Chasing Points

Gregory Howe

Description

At 34 years of age, Gregory Howe quit teaching in London to chase his childhood dream of becoming a world-ranked tennis professional. He started his year-long journey in the minor leagues, playing across four continents, as far afield as Bangkok, Kampala and Lahore, initially struggling against younger, fitter aspiring pros. Breaking through to the elite ATP tour, he got within volleying distance of some of the greats of the modern game. Eventually, he managed to juggle competing on the ATP tour with holding down a nine-to-five job. Along the way he encountered almost everything the tennis world has to offer, from rising stars racing to the top, to players whose hopes are slowly being shattered. Chasing Points: A Season on the Men's Pro Tennis Circuit offers a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of a touring tennis professional from the perspective of a real 'underdog'.

Sujets

• Tennis

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785314155
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2018 Pitch Publishing A2 Yeoman Gate Yeoman Way Durrington BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Gregory Howe, 2018
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-383-7 eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-415-5
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Prologue
1 The Futures Tour
Bangkok
2 Rod Laver Country
Queensland
3 Operation Entebbe
East Africa
4 Edge of the World
Namibia
5 Heart of Darkness
Southern Africa
6 The Way Back
London
7 In Hannibal s Footsteps
Tunisia
8 In Limbo: In Europe
Norway-Germany
9 The Challenger Tour
Manchester
10 Chasing More Points
Senegal-Pakistan-Sudan
11 Into the Big Time
Beijing ATP
12 Kingfisher Open
Mumbai ATP
13 Beginning the Season
Doha ATP
14 Living the Dream
Dubai ATP
Postscript
For Mr Munckton. Thanks for everything, Fred.
Acknowledgements
IF I was to look for a parallel between my experiences of being on the tennis tour to writing this book, it would simply be that - while both often appear (and are, at times) solitary, lonely pursuits - what is often not visible is the great support team working behind the scenes, without whom nothing would be possible. As I never got the opportunity to make an acceptance speech on tour, then I guess here is my chance now -
A massive thanks to the great team at Pitch Publishing - as professional as any team I ve encountered in the sporting world. To Jane and Paul Camillin for backing a tennis book not about one of the big stars, and to Derek Hammond and Margaret Murray for their help. To Duncan Olner for the great book cover - a fitting visual metaphor for a tennis adventure. And to Gareth Davis for editing, Dean Rockett for proofreading and Graham Hales for typesetting. Really, it was a pleasure.
To Ian McMechan for his help with my early drafts and advice in navigating through the mysterious world of publishing. I m forever grateful that your language expertise is far superior to that bloody, sliced forehand of yours. And to Amy Hanlon, who scrutinised my story from a non-tennis fan s point of view. Your brutal feedback led to months of redrafting, but the story is so much the better for it.
On the tennis front, thanks to Jake Baluyut, Mark Robinson, Daniel Lazaro and John Tashiro in helping me prepare for the tennis tour and listening to my ideas. And to the players and officials in the tennis world, who knowingly or unknowingly became part of the story. I hope you find my comments fair.
To the aficionados (my term) from britishtennis.activeboard.com for following me - and other unknown journeymen - on tour, and agreeing to their comments being used in the book. With special thanks to Steven Trezise (aka Steven @GBtennis) for his selfless help in getting me in contact with a world I know little about.
To my brother Andrew, for joining me on tour and making the whole adventure something special. To share a lifelong love of a sport with a sibling is something I wish everyone could experience.
And most importantly, to my wife, Sylvie, whose unending support for all my crazy ideas meant that my tennis tour, and now this book, was even possible to try for. Hopefully, I have a little credit left for a few more ideas
Introduction
Dreams do come true sometimes.
Andy Murray s Facebook, on Marcus Willis
ON PAPER, Marcus Willis had no right to be there. Here was a part-time coach - a player who used to be so out of shape his nickname was Cartman (the fat character from the cartoon, South Park ). Yet, there he was, in the second round of Wimbledon facing the G.O.A.T. - Roger Federer.
You couldn t make it up. Any of the spectators who had bought centre court tickets for the 2016 Wimbledon Championships could have watched Willis for free, only a year before, in small English towns like Felixstowe or Frinton-on-Sea. I bet none of them had.
The British tabloids had a field day. The Daily Express ran the headline The Fairytale of Wimbledon s Underdog . Romance, surreal and dream were words used to describe his journey. Roger Federer summed it up, It is what our sport needs, where guys come from nowhere. To the majority of the public, it must have felt like Marcus Willis had indeed emerged from nowhere. Inevitably, people started to ask, what had he been doing?
