I had just started following a bit of tennis at that time. Did not understand much of it, so was only into watching a few matches in bits.
One day I followed the match of a very tall & lanky guy & he instantly caught my fancy. His spirit & attitude was so individualistic. Started keeping track of his progress & watched all his matches.
The more I watched, the more I liked him more for his selfhood. The way he carried himself on court & the kind of person he came across to me as, I was hooked onto his matches.
His quotable quotes were good chew to the press & his admirers.
Luckily he reached the finals & by then I had discovered a little of him. A Croatian, had been playing for a long time, had the most powerful serve, held the record for serving the most number of aces in a year & he had a long cherished dream of winning Wimbledon someday.
There was something which was very honest & endearing about him to me, even though for his temper tantrums & acts on the courts.
Already a runner-up once, this was his second time in the finals. Obviously I was rooting for him.
The match between Pete Sampras & him had him at tenterhooks. It was evident in the way he reacted on court. That match he lost. Looking at him, I felt as if I had lost the match!
Then after a long break of injuries & unavoidable breaks, he got back to Wimbledon in 2001.
By then my interest had waned too, coz there was no other player with such passion & life to the game.
So, when he got back, I made sure to watch all his matches as this was pitted to be his swan song of sorts. A wild card entrant, nobody much had hopes pinned on him. Yet, I was all hopes & fingers crossed for him. One by one he crossed the stages upto the quarterfinal.
By then there was an excited buzz getting generated about him reaching that far.
Then came the semis & he won! Everybody was dazed by his unanticipated victories.
The D-Day. Wimbledon Final. 2001.
Patrick Rafter was against him. I was on tenterhooks as if I was playing the match myself...I do remember it too well. If I was so that way, I remember thinking what he must be going through!
The match lasted Looonnnnnnnnnnggggg!! Such a thriller it was becoming that it was actually nerve wrecking to wait for it to end.
& then he Finally Won!
That moment got etched forever in the history of Wimbledon. A wild card entrant becoming the Wimbledon champion for the first time ever!
That guy was Goran Ivanisevic.
There are a few people in life one watches while in their growing up years & get charged by. He was one such person for me. & though I watched him play for a very short time, the way he played & pursued his goal till he finally did achieve it; was something I always associated with him for a long time.
Today when I watched a few kids play Shuttlecock, I remembered the days when I used to confuse Tennis with Shuttle. :)
& that memory got me writing about the best tennis player I have seen till date.
As he is retired from professional tennis from a while now & me almost from watching tennis, it was good to revive those teenage memories & put them here.
Sometimes the muddle which overpiles our daily lives hides away such distinct memories, that when they suddenly come knocking, you are left with an incredible joy reliving them.
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