Want to own your own piece of tennis history?

Rafael Nadal has made that dream a reality for one lucky fan after donating one of his 2019 Roland Garros final match shirts to the ‘La Mejor Asistencia’ (The Best Assistance) auction, organised by Liga ACB, Spain’s top professional basketball division.

“For this auction, I wanted to donate the shirt with which I won Roland Garros in 2019. Obviously, I do not know if it is the one I ended the match with, but one with which I played on the day of the final,” said Nadal.

“It is a shirt that has great meaning for me. I hope you value it and the auction raises as much money as possible for all these people who are suffering so much and need all our support.”

The highest bid for the 12-time Roland Garros champion’s shirt currently stands at more than €4,500. All funds raised will go to the Red Cross campaign Nuestra Mejor Victoria (Our Best Victory), run by Nadal and basketball star Pau Gasol to support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two years ago, American Steve Johnson made history at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, defeating Tennys Sandgren to become only the second player since Jose-Luis Clerc in 1980-81 to retain the Houston title. The only other man to do so was Andy Roddick — who later reached World No. 1 — in 2001-02.

“My hands were on my knees as I stood bent over behind the baseline… I was choking back tears,” Johnson recalled in a My Point first-person essay. “I looked to the sky and pumped my fist as I walked to the net to embrace my opponent… a first-time finalist, who I knew wanted to win his first trophy badly. When I put my head down on his chest, Tennys said something I will never forget: ‘I know our Dads are watching in the crowd.’”

Johnson wasn’t the first player to retain an ATP Tour trophy, not even in Houston, but his victory had plenty of emotional strings attached.

The American won his first title on home soil in 2017, when he triumphed in Houston. Twenty-five days later his father, Steve Johnson Sr., passed away in his sleep. Returning to Houston and winning the title again led to plenty of emotions.

“I was doing my best to hold it together. But when Tennys, who lost his father a number of years ago, said that, I let it all out,” Johnson said. “I had just fulfilled a dream we shared — earning a trophy in the United States. But that was the last match he ever saw me play. Suddenly, Dad was gone.”

Johnson Sr. was there in-person when his son won his first ATP Tour title at 2016 Nottingham, but he wasn’t in Houston in April 2017. However, they spoke on the phone after that match.

“He was just so excited. He’s somebody that I’d still like to call today,” Johnson said after retaining his crown. “He’d tell me he was proud of me and be ready for [my] wedding next weekend.”

It hasn’t all been easy for Johnson since his father’s passing. The World No. 63 has been open about the anxiety that has come with being a professional tennis player while trying to grieve the loss of his father. But in that championship match against Sandgren at the River Oaks Country Club, he found something special.

“Through the toughest moments, I’ve found a sense of unity. In Houston, I know it couldn’t have been easy for Tennys to lose his first final in front of his fantastic Mom, brothers, and others close to him. But he knew how I was feeling,” Johnson wrote. “I’m forever thankful that he was there for me that day.”

Johnson has won two of his four ATP Tour titles in Houston, where he owns an 11-5 record. The home favourite has won 50 per cent of his tour-level clay-court matches, but that would drop down to 42.9 per cent without his Houston success.

Besides Roddick and Johnson, only two other Americans have won multiple titles at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship: Jimmy Connors and Andre Agassi, both of whom have climbed to No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

Karen Khachanov, one of the most amiable personalities on the ATP Tour, is currently No. 15 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and the winner of four titles.

ATPTour.com looks at five things you should know about the 23-year-old.

2018 Was The Best Season Of His Career
The Russian won three ATP Tour titles during the 2018 season, when he moved from No. 45 in the FedEx ATP Rankings to a year-end No. 11 on the back of 46 match wins.

Khachanov captured two ATP 250-level titles at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille (d. Pouille) and the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow (d. Mannarino) to break into the Top 20 for the first time on 22 October 2018.

Full of confidence, Khachanov went on to lift his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy with victories over Top 10 members John Isner, Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic, ending the Serbia’s 22-match winning streak in the Rolex Paris Masters final. He was the first Russian since 2009 to win an Masters 1000 title (Nikolay Davydenko in Shanghai) and the Moscow title (Mikhail Youzhny).

Big Prediction As A Teenager
Former World No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a childhood idol, told ATPTour.com in October 2013 that then World No. 808 Khachanov would break into the Top 20 of the FedEx ATP Rankings by 2015.

