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ART SEITZ Climate Changer In retirement, former top five player Maggie Maleeva battles to make a difference at home in Bulgaria BY MATTHEW CRONIN The Maleeva family be spent putting on will not be attend- a sporting event, ing the Tournament including tennis. of Champions in The Maleevas are Sofia, Bulgaria, this still very invested in coming November. tennis in Bulgaria, The most famous and even own a tennis family in the club. But that nation's history doesn't mean they didn’t attend the agree with the Bul- event’s debut last garian government year either. Not paying at least half mother Yuliya the freight for the Berberyan, the WTA Tour’s B-level most famous ten- championships, nis coach in the which last year fea- country’s history, tured a final be- nor any of her three tween Caroline former WTA play- Wozniacki and ing daughters: the “I wanted to be in a Nadia Petrova. The eldest, former top tournament situation to cost of hosting 5 player Manuela; see how I deal with the such an event runs the middle child, into the millions, former top 10 pressure. I’m just inter- well beyond the player Katerina; ested in how I feel in $750,000 it offers and the baby of those moments.” in prize money. the family, another And Bulgaria ranks former top 5 76th in the world player, Magdalena ("Maggie"), who since when it comes to per capita GDP. her retirement in 2005 has become a A sponsor may cover half the very important figure in her country. She cost, but no more, leaving the govern- and the rest of her family share this view ment picking up the remainder. Is there when it comes to tennis in their home- value for a country having players ranked land — in a country that’s struggling eco- No. 9 and up playing a tournament for In- Manuela and Maggie nomically, no government money should ternational Series (lower level) champi- Maleeva at Wimbledon. 22 ons? Some, if there are name players who sell tickets such as Wozniacki, Daniela Hantu- protests,” she said. “So they’re trying to control the press. It’s like Russia, but not as brutal. chova and Bulgarian national Tsvetana Pironkova. But it’s questionable whether the event’s in- If we protest, the police are very calm. I think the police are on our side. The government is ternational TV packages are strong enough to draw enough millions of eyes so Sofia can trying to put the people against each other. They are saying the protesters are terrorists, but promote tourism and see a substantial return on their investment. It’s a nice event for pro ten- it’s full of kids and intellectuals and nis-starved Bulgaria to have, but to one the most significant and successful tennis families in “This government will fall artists.” world — not just Bulgarian — history, it’s not worth it. soon, but they’ve been obnox- Maleeva doesn’t just talk, “I don't want to be associated if the government is involved in any way,” Maggie ious. they’re trying to control she acts, which is why for two years Maleeva told Tennis Journal in at Wimbledon. “We have had very bad governments the last running she has been voted one of seven to 10 years. For the first time since the 1990s we’re having big protests. At the moment, the press. The government is the 10 most influential women in Bul- we have the most corrupt government ever. They control the media. It’s connected to organ- trying to put the people against garia by the national newspaper Pari. ized crime. There’s an extremist [of the National party] who is controlling everything.” each other. They are saying the How many ex-tennis players can protestors are terrorists.” claim that just eight years after retire- ment? Outside of Martina Navratilova, who tweets links to var- ious political articles daily? Not many ex-players are even that interested in their country’s state of affairs. One exception is two-time Slam winner Marat Safin, who’s a member of the authoritarian Russian Premier Vladimir Putin’s government. That shocks Maleeva, who like many in the tennis world remembers him as a person who liked to buck the bad parts of the tennis system, not tow the party line. — Serena and Venus Williams are rightly called the best sister duo in history, but there has never been a sisterly troika that touches the success of the Maleeva sisters, all of whom entered the top 10 at one time or another. The youngest Maleeva was a true phenom, be- coming the youngest-ever national champion at the age of 13 years and four months. She turned pro in 1989, and qualified for Roland Garros in 1990 at the age of 15. The following The Maleevas are an activist year, she reached the fourth round at three Slams. In 1995, she won three sizeable tourna- bunch. In July, Yuliya took to ments in Moscow, Chicago and Oakland, and finished the year ranked a career-high No. 4. the streets of Sofia in protest Steffi Graf still ruled the roost back then, but Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and the of a government her daughter Williams sisters had yet to come the scene, and Maleeva had a chance to have an even big- Maggie says is sure to topple. ger impact. But shoulder surgery in 1998 forced her off the tour for nearly a year and half. Then she had an epiphany or two. “I did a lot of thinking and reading then because my injuries were all the time. I also had back problems — everything. So then I came to a conclusion that allowed me to play for the next seven years without injury," she said. Her conclusion was that her injuries were psychosomatic, which wasn’t easy to This very public position is one of the strongest political statements ever made by a admit to herself. tennis player, joining Arthur Ashe’s battle to stop tennis players from competing in apartheid “They were an excuse for me not to be perfect,” she said. “And it became very clear South Africa and the Williams sisters’ refusal to play Indian Wells due to perceived racism by and I saw it. I said I don't need this excuse anymore. So I could accept losing a little better.” fans. Maleeva has no desire to be a politician, but she has plenty of refined political views. Maleeva believes that 70 to 80 percent of tennis injuries are related to mental stress. When she’s not travelling, she attends the nightly protests in Sofia. Protests have been a reg- She’s convinced that herniated discs (she once had two) actually don't cause back pain. She ular occurence in Bulgaria since February, when citizens took to the streets to protest a raise became a disciple of Dr. John Sarno, who wrote three influential books (Healing Back Pain, in utility prices. But to Maleeva, that’s not the real cause of strife. It's that the current Bulgar- The Mindbody Prescription, and The Divided Mind) about how the brain and emotions are the ian government is so corrupt and repressive that the people want real, substantial change. She source of most misunderstood symptoms. and many others were furious when the young media mogul Deljan Peewski was named as “In 1998, Manuela gave birth to her third child. I went to the hospital to see her and the government’s new head of security. it was so bad that I had to ask her to stand up,” she recalled. “I was on everything — Valium “This government will fall soon, but they’ve been obnoxious and the minister of the was the only thing that made me walk. I’m not saying that I never got injured or the pain did- interior just went on TV and said that the media should be careful as to how they report the n't exist, but I made it a lot worse by stressing so much didn't allow myself to heal.” 23 Maleeva read Dr. Sarno’s book on healing and the pain eventually went away, but she ones. doesn't like to talk about the subject much because she thinks that people with back pain “My dad is very kind,” she says. “Even if my parents fight, she always gives him might think its “some esoteric s---.” credit that he helped with us.” She started competing again in the spring of 1999 and re-entered the top 20 in A former national champion, Yuliya taught all of her daughters to play, but she 2001. But it took her a long time to get back on court, as coached Maggie the least as she was on tour with every time she was about to start competing, some fluke Manuela and Katerina. So Maggie spent a lot of time at injury would occur. She now feels the problem was in her their club, also learning from various teaching pros. Her head. father was around a good deal, but there were also times “I got so afraid of playing again that I didn't help ART SEITZ when she was alone. myself.” “Which was possible at the time,” she said. “I In 2002, she pulled off the most impressive title would take the bus at seven years old. Kids used to do run of her career, beating three women who would were or these things. It was natural. This is one thing that society became No.

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