Former Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez retired this week. I could run through some of Gonzo's stats but I'm more a memories kinda guy so I'm sorry to disappoint any trainspotters out there.
As a junior, I played a lot of competitive tennis in Gonzo's backyard of South America. The first year I was in South America was 1994 and a few months after this I was competing in Europe. Whilst in South America I became good friends with a lot of the South America kids which included guys like former top 50 player Luis Horna. All the kids played the first tournament of the European circuit in Holland at a tournament called the Windmill Cup (a week before the tournament, a disgruntled local burnt down the windmill outside the club. I swear, I'm not making this up).
Now during my first trip to South America, Gonzo wasn't there but during that week in Holland, the legend of Gonzo was beginning to grow. The South Americans talked about him like they were talking about Keyser Soze on 'The Usual Suspects'.
"This one time, I saw him do this and this and that. I think I did, no?"
All I heard from these knuckleheads was, wait until you see Fernando play. Wait until you see him hit a forehand. The man was already a legend and he was all of 14-years-old.
The next week we played at a club in Belgium that was called 'The Happy Club'. (First the Windmill Cup with a burnt down Windmill and then the Happy Club. This wasn't even the end of it. The last tournament was played in Brühl in Germany and we all stayed in an Army Barracks that was manned by psychotic looking German Army dudes walking around with bowie knifes, machine guns and german shepherds that I think they used to underfeed on purpose to make them look even nastier than they even were. Before the trip I had also just learnt about the years of 'Nazi Germany'. Safe to say, my Nazi wisecracks were on hold for that week.)
Gonzo arrives at the club for his first match from god knows where. He's there for like 20 minutes before he's about to play. He plays some poor bastard on one of the main courts which has this huge balcony overlooking it and people couldn't have been more fascinated if Sampras and Agassi had shown up to play mixed doubles against Madonna and a Persian Tiger.
Gonzo put on a show and made me think for the first time that there were people who were good tennis players with talent - me - and there were also those people who were just 6789 levels better. He was the first guy who made me literally think, "oh my god, that is what I'm gonna be up against".
You would think Gonzo would have strolled through the tournament but he ended up playing an awesomely casual South American style match in the semi's and lost to some kid from France who another young freak, Xavier Malisse (he was even more impressive than Gonzo) beat in the final.
Gonzo was a cool dude as a junior as he obviously knew he had this extraordinary gift but as we say in New Zealand, he was never a dickhead about it.
And that's why I always cheered for him as a pro.
As a junior, I played a lot of competitive tennis in Gonzo's backyard of South America. The first year I was in South America was 1994 and a few months after this I was competing in Europe. Whilst in South America I became good friends with a lot of the South America kids which included guys like former top 50 player Luis Horna. All the kids played the first tournament of the European circuit in Holland at a tournament called the Windmill Cup (a week before the tournament, a disgruntled local burnt down the windmill outside the club. I swear, I'm not making this up).
Now during my first trip to South America, Gonzo wasn't there but during that week in Holland, the legend of Gonzo was beginning to grow. The South Americans talked about him like they were talking about Keyser Soze on 'The Usual Suspects'.
"This one time, I saw him do this and this and that. I think I did, no?"
All I heard from these knuckleheads was, wait until you see Fernando play. Wait until you see him hit a forehand. The man was already a legend and he was all of 14-years-old.
The next week we played at a club in Belgium that was called 'The Happy Club'. (First the Windmill Cup with a burnt down Windmill and then the Happy Club. This wasn't even the end of it. The last tournament was played in Brühl in Germany and we all stayed in an Army Barracks that was manned by psychotic looking German Army dudes walking around with bowie knifes, machine guns and german shepherds that I think they used to underfeed on purpose to make them look even nastier than they even were. Before the trip I had also just learnt about the years of 'Nazi Germany'. Safe to say, my Nazi wisecracks were on hold for that week.)
Gonzo arrives at the club for his first match from god knows where. He's there for like 20 minutes before he's about to play. He plays some poor bastard on one of the main courts which has this huge balcony overlooking it and people couldn't have been more fascinated if Sampras and Agassi had shown up to play mixed doubles against Madonna and a Persian Tiger.
Gonzo put on a show and made me think for the first time that there were people who were good tennis players with talent - me - and there were also those people who were just 6789 levels better. He was the first guy who made me literally think, "oh my god, that is what I'm gonna be up against".
You would think Gonzo would have strolled through the tournament but he ended up playing an awesomely casual South American style match in the semi's and lost to some kid from France who another young freak, Xavier Malisse (he was even more impressive than Gonzo) beat in the final.
Gonzo was a cool dude as a junior as he obviously knew he had this extraordinary gift but as we say in New Zealand, he was never a dickhead about it.
And that's why I always cheered for him as a pro.
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