While the prediction didn’t come true, at that time, Jan-Lennard Struff, who played Khachanov just six months after the 17-year-old had left school in October 2013, recalls, “I had a feeling [in 2013] he was already a pretty decent player. He was striking the ball very hard and going for his shots. He beat a lot of good guys.”

As recently as August 2018, shortly prior to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in Toronto, Khachanov was still World No. 38. He beat two Top 15 players before losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. “I would say that was the first step to show myself that I am capable of playing in the further stages of the bigger events,” Khachanov told ATPTour.com. “I lost to Rafa here, [but] I also had chances. It was a good match.”

Khachanov remembers, “There were expectations and I felt that after I made the 2013 Moscow quarter-finals it was going to be easy to beat a lot of the guys on the ATP Tour, but it was not. I wasn’t ready to do it more consistently. That’s why it took me longer to find my game and play better. You just have to pass through these stages and trust that you will find it. Somebody gets there longer, somebody has it slower.”

Nearly six years on from Kafelnikov’s Top 20 prediction, 23-year-old Khachanov cracked the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time on 10 June 2019.

Khachanov, A Hollywood Actor?
ATP Tour Uncovered presented by Peugeot posed the question last year: Which actor would you want to portray you in a movie about your life?

Khachanov thought he looked particularly similar to Liam Hemsworth, who was in The Hunger Games series. The similarity was even covered by Buzzfeed and People.

What do you think?

pic.twitter.com/PF1OaZ0XQN

— Karen Khachanov (@karenkhachanov) February 15, 2019

Yeah I am the 4th brother?? https://t.co/I5pG9vjixY

— Karen Khachanov (@karenkhachanov) September 5, 2018

Karen The Intellectual
It’s no surprise Khachanov has the mental fortitude to succeed on the ATP Tour. In his free time, he enjoys testing his mind by playing chess and reading classic Roman novels. He’s also completed his long-distance studies for a degree in physical education at the University of Moscow in 2018.

“Education is always important and after I finished high school, I tried to be in the university as much as I can. Now, I study online. And I like to play chess. It’s one of my favourite hobbies. I also like to read classic Roman novels.”

A Global Traveller, Pushing His Career
Khachanov first left Moscow when he was 15 years old to go and train in Croatia with Goran Ivanisevic’s former coach, Vedran Martic. Khachanov moved to Barcelona aged 18, where he worked under the guidance of Galo Blanco, the former coach of Milos Raonic, and picked up Spanish over a four-year period.

Khachanov won his first ATP Tour title in October 2016 under Blanco, beating Alberto Ramos-Vinolas 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-3 in the Chengdu Open final, but the pair split a little over one year later when he was inside the Top 50. Only five months ago, Frederik Rosengren came on board, joining Martic as coach to Khachanov, who helped Russia to the semi-finals of the inaugural ATP Cup in January.

The 23-year-old now resides in Dubai with his wife Veronika and son, David, who was born on 14 September 2019.

It is a dream of every player to win a title on home soil, and it was in the late 1990s that Morocco had three world-class players: Younes El Aynaoui, Karim Alami and Hicham Arazi, who all experienced unforgettable weeks to reach the Grand Prix Hassan II final.

While El Aynaoui (1993) and Alami (1994) had come close to victory in Casablanca, when the ATP 250 tournament was held there (1990-2015), it was current Tournament Director Arazi who first lifted the silverware in 1997, in front of the King of Morocco, Hassan II.

With chants of “Hicham, Hicham” echoing around the Complexe Al Amal stadium, World No. 56 Arazi beat Argentina’s Franco Squillari 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 for one of the biggest moments of his career.

“It was crazy, a magical week,” Arazi told ATPTour.com. “There were so many people outside waiting to come in, there wasn’t any space in the stadium. When I won match point with a forehand winner, I kissed up to the sky. I was 23, at the beginning of my career, but I was relieved. The most difficult part is to win it. You want to play your best tennis and there is a lot of pressure.

“My confidence started to grow the previous year, when I won three ATP Challenger Tour tournaments. A friend gave me a record of the whole 1997 final just a few days ago, and when I see my face, I was happy, but it was a strange feeling. I enjoy it now, as the Tournament Director [of the Grand Prix Hassan II] for the past five years, because I realise what it meant, more than when I was a player.

