BOOK IN STORE

GT WROTE A BOOK, AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.COM FROM JULY 1, 2019

PAPERBACK AND EBOOK VERSIONS

'A SUGGESTION FOR LLEYTON'

OK here it is, a totally unbiased update for you on just how well the latest Lleyton Hewitt comeback is going.
In the last 24 hours, a bloke by the name of David Vega Hernandez of Spain who is currently ranked 105 in the World (in Doubles) teamed with Alex De Minaur of Australia to defeat Hewitt and Jordan Thompson in the first round of the Libema Open in the Netherlands.
Vega Hernandez has amassed a grand total of $14,500 this year in Mens Doubles and since commencing on the World Tour in 2012 he has won a total of just over $127,000. So in my calculations, David has earned around $18,000 for each year he has spent playing Mens Professional tennis.
I would say that Roger and Rafa would carry that amount of money around with them in the ashtray of their Porsche or Ferarri.
As far as the matchup in the Netherlands was concerned, well I believe that was a reasonably kind draw for Hewitt and Thompson as De Minaur doesn't really own too many credentials in the art of two on two tennis. 
In fact up until the win yesterday, Alex hadn't actually won a Mens Doubles match this year.
Now since January, Lleyton has played five events with three different partners including John-Patrick Smith, Alexei Popyrin and his good mate Thompson for a grand total of ZERO wins.
So I will put this suggestion out there to the ATP.
If a retired player wishes to still play tennis should the obvious suggestion be this;
There are a series of tournaments played regularly over the course of a season for 'retired' Tennis Professionals and the tour is commonly known as 'The Champions Tour'. 
It gives players who are not up to the challenge of the main tour anymore a chance to still play the game. It can still provide a lifeline of sorts for players who are struggling with the fact that they simply are no longer competitive against the 'big boys'.
Veterans AFL is a big hit here in Australia for guys who still like to have a kick and a bit of a run around with their mates. The Champions Tour of tennis is basically the equivalent of Veterans AFL and by all reports, it really is a wonderfully run organization for guys who still own a bit of skill but simply are no longer capable of playing the highest league anymore.
So here it is, my suggestion to the Association of Tennis Professionals, commonly known as the ATP;
Please, for the goodness of tennis, can you guys consider having a quiet word with Lleyton, for the credibility of not only the ATP but for the sport itself?
I will offer some dialogue as a small suggestion;
'Look Lleyton, it's like this, you haven't won a match since January and this latest event just proved what we have been thinking for quite some time now, you are no longer competitive on the ATP Tour.
I know, it's tough but a fact of life, sometimes you just have to accept that you had your time and now it's no longer your time. We feel that your spot in the main draw of an event should be taken by a younger player who requires not only the chance to prove themselves but also the prize money and ranking points that are essential in the growth of a future Tennis Professional.
We have for you a list of events that are available for you on the Champions Tour and we wish you well in your future days against guys who are a little bit like you, past their prime technically and physically yet still an asset to the sport as far as nostalgia is concerned.
We will no longer be allocating you a Wild Card into any future ATP Tour events'.
Kind Regards
The ATP

So there you go, I have been accused in the past of perhaps being a little too harsh on Lleyton however on this occasion I believe that what I have written is simply a suggestion for a guy who is struggling with his own mortality.

Maybe I am mellowing in my old age...

'THE TAXI DRIVER'

When someone has a win at anything in life, every man and his dog wants to have a piece of the victory.
But maybe that's just human nature as everyone who has ever rubbed shoulders with a winner believes that their 'influence' may just have been the touch of gold that made all the difference on game day.
Take for example the recently played French Open Tennis Championships where a Social Media organization liked to believe that their time with the runner up made all the difference to their rapidly improving career.
Let me explain;
Two years ago, Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic played a tournament in the Land Down Under, not a big event, just a stepping stone event for budding professionals, an event that the World has a seemingly never-ending amount of.
They are called Challenger Events and just about every Country in the World has them but it's all about the timing as far as some are concerned as they look to claim their part of tennis success. 
So it seems that one tournament, in particular, believes that their little event paved the way for Marketa to become a Grand Slam semifinalist, simply because that was one of the events she participated in on her road to tennis success.

Let's just say that it is part of the same organization who lay claim to being part of Roger Federer's success at the Australian Open a couple of years ago. Just quietly, they couldn't wait to get their mugshot in the newspapers as they did their best to explain that Roger graced their courts in the lead up to the Oz Open so therefore they are taking some of the credit.
I live in a small town that owns several organizations who love to take credit for a win by anyone in any field and over the years there have been some absolute classics. In some articles, the player who has had some success on the big stage is still referred to as 'a product of'....
So do these 'accolade claimers' in fact have a point or are they simply full of their own self-importance?
In my most humble of opinions this is my point of view;
If you were the one who first taught a player to hold a racket, kick a ball, bend it like Beckham or run like the Bolt then sure, I believe that you can lay claim to an accolade. If you took a player from another coach and that player's success level was rather modest until he or she started to excel then you can look at it in two ways;
The initial coach did the hard work and you simply came along after that hard technique work had been done and helped with the tactical side.
OR;
You took that player from a wasted talent and turned them into a champion through your own way of teaching.
Which way do you want to look at it?
I wrote a post some time ago regarding Stan Wawrinka's win in the French Open and Magnus Norman's rather humble view on the part he played in it all. Sure Magnus was Stan's coach at the time however even Magnus admitted that he did not teach Stan how to hit a ball so therefor Stan's initial tennis coaches should take much of the credit.
Nicely said Magnus.
So to the 'accolade claimer';
We all yearn for success, to be known as a link in the chain of success, to have been part of an event that was lucky enough to have had a champion grace your courts in the years prior to that player's success.
But please be honest with yourself;
Only certain organizations or coaches can really lay claim to have had any real impact on a player's success. The rest are simply part of the chain, sort of like a Taxi Driver who offers a hint of their 'expertise' as an armchair expert on a trip from the airport to an event.
Be honest with yourself, did you really help and were you a fair dinkum part of it all or were you simply a Taxi Driver?