taught at home
Roger Federer
Parents of Roger Federer decided to instill in their son a love of sport at an early age. So already at the age of three, the child picked up a tennis racket. Also, little Roger was involved in football and golf. And tennis happened only because the game went very easily with the boy. Roger could well have become a professional footballer, but, fortunately for millions of his fans, at age 12 he made the right choice, choosing tennis.
Interestingly, Roger liked best of all to hit the ball – so that he flew as low as possible above the net. As a result, many balls, of course, simply did not fly to the opposite half of the court. Then his coach, Sven Gruneweld, went to a little trick: he began to pull the net a little higher – and, thus, taught his ward to deliver accurate punches. Specialists first spoke about Federer in 1996, after a series of brilliant victories in junior tournaments. Everyone noted his ability to move perfectly on the court and a powerful blow.
The first major successes at the junior level came to Federer after 2 years, in 1998. This year, Roger won Continue reading
Björn Borg
Björn Borg was a real star on the court with his incredible game, attractive appearance and icy calm. For this he was nicknamed “Ice man.” With 11 Grand Slam titles, the Borg set numerous records. Its unprecedented fame and consistent success have helped to increase the popularity of tennis in the 1970s. In 1979, Bjorn became the first player to earn more than a million dollars in prize money in one season. That time was called nothing more than “Borgomania”.
Tennis from 9 years old
Björn Borg was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1956. As a hockey fan, he fell in love with tennis when his Continue reading
Bill Tilden: Triumph and Tragedy
William Tatem Tilden II (02.10.1893 – 07.07.1953) was born in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA) in a wealthy family of immigrants from the United Kingdom. He was a painful child, his mother for this reason, did not begin to send him to school, he taught at home. In addition to tennis, Bill (a diminutive of William) from childhood was fond of poetry, theater and music and later spent most of his income on these hobbies.
Tilden first picked up a tennis racket in 1899, when at the age of six he was relaxing with his parents in a mountain resort in Catskill (New York, USA). Returning to Philadelphia, he signed up for the Cricket Germantown club, of which his 8-year-old brother Herbert was a member (approx. Author – Herbert Marmaduk Tilden in 1907, 1910, 1911 became the finalist of the US National mixed doubles championship). Continue reading