“I was not living in Morocco, but I was living in France. I was away 30-35 weeks of the year on Tour, but when I won it was crazy. Everyone recognised me, I enjoyed that night and partied with my friends. It was a strange feeling. I was known, but not considered good enough to win the tournament. It was a big change and from that moment the support of Moroccans hasn’t stopped. Even today, in support of Karim, Younes and myself. They remember.”

It would take 1993 runner-up El Aynaoui a further nine years of trying, before he was able to capture the Grand Prix Hassan II trophy. His 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over defending champion Guillermo Canas in the 2002 final came during an Indian summer for the 31-year-old. In a two-year period, between 2001 and 2002, El Aynaoui won four ATP Tour titles from eight finals.

“I enjoyed playing in Casablanca, but one of my fondest memories came when I was 400 or 500 in the world and I was granted a wild card,” El Aynaoui told ATPTour.com. “I beat Thomas Muster on an outside court in the [1992] second round. When you have a stop at home, there is nothing better. It was always a special week and very important.

“In the 1993 final against Guillermo Perez-Roldan [lost 6-4, 6-3], I was very nervous and it’s something that always stayed with me. I can say it now, but I did struggle in big matches, like finals. But I made a big push late in my career. It took time to organise and have the correct staff: a physical coach, physio and my whole family were travelling with me. It was a reward for many years of effort, not giving up, and I achieved what I’d been fighting for since the age of 16 or 17.”

“The 2002 final against Willy [Canas] was enormous as there were perhaps 7,000-8,000 people in the stadium. It was three tough sets and a lot of help and energy from the crowd, but it is perhaps the best moment of my career.”

El Aynaoui would rise to a career-high No. 14 in the FedEx ATP Rankings on 11 March 2003, shortly prior to a third Casablanca final (l. to Julien Boutter) appearance in April that year.

Today, El Aynaoui supports young talent, while Arazi has become a highly experienced Tournament Director in Marrakech, where the event has been held since 2016.

“Being a Tournament Director is great,” says Arazi, who would rise to a career-high No. 22 on 5 November 2011. “When you play, you don’t see the work that the Tournament Director and his staff undertake. Tennis is an individual sport, it’s difficult to get to this level and you need to have a very selfish mentality. A tennis player must enjoy the time, because it goes so fast. They should practice as hard as they could. They are lucky to have the experience of travelling around the world.

“When I retired, I started to think how lucky I’d been. Casablanca in 1997 was a magical week.”

When Roger Federer issues a challenge, it’s hard not to accept it. Current and former ATP Tour players joined Olympic athletes and eager fans in sporting their best hat to take on his volley challenge.

Federer embraced the #tennisathome campaign with a social media video on Tuesday that showed him hitting rapid fire forehand volleys against a wall while wearing a Panama hat. He asked his followers to reply back with a video of themselves doing the drill so that he could provide tips and encouraged everyone to “choose your hat wisely.”

It only took 24 hours before former World No. 4 Nicolas Kiefer, Fred Gil and WTA player Sofia Kenin posted videos showing off an array of colourful hats. Real Madrid football star Toni Kroos, Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn and World Cup alpine ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin also made Instagram posts in a bid to get feedback from the 103-time tour-level champion.

The ? game is strong in @rogerfederer‘s wall challenge ?

Which one is your favourite? | #tennisathome pic.twitter.com/mw4AiQLg18

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 8, 2020

Federer, always a man of his word, shared several of the videos on his Twitter account and offered encouragement.

Don’t be scared of the ? ? https://t.co/tkYVObQq68

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) April 7, 2020

Against the mirror or window is extra difficult, forza Italia ❤️ https://t.co/g2yv8TRFjx

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) April 7, 2020

Don’t lean back, strong in the wrist.
Keep up the great work https://t.co/uAOlrY1n4i

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) April 7, 2020

Winter time in the summer
Love it
Careful for the ? https://t.co/whoc0Ugcb3

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) April 7, 2020

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced as part of his Wednesday news conference that the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the home of the US Open, plans to increase the capacity of its makeshift hospital from 350 beds to 470 beds to help in the battle against coronavirus.

