Gregory Howe
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A SEASON ON THE PRO TENNIS CIRCUIT GREGORY HOWE Contents Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 11 Prologue 14 1 The Futures Tour Bangkok . 19 2 Rod Laver Country Queensland . 36 3 Operation Entebbe East Africa . 50 . 4 Edge of the World Namibia . 73 5 Heart of Darkness Southern Africa . 90 6 The Way Back London . 100. 7 In Hannibal’s Footsteps Tunisia . 110. 8 In Limbo: In Europe Norway–Germany . 131 . 9 The Challenger Tour Manchester . 146. 10 Chasing More Points Senegal–Pakistan–Sudan . 160 . 11 Into the Big Time Beijing ATP . 173. 12 Kingfisher Open Mumbai ATP . 193 . 13 Beginning the Season Doha ATP . 208 . 14 Living the Dream Dubai ATP . 224. Postscript 245 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 Champ- ionships 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 back- story 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 11 CHASING POINTS 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 tour- naments 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 12 INTRODUCTION 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 tourna- ment 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? 13 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 14 PROLOGUE 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 tennis players in Australia On match day, overly eager to get down to the courts, the Howe brothers turned up at daybreak only to find themselves locked out of the complex Once the matches got underway, I watched Andrew compete well against a world-ranked pro Club members had turned out to watch him, with his loss deemed a credible one I would prefer not to talk about my match After hanging around all day, my pro debut began under the floodlights They might as well have been metaphorical headlights blinding me; I was wiped off the court in about half an hour (including an injury time-out when I almost threw up due to nerves) My opponent, Neil Prickett from Western Australia, was at least nice enough to allow me one game to escape a double bagel It wouldn’t deter me This was a glimpse into another world, and I was hooked In the clubhouse, I discovered tennis’s version of the Holy Grail Taped to the brick wall was the entire men’s professional ranking list from number one down to number 990: Wilander, Lendl, McEnroe, Connors, Becker, Edberg and Agassi were at its peak In these pre-internet days, to find a complete list of the world rankings was virtually impossible I spent an eternity scanning through the list, fascinated with each name and what it represented To be on this list meant something – it was proof of being a world-class player, to be a little part of tennis history There was permanence to it all, even if it was held to the wall by sticky tape The sight of this list changed my life I vowed then and there to one day see my name on the world-ranking list What I didn’t realise at the time, was that it was to become my own personal Holy Grail – to fascinate, haunt and motivate me for the next two decades of my life 15 CHASING POINTS * * * * * During the next five years I finished my schooling and attended university I worked hard at my game Each year, I continued to play the professional events on the Queensland circuit, eventually winning an occasional match in the qualifying, but never coming close to escaping the huge qualifying draws To earn an ATP point and a ranking was never a reality In these events, I saw future stars such as Pat Rafter and Mark Philippoussis start at the lowest rung They were soon gone – on their way to the very top of the game After university, I graduated as an English teacher, moving straight to London to begin my schoolteaching career Since I was now living in London, I started playing tennis for Great Britain, making use of my British passport (I was born in Derbyshire, England, to Australian parents) The European summers became my opportunity to dream again of tennis glory With Andrew, and my best friend in London, Jake Baluyut, we used tennis as a passport to see the world…or at least north Africa and eastern Europe where our money went further It was like backpacking