30 Days of Tennis Challenge – Day 8: Earliest tennis memory

The ‘Silly season’ of the 30 days of tennis challenge. Earliest tennis memory, really? Who the hell will be interested in that? Maybe me. And my fans – in case I had. But I don’t. But game on, let’s dance to the music, but this topic is going to be short and, well, not very literate.

My earliest tennis memory? Well, define it.

If it means the first time I heard the word “tennis” associated to the sport (‘Tênis’, the word in Portuguese, refers to the sport and ‘shoes’) and not the footwear, the answer you (who are you? Lol) are looking for is probably circa 1997/1998. After Guga won Roland Garros for the first time, we had a boom of the sport – which was probably awesome (though it’s gone now). The epidemic spread, and the school I studied at at the time started offering tennis classes to the kids (I was 5, 6).

So I remember the day Kuerten visited us, and how we all were given a t-shirt with the Banco do Brasil logo (used to sponsor him too). I also remember hitting the yellow balls with that big, heavy racquet. It however ended just as fast as it began.

But if by earliest tennis memory you are looking for my first memory related to a tennis match, then the answer is the 2000 Roland Garros final, Guga vs. Magnus Norman. Though I didn’t watch – or at least don’t remember – a single point of that match, I remember wanting. Everybody was talking about it, and I’m pretty sure I did watch Kuerten signing the camera lens and drawing the heart on the French clay.

However, if the correct answer to this question is the first tennis match I actually sat down to watch, we flash forward it to 2007, the American summer swing. In my memory, there is Safin. With the help of our friends at the ATP website, the match I’m looking for is… well, I don’t know. It says Marat lost in the second round of Montreal in 2007, to Nadal. Maybe I witnessed Soderling’s retirement after three games in the first round? Or maybe my brain is fooling me. Whatever. I do remember watching the final – and pulling for Federer – when Djokovic won.

This is it. Nothing exciting, nothing supernatural, nothing revealing. Just business. Tomorrow will be a better day, as I name my favorite retired player. And – let’s hope – I get my writing skills back by then.

(My brain’s not cooperating today. I apologize for any English mistakes, grammar and semantics)

Useful:

Prologue and explanation

Day 1 – Favorite men’s player

Day 2 – Favorite women’s player

Day 3 – Favorite doubles team

Day 4 – Least favorite men’s player

Day 5 – Least favorite women’s player

Day 6 – Most memorable match

Day 7 – First player you became a fan of