“Last week, I was at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens. What you looked at then, it was a bunch of tennis courts, indoor tennis courts. Right now, it is being converted into a hospital facility,” said de Blasio, who did a walkthrough of the facility on 31 March. “We’ll start receiving patients this week. We will convert 20 beds in the new facility to ICU care… this is a case of continuing to go faster, add more, to make sure we can serve people in need exactly when they need it.”

Daniel Zausner, the chief operating officer of the USTA BJK NTC, confirmed the news, adding that the hopes are to begin receiving patients on Friday.

The temporary hospital is being constructed inside the Indoor Training Center at the NTC, which houses 12 courts with about 100,000 square feet of space.

Additionally, according to USOpen.org, teams are utilising Louis Armstrong Stadium, the facility’s second-largest stadium, to fulfill meal packages to be sent to patients, workers and school children. There are 25,000 packages being produced per day, with those consisting of two days’ worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This time of the year is normally peak season for Bob and me, with two of our favourite tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. But with the arrival of my first baby less than a month away and the ATP Tour suspended due to the coronavirus, my focus is firmly on my life partner rather than my doubles partner.

I’m hunkered down with my wife Nadia in our home in Camarillo, California counting down the days to the birth of our first son in less than three weeks. Staying healthy and scrounging for some of life’s necessities has replaced chasing titles on the Tour.

Although no-one wanted this fight with COVID-19 and its life-changing consequences, it’s proven to be an opportunity for me to slow down, be with Nadia and just savour these moments in the final days of her pregnancy. I have seen how much joy it has brought to Bob’s life and how his priorities have shifted.

But it’s been far from a conventional countdown to the birth as baby basics like wipes and diapers have been stripped from store shelves.

Nadia had a baby shower planned with 20 people and, obviously, that wasn’t a good idea, so we cancelled it. It is unfortunate she didn’t have that experience, but people out there are dealing with a lot worse. I know friends who are losing their jobs. They are living paycheque to paycheque. They don’t have a lot of savings, so this is devastating for them. They are all in our thoughts.

Just like for everyone, the times present challenges. The simple necessities are tough to find. I’ve gone down to Whole Foods and Sprouts bright and early in the morning and there is always a line wrapped around the building and you can’t stand next to people; you are about 10 feet away from them. You go in there and there are no eggs, there is no milk. I haven’t seen bacon.

Back at home, however, the nursery is dialled in. We have got a boy coming, so the room is painted blue. We have got little aeroplanes painted on the wall, a map. We’ve got the crib, toys and it is looking good. We are ready for this little guy. Baby Jake. We have got the name picked out and we are pumped for this little guy. He is kicking.

While expectant dads at some hospitals are being excluded from delivery wards, I’m thankful to know that I will be with Nadia when baby Jake comes bouncing into the world because we’ll be using a birthing centre and midwife just a few miles from home.

Nadia wants to do all natural, like the holistic birth. She might go in the bathtub and have the baby. She doesn’t want any meds, no epidural like 99 per cent of people do in the States. She’s Slovakian and her whole family does it the natural way. Whenever it is time, we are just going to open the door, head to the birth centre and go to work.

One thing on our minds is that we won’t be able to share this joyous occasion with family and friends as we would like to. We are being super cautious because of the virus. We are on lockdown for the safety of the baby and Nadia’s health. My parents live down the street and Bob is around, although we’re not seeing a lot of him or the kids. We are just super careful, because you never know what complications can arise if she gets sick. When Jake comes, I definitely think we will just keep the baby in the house for the time being until they find a cure, this curve flattens or whatever. It is a bubble shield over the house right now.

Preparing for Jake’s birth has also helped to take my mind off the disappointment of our farewell season being interrupted by the tour suspension. The event we were really looking forward to playing was Indian Wells, where all the players were down there and raring to go. It is so beautiful and that’s our home tournament. We have so many people from California who come down and support us and we look forward to that first-round match on Stadium Court 1.

Missing Miami has also hurt. We were super stoked to go defend our title and that feels like Bob’s home tournament because he is a South Florida guy. It is unfortunate that we didn’t get to say our goodbyes to the fans in Indian Wells and Miami and now Europe is a wash-out with the cancellation of tournaments through Wimbledon. We just hope we can play the US Open one last time and some of the US hard-court tournaments.