Reporters attempted to tell Willis s Wimbledon backstory. Obscure facts began to emerge: he had to qualify for the qualifying; he was 772 in the world; his best 2016 result was a quarter-final in a Tunisian Futures event; and so far in 2016, he had won a grand total of 258.
You could imagine the average fan s confusion. Futures qualifying a player ranked 772 they play tennis in Tunisia? For them, a whole new world had opened up - a world outside of the Grand Slams and marquee players.
This is my world.
* * * * *
Every year, well over 10,000 players will try their hand on the men s professional tennis circuit. They will compete en masse, often in huge qualifying draws in far-flung corners of the world. It is a win - or go home - survival of the fittest where most don t survive. This is tennis s version of baseball s minor leagues - the Futures circuit.
To become a world-ranked professional, a player must battle through the qualifying rounds, and then win their opening match in the main draw of a Futures event, all the time beating established ranked players along the way. By doing this, they earn one precious ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) point and a world ranking beginning around 1,500.
From here they must fight their way through the next two levels of the pro game - the Challenger circuit, and finally the rarefied air of the ATP tour. On the weekend before any tournament, a qualifying competition allows lowly ranked players the chance to fight for a few places in the main tournament.
The weekend qualifying competitions prior to ATP tournaments are brutal: journeymen, rising stars, and top players whose careers are on the slide desperately compete, knowing they are within touching distance of the huge pay cheques, crowds and top stars. When fans turn on their televisions and watch the pros, they are watching the survivors.
The game s big four - Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray - all began their careers early: playing Futures by age 15; at 16, all were world ranked; by 18 they had already moved through the Challengers to play exclusively on the ATP tour. These are truly special players, shooting stars rocketing towards the top of the game. In reality, most aspiring pros will never achieve a world ranking, while most who do stall well before ever reaching the ATP tour.
Making it as a pro is tough, but at least the professional tennis circuit is a meritocracy. Anyone can enter the qualifying of a Futures tournament. Then, all you have to do is keep winning and you ll soon end up on the ATP tour.
If you don t believe me - just look at Marcus Willis. In his first tournament of 2016, he had to qualify for a Futures tournament in Tunisia. In his second tournament of the year - the Wimbledon Championships - he pre-qualified, qualified, and ended up playing Federer on centre court. Willis just kept on winning.
With this in mind, if a 34-year-old schoolteacher - who played a bit of tennis - quit his job and threw himself on the professional tennis circuit, how far could he reach? Could he earn a world ranking? Could he fight his way through to the elite ATP level and play alongside the likes of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray?
Marcus Willis could do it.
Why not me?
Prologue
The Holy Grail, and a Crack in a Window
COME BACK in time to 1988. September to be precise: literally decades ago to an iconic era in tennis. The cool Swede, Mats Wilander, had just become world number one by beating Ivan Lendl in the US Open Final. A brash Las Vegan with denim shorts, long hair and earrings was making his move, while the glow of tennis s glory days could still be felt every time a fading John McEnroe or Jimmy Connors took to the stage.
I was 16 years old at the time, and about to begin my pro career - if you could call it that (and no one ever has). Unfortunately, it wasn t at the US Open, but rather in a low-level event on the other side of the world in Australia, namely in my hometown of Gladstone.
Gladstone was anything but a tennis town. It was a tough industrial city, rugby league territory, with no time for a white-collar sport like tennis. It made no difference that the legendary Rod Laver came from a city just up the road; no one good ever came out of Gladstone. The city did have brand new tennis courts though - a gift from the nearby aluminium refinery - and this meant we were awarded a pro tournament.
My coach, Fred Munckton, just so happened to be the tournament director. He awarded both myself, and my younger brother, Andrew, wildcards into the qualifying draw. Andrew had just turned 15 and was the city s men s champion - the best prospect in years. Although I was a year older, my game was full of holes. If anyone had even noticed my name in the draw, they would have simply assumed I was there to keep my brother company.
Memories from my first pro tournament are still vivid today. For that week, the city burst with international flavour - US college players mixed with tanned Europeans, exotic Mexicans and the best t