Andy Magee Leaves Tennis for Football; Tomic Loses in India; Another Jan Silva Story
Andy Magee is no longer playing tennis and the Los Angeles Times has this story on his new sport of football, where he quarterbacks Palos Verdes Peninsula Chadwick High School's team.
I wasn't expecting daily coverage of the Asia/Oceania B1 in India, but The Hindu is providing it. After the paper's favorite, Srirambalaji Narayanswamy, lost in the second round (and I'm still trying to determine why they were so sure he would win), the seeding favorite, No. 1 Bernard Tomic, lost in the third round, to unseeded 16-year-old Di Wu of China. Their coverage (like mine, focused primarily on players from their own country) of today's action is here. Apparently it's acceptable in Indian journalism to refer to players by their first names in stories and headlines.
I've avoided making a big deal of the Jan Silva hype that has been circulating because I don't see much to be gained by building unrealistic expectations for a five-year-old. But this story from the Telegraph, in spite the horrific headline, contains such reasonable remarks from Judy Murray, Andy's mother, that I thought there was justification for posting a link to it.
8 comments:
where in that article does it say that he is done with tennis? andy is one of my best friends and i can tell you for a fact that he is not done... he is still playing, and playing hard. In fact, he is taking a recruiting trip to texas next weekend...
I think Judy Muarry is saying the same thing that many zoo bloggers have been saying about junior tennis players, including me.
At 5 years old, it is way premature to judge a player, let alone compare him to Fed, which is a joke.
Good for Andy with football. Probably having a lot more fun as well. As for the 5 year old, it's sad that the kid is destined not to have a childhood becuase of his parents' drive, and yes at 5 it comes 100% from the parents, when no-one has a clue how good he will be.
Isn't it just as sad when a kid has talent that gets NO support and he/she never even has a chance at something that he/she would have been superior at?? Why is it that in American the others are so quick to say that the parents are "crazy" or "wrong" for identifying a talent at a young age and pursuing that talent? In America - the kids and parents get NO help from peers - just critizism. In Serbia and Russia etc if a parent said "hey - my kid has talent and I'm going to sell the farm so that they will have a great life" ... they get commended and supported!!! Wake up good ole' USA - support your little ones or you'll never have a chance at ruling tennis again. Its not the problem of the USTA - they do a good job at promoting tennis, its the fans or lack of that give no support and thats what is hurting USA tennis. You should be saying about Silva - Great - maybe he's our one!!!
I've heard just heard that Magee is still interested in playing college tennis and is taking a recruiting visit to Texas soon.
Ok, what happens if the kid is like 99.9% of all promising very young tennis players, not pro material, which, if the odds are correct, is more likely than not. Well, the kid will never have a childhood, being pushed 24/7 by pushy stage parents. Seems like this is just another dysfunctional famliy in the making. The parents need to get thier own life. I feel sorry for the kid.
anon said
"its the fans or lack of that give no support and thats what is hurting USA tennis. You should be saying about Silva - Great - maybe he's our one!!!"
The fans of American tennis do not figure into the equation if America will have a star or not.
In America there are many choices for a young person, frankly more than any other country in the world and the chance of "making" it in tennis are remote, at best.
It will be great if little Silva makes it - if he doesn't - he would be just one more person that followed the pot of gold and wound up with nothing.
I trulb believe the fault is with the parents who at the age of 5 have put so much pressure on the child - it will be difficult to live up to the hype!!
Jan Silva lives a regular normal happy life on and off of the tennis court. The man who wrote the story in the Telegraph never saw Jan play and was upset because Jan's father wouldnt allow him to make a mockery of Jan by letting the reporter play a set against the child. Two days prior the same paper printed a story about another child from the academy who is from Scotland. In it the writer who did come to the academy and watched Jan commented that Jan reminds him of a 7 year old Agassi. He goes on to print the attention that Jan has gained has pressured Jan's older brother out of tennis??? Unfounded lie. Dont believe everything you read in the paper. The kid plays all sports, his parents have never forced him to play. He is the recipient of a wonderful offer to the academy in France, where he is pursuing a regular education like that of the US. He is speaking French and plays daily with kids his age. Where has his childhood suffered one single bit? He is as happy as any other 5 year old in the World. He is just treated a little better because of the way he hits a ball. His parents demand only one thing of him and his siblings and that is good behavior on and off of the court.
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