Every champion will have a story to tell about the sacrifices they made to reach the pinnacle of their sport and almost all of them will involve a parent or a guardian who pushed them to their limits. Most future stars are introduced to the sport by their parents and some of them drive them to achieve great things.
There have been examples of parents sacrificing their careers and moving bases so that their kid gets the best facilities to pursue glory. Though there are extreme versions of successful ‘tennis’ parents, it is beyond doubt that it helps to have a focused guardian motivating you to achieve the most.
Successful tennis parents range from the caring and sacrificing to the obsessed, overbearing, and downright insane - as evident from Jelena Dokic’s story where she revealed that her father Damir Dokic used to hit her ‘for her own sake’.
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Then there is Judy Murray who portrays herself as her sons’, Jamie and Andy, biggest fan. As such, let’s take a look at some of the most successful parents in tennis.
#5 Yuri Sharapov
Maria Sharapova, before her recent controversy with regards to doping, was the highest paid female athlete in the world for several years running despite her ‘moderate’ success as far as Grand Slams are concerned. She took the world by storm at Wimbledon 2004 as a bubbly teenager who took apart Serena Williams in the final. The cornerstone of her astronomical rise thereafter was probably her dad, Yuri Sharapov.
After Martina Navratilova suggested to Yuri that Maria should train in Florida, he went to the USA with Maria and meager savings. He could not even take his wife, Yelena Sharapova, with him to the country as the family could not afford her visa at the time. Yelena would follow them two years later, although she has since split with Yuri.
Sharapov toiled hard, doing menial jobs, while also ensuring his daughter received the best coaching. Sharapova’s coaches have spoken plenty of times about the commitment Yuri had shown for his daughter’s game and the way he conducted himself in tournaments.
Though Yuri has on occasions shown his belligerent side (when he made a throat-slashing gesture from the stands in Sharapova’s win over Justine Henin in the 2008 Australian Open), the role he has played in Sharapova’s envious career is second to none.
#4 Peter Graf
Peter Graf is probably a name that needs no introduction.
Peter, often dubbed ‘Papa Merciless’, was the Robin to Steffi Graf’s Batman. While he is one of the bad boys on this list, the fact that he drove Steffi to phenomenal success cannot be ignored.
He was her coach, manager and chaperone all rolled into one. Steffi, driven on by her tempestuous father, won an astounding 22 Grand Slam singles titles – a record that stands to this day (though Serena Williams has matched it).
What made Peter Graf a bad boy is the fact that he used to control Steffi’s tournament and practice schedule, as well as her finances, and even her sleeping and waking hours. But the pair fell out in 1997 when he was sentenced to nearly four years in prison, having being convicted of tax evasion on nearly £5 million of her earnings. Though the ugly episodes have not endeared Peter to the public who see him as a pushy parent, Peter Graf certainly was a big factor in his daughter’s record-breaking career.
#3 Toni Nadal
While Toni Nadal is not Rafa Nadal’s father but his uncle, he deserves a place in this list for guiding and coaching the greatest clay court specialist ever in the history of the sport. Uncle Toni (as he’s popularly known) took Nadal under his wing from childhood and prepared his protege, who spread his own wings and took off when he stunned Roger Federer in the semifinals of the 2005 French Open.
Rafa went on to win 14 Grand Slams which included 9 French Open titles in 10 years, showing tremendous spirit and willpower to go toe-to-toe with Roger Federer in his prime.
Much of that courage was instilled in the Mallorcan by the man who came to be known as Uncle Toni.
“We practice Rafa’s mental strength as well. In life you can practice everything. I would have not been hard with someone who could not sustain it. I believed in the effort and work, and it paid off,” professed Toni Nadal recently during an interview. He also admitted that he was extremely hard on his nephew. The fact that Nadal has not had another coach shows how much he respects Toni.
#2 Judy Murray
Among all the dads in this list, we finally have a supermom! The recently anointed numero uno, Andy Murray, and one of the best doubles players in the world, Jamie Murray, have their mother Judy to thank for whatever they have achieved in their career.
In fact, Judy who comes from a sporting background (her father was a football player while she herself was a successful tennis player in Scotland) and was the first coach to both her sons. Though she took a backseat soon as her sons went professional, Judy’s coaching prowess saw her being asked to captain Great Britain’s Fed Cup team in 2011.
Both Andy and Jamie always make it a point that their mother was their biggest fan while Murray once candidly admitted that Judy’s the only person who gets him. Her steadfast dedication to her sons’ careers saw Great Britain’s eternal wait (well, since 1936) for a Wimbledon champion come to an end.
Now, Andy has gone one step further and become the No.1 ranked player in the world. Judy Murray must be one proud mother!
#1 Richard Williams
In the past decade or so, the name ‘Williams’ (regardless of the first name) used to strike fear in opponents’ minds and the man responsible was Richard Williams, father of Serena and Venus.
An extremely polarising figure for his constant criticism of the tennis establishment apart from his antics, his role in shaping the careers of 2 of the modern greats of the game has to be acknowledged.
Supposedly, after deciding that women’s tennis had a lot of money in it, he taught himself the game and took to coaching his daughters in public courts around the crime-ridden neighbourhood of Compton. He moved to Florida after his girls were offered free coaching.
His daughters fed off his determination and dedication, taking the world by storm with their mix of power-packed hitting and never-say-die attitude.
It was no wonder that Serena and Venus won an eye-popping 31 Grand Slam singles titles (22 of them were won by Serena, who is on the verge of breaking Steffi’s record). It is said that Richard made out a 78-page plan, detailing Venus and Serena’s future, when they were just 4 years old. It might be safe to say that his daughters have certainly exceeded Richard’s expectations.
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