We had always said that the US Open would be our last event but we have just got to wait and see. If we can’t play another match for the rest of the year, if we can’t play the US Open, then there is a possibility of playing on in 2021.

We are fighting Father Time, who is a tough opponent, although the bodies are fresh despite being nearly 42 because we are not putting a lot of strain on them right now. It’s all happened so quickly and I haven’t seen a lot of Bob, but we’ll have a discussion, for sure.

Right now, there are more important things to focus on as everyone in the country and the world has a role to play in beating this virus. Stay safe, everyone, and look after your family.

– As told to Paul Macpherson

The Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship arrived in Houston in 2001 — moving to its current location at River Oaks Country Club in 2008 — and the clay-court event has proven a philanthropic presence in the community ever since.

The ATP 250 this year received a $15,000 ATP ACES For Charity grant to provide funds to help continue the initiative of resurfacing an NJTL site and offer programs so that the kids and families in the community can have a safer, more enjoyable place to play tennis. But the Houston tournament has long been supportive of its city.

The event’s partnership with the Houston Tennis Association’s NJTL began a few years ago with volunteer support at some of the signature events of the summer—the NJTL Regional Rally, NJTL Reading Rally and the NJTL Kids’ Day— and in 2017, HTA NJTL became an official charity of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.

In 2018, the clay-court tournament coordinated a special effort to benefit the NJTL. When Hurricane Harvey hit the city of Houston in August 2017, there was much devastation. Many of the ATP pros who played the tournament contacted Tournament Director Bronwyn Greer to see how they might help.

When the event rolled around in April 2018, seven top American players made personal donations toward resurfacing the two tennis courts at Sunnyside Park: Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan, John Isner, Steve Johnson, Sam Querrey, Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe. Isner, Querrey, the Bryan Brothers, Frances Tiafoe and Steve Johnson made a visit to Sunnyside Park, where they met and hit tennis balls with the NJTL kids.

“It’s bigger than tennis,” Tiafoe said. “Terrible things happen everywhere, and it’s always good to give back, and that’s what sports are about, togetherness. It brings people together.”

The visit was especially meaningful to the 20-year-old American, who grew up playing in public parks and visited similar grassroots programs in Maryland.

“It reminds me of where I started, very humble beginnings,” Tiafoe said. “I do my best every day to try to become someone to be able to give back. Because I was given so much, I was very fortunate, very lucky.”

Last year, Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka visited local courts that were being refurbished for use by the HTA NJTL. They were excited to see how enthusiastic the kids and their coaches were.

“These kids were great. They were actually really engaged. You can tell they are here on a consistent basis, because you don’t get to be that good without putting in time and effort,” Opelka said. “With a nicer surface and everything, I’m sure [the courts] will get tons of great use.”

The event runs a ticket turnback program to support the Trauma and Emergency Center at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. Fans are encouraged to return tickets for any session they cannot attend so they may be re-sold, with the entire purchase price being donated to the hospital. The program has raised more than $265,000 for charity.

The tournament has supported a plethora of charitable programs over the years, but one thing to note is that the event has become the presenting sponsor of its Kids’ Day, which brings together 750-1,000 students who meet attendance requirements during the summer. The event is a highlight with the kids receiving bus transportation, t-shirts and snacks to participate in a day full of music, art, tennis lessons and special guests — including ATP Tour players — on that day.

Looking back on it, it was weird that I hadn’t heard from Mom in a few days. We usually talked every day, sometimes more, even if I was busy with tennis and classes at the University of Georgia.

It was February 2004, and I was in the second semester of my freshman year. We were beginning our spring tennis season, my game was in a good place, and we had just finished another weekend of matches. Life was good.

But when I woke up at around 8 a.m. in my McWhorter Hall dorm room to two missed calls, I thought something was definitely up. Maybe something had happened to one of my grandparents? Maybe, but surely nothing to Mom, not to the woman who had survived raising my two older brothers and me. Besides, she was in good health – she played tennis, lifted weights, ran – and she was only 50.

I was alone when I called her back.

“I’m going to tell you something but I don’t want you to worry. It’s going to be OK,” she said.

“But there’s a reason why I haven’t spoken to you the last few days.

“I have cancer.”

***

Cancer, at that point in my life – I was 18, two months away from my 19th birthday – had been something I had read about in the news or something, unfortunately, that had happened to relatives or parents of friends. It wasn’t something that I had personally experienced.

