actually seemed to suppress his actual personality so much, that it almost seemed as if he lacked one entirely at times. Jim Courier was much the same way initially, although both of these guys began to show a little bit more later in their careers.
The flashiest was, of course, Andre Agassi, who was my personal favorite. I remember him with the long, blond hair and the flashy outfits. And the disappointments, at least early on. He kept coming so close, then losing (rather unexpectedly) time and again. For a while, it seemed like he would never win a slam. Then, it seemed like he would never follow it up with another. he enjoyed a decent run atop the tennis world for several months in 1995, after winning the 1994 US Open and the 1995 Australian Open. But after losing a truly epic US Open Final to Sampras in 1995, Agassi seemed to lose confidence. he was edged out of the number one ranking by year's end, and would not return for quite a few years. When he did return, he was more serious than ever, and seemingly stronger than ever, enjoying some of the truly greatest achievements anyone had ever enjoyed, particularly from the French Open of 1999 (which clinched the distinction of being one of five men at the time to have achieved the career Grand Slam, and the first and only one at the time to have achieved the career Golden Slam), until the lead-up to the French Open in 2000, making it to all four Grand Slam Finals in a row, and winning three of them!
Right around that time, came the flashy Williams sisters. For a little while, they seemed to underachieve. Perhaps it was because Steffi Graf was still around, and she was just unbelievably dominant - although at the time, she hardly seemed to show her personality, as well. She was beautiful, but all business, seemingly.
Ultimately, Serena proved to be the more dominant of the Williams sisters, and they both dominated the sport after Graf. They proved controversial at times, and I think it is fair to say that they could be confrontational and divisive, generally speaking.
As for the men, after the so-called "Big Four" (Sampras, Agassi, Courier, and Chang) came Andy Roddick, who like Agassi early in his career, was more personality and flash than results, ultimately. He had talent, but his career, and list of accomplishments (which includes one year, 2003, where he finished atop the tennis rankings) will always nevertheless remain in the shadow of Roger Federer.
Federer suppressed his personality, for the most part. Yet, what he showed was always classy and likable. He handled himself with such grace, both on and off the court, and has remained such a constant presence, that he essentially dominated the sport for the last decade or so, becoming easily the most distinct face of the sport. I have already spoken at length of his list of achievements, and there is no need to go on about them again. He simply was the best that the sport had to offer, both in terms of play and conduct, bringing dignity to it.
His main rival, Nadal, seemed to be a loud and aggressive muscle head full of machismo. He seemed also to be strictly a clay court specialist. Ultimately, however, he overcame these pigeonholes, and himself achieved the career Grand and Golden Slams, raising him to elite status.
There are two other men in tennis that have emerged to become perennial favorites now, and each has a very interesting story regarding their childhood upbringing.
One is Andy Murray. he attended the school in Scotland that is best remembered for the massive school shooting that killed more than a dozen very young children. It was one of the first major school shootings of it's sort, back in 1996 (there have obviously, unfortunately, been plenty of others since). And Murray was there. He hardly talks about it, and clearly seems uncomfortable when he does talk about it. But knowing that he was there, and that he lived through something like that, just makes his meteoric rise of late (under the tutelage of none other than Ivan Lendl) that much more impressive.
And then, there is the current number one ranked guy: Novak Djokovic of Serbia. He has shown a colorful personality, often playing to the crowd, and sometimes doing very funny imitation of other players on the tour (I personally like his imitation of Maria Sharapova for women a lot, but his best is his imitation of Nadal).
Do you wonder how this guy, Djokovic, rose to the top? It certainly was not easy, coming from a war ravaged nation like he did. After all, Serbia was part of the former Yugoslavia, and as such, he knew war intimately.
Read this article, and find out about a whole other aspect of his upbringing and life, completely separate from tennis. After that, and recognizing his great and highly competitive spirit, as well as his incredible sense of humor, and he, like a lot of guys out there, becomes instantly very likable indeed! It also shows, I think, that some things that are more important than sports can sometimes have an impact, and help make the player stronger, as I think is the case with Djokovic.
Here is the link to the article about Djokovic that I am talking about:
"Novak Djokovic recounts the terror of the worst night of his life during 1999 Yugoslav War bombings" by Jay Busbee Jay Busbee of Busted Racquet, August 30, 2013:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/tennis-busted-racquet/novak-djokovic-recounts-terror-worst-night-life-during-205950671--ten.html
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