But by the time I talked with my mom, cancer had already affected my family. She hadn’t called because she had been rushed into emergency surgery. Mom had been so ill – deathly sick, really – that she had gone to the hospital for what she had thought was appendicitis. She woke up to learn that she had “stage four” – very developed – colon cancer. A tumour had formed, and they had to remove it, immediately.

She didn’t tell me during the weekend because she wanted me to focus on my matches. We talked for a few minutes. She told me about her upcoming chemotherapy and her brutal path ahead.

I hung up, and I bawled. I sat there on my dorm room bed, with my Carolina Panthers poster on the cement wall, and cried and cried and cried. My mind was blank.

Less than six weeks earlier, I had been at home, celebrating Christmas with my family. Everyone was healthy, everything was perfect. Now I thought I was going to lose my mom.

***

I had actually wanted to get away from my parents. When I was deciding which college to attend, I picked Georgia because, No. 1, it was the right place for me and the tennis program was – and remains – incredible, but also because the university was perfectly located.

I wanted to leave North Carolina, where I had grown up, but I didn’t want to leave the South. The University of Georgia, about four hours away from my parents’ home in Greensboro, North Carolina, was the best of everything: easy enough to drive home to if I needed to but far enough away that my parents couldn’t come visit every weekend. Funny, isn’t it?

Because as I drove home on 106 North and then I-85 North, speeding past forests coming to life and two-stoplight towns in the South, I wanted to be nowhere else but home, in Greensboro, with my family.

We had shared so many ridiculous times at home. I remember my two older brothers – Nathan and Jordan – and I would eat so much food that my parents eventually bought a second refrigerator and put it in the laundry room. But we were eating that food so rapidly as well that my mom put a combination lock on the extra fridge.

My brothers and I, however, were smart kids. One time, one of us slyly peered over Mom’s shoulder as she entered the combination, and we again had reins to both refrigerators, until she noticed the attrition and changed the lock.

^{John Isner has gained perspective from his mother’s battle with colon cancer. (Credit: Aaron Sprecher/US Clay)}
We ate so much, a cheeseburger counted as a snack. But we were good eaters, too: Every year my mom would plant a huge vegetable garden in the backyard, and we’d devour carrots and tomatoes.

We got into our share of trouble as well. One time, when I was maybe 7 or 8, my oldest brother Nathan took a “U” bicycle lock, shoved my head through it and locked me to his brass bed post. He left me there for a few hours until my mom came home and found me.

She was also the person waiting for me after Nathan would make me walk the three miles from the tennis courts to our house after I’d beaten him. He’d get so mad, he’d just take off – and this was before cell phones, so I couldn’t call or text someone for a ride.

But I knew this trip home would be a lot different. My usual road-trip music – CDs of The Allman Brothers Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doobie Brothers – wouldn’t cut it; I spent most of the next four hours on the phone, talking with family.

***

Mom had six months of chemotherapy waiting for her. On Monday through Wednesday, she’d sit for hours with a tube connected to her as the medicine seeped into her veins. Every other week, she’d go back.

But she never went alone. Someone – either myself, my dad, my aunt or uncle, or my brothers – would go with her, holding her hand or just trying to talk to her about anything else.

She’d feel OK for the first day or two after a session, but then she’d feel awful for days. Nauseated. Vomiting. She didn’t want to leave her bed. I’d call and ask how she was doing, “Oh, I’m fine,” she’d say. But then, later, I’d talk with my dad, who would tell me the truth.

Watch Isner’s My Story

My first trip back, right after I heard the news, I stayed for about a week, but then I returned to Georgia. I hated leaving my family, but, to be honest, it was easy to go back and keep playing tennis.

That was the one thing my mom wanted me to do – to keep playing – and because of that, I felt like, in some small way, I was able to do something for her.

She was right there with me, too: Mom came to every home tennis match that spring. She’d go to chemotherapy in the beginning of the week, drive down with my dad on Friday and, in between sleeping all weekend, she’d watch tennis.

I went home every couple of weeks during that spring season. Usually I headed back on a Monday, after a weekend of matches, and I’d come back to Athens on Wednesday. My coach, Manny Diaz, and my professors were so understanding. The tennis team secretary, who knew about my mom’s health, even baked me a cake on my birthday, 26 April.

***

The six months of chemotherapy had removed the cancer. Mom was in the clear, so we thought.

But she still came in for checkups so they could test her blood, and every time we learned she was OK, until October 2007, when doctors noticed something abnormal in her blood. The cancer had returned.

This time, however, we took her to the University of North Carolina Lineberger in Chapel Hill, and they started treating it even more aggressively. Doctors there attacked it with 28 radiation treatments and constant chemotherapy. For about six weeks, Mom carried around a chemotherapy bag so that the drugs could constantly be infused in her.

It worked. The tumour shrunk, and they surgically removed it. The rounds of checkups began again, but this time, they happened less frequently and less frequently until, finally, my mom didn’t have to go back at all.

^{Isner, center, remains close with his entire family, including his mother, to his left, and his brother Nathan, to his right.}
She and my dad could come watch me play whenever they wanted, and they have. They’ve seen me in Indian Wells, Miami, New York, Cincinnati, Winston-Salem and Atlanta. Anywhere they can drive, they usually go.

During my 12-year ATP World Tour career, I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of intense matches. But I’ve never experienced anything like the pain my mom had to endure.

What I felt when it was 68-68 against Nicolas Mahut at 2010 Wimbledon? Doesn’t compare. The exhaustion I had during the first set of the Miami Open final against Alexander Zverev, before I won my first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title? Not even close.

My mom is also why we’ve raised more than $200,000 for UNC Lineberger during charity exhibitions. This year we’re raffling off a chance to come to Wimbledon, with proceeds benefiting the hospital, where the doctors saved my mom’s life and save lives every day.

When I think about whining about the heat or about what time I’m scheduled to play, one thought about the courage Mom has shown over the years places everything in perspective.

I’m one of the lucky ones. I play a game for a living, and, whether she’s at home or in the stands, I have the support of my mom.

– as told to Jonathon Braden

It was a rivalry based on the serve of Pete Sampras and the return of Andre Agassi. In a 30-match series that spanned 13 years, the sport’s two most marketable stars of the 1990s pitted contrasting styles, and personalities, that led to high-quality match-ups and plenty of mutual respect.

Early in his career, Agassi played first-strike tennis, looking to end points as quickly as possible, but learned to dictate play from the baseline, with accurate groundstrokes — almost identical in strength — and wore down his opponents with his superior conditioning and depth of shot.

Sampras developed a classic, all-court attacking game, centred on a serve hit with great disguise. His second serve, struck almost as powerfully as his first delivery, is regarded as the best in the sport’s history. His jump smash and hitting an on-the-run forehand also became signature shots.

“It’s a great match up, both of us Americans, different styles of play and games,” says Sampras. “It’s a contrast and it has the ingredients of a rivalry. It’s different when I play him; there is a lot of respect for each other. We’ve competed since we were eight years old, playing junior tennis. I need to step up whenever I play him.”

Agassi says, “I felt if I played my best tennis, I can beat anyone. If I played my best tennis against Pete, it still doesn’t mean I will win. He’s taken away a lot of titles from me and caused me a lot of sleepless nights. I’m grateful now to have had him in my career.”

Dig Deeper Into Agassi & Sampras’ Rivalry

By 1995, when they met on five occasions at high-profile tournaments, their mutual clothing sponsor had a field day, with the ‘Guerrilla Tennis’ television commercial raising their profile further. Their matches had become the sport’s hottest ticket and must-see television.

But Agassi’s sharp decline, including a wrist injury, that saw him drop to No. 141 in the FedEx ATP Rankings on 10 November 1997, contrasted to Sampras’ sustained dominance and six consecutive year-end No. 1 finishes between 1993 and 1998.

Agassi recovered to finish 1999 in top spot, and the pair engaged in a further 11 matches, culminating in Sampras winning a then-record 14th major crown at the 2002 US Open. While it proved to be Sampras’ last match, Agassi forged on, once again rising to No. 1 at the age of 33 and the Las Vegan continued to compete until September 2006.

At the close, Sampras led 20-14 in their ATPHead2Head series, having won 10 of their 15 matches at Grand Slam championships or the Nitto ATP Finals. They brought out the best in each other, but it was Sampras’ 11-9 edge over Agassi in hard-court meetings that elevated the sport to new heights and the era of superstar tennis.