Callaio
After two-weeks of global attention at Flushing Meadow, N.Y., today’s men’s final of the U.S. Open will conclude. Some may say good riddance and others, like me, will be sad to see the last professional tennis Grand Slam end for 2025.
If you are a regular reader of this column, you must know of my love and passion for tennis.
Growing up in an area where football, basketball and baseball reigned supreme, somehow, someway, tennis crept into Greater Pittston at the time of the tennis boom in America and even worldwide back in the late 1970s.
That was the time when I got involved in the game. It seemed everyone that played high sports needed a new sport after graduation and tennis was a great way to exercise once you mastered hitting the ball back and forth for a rally. Trust me, in the beginning there is a lot of short rallies and a lot of picking up balls.
About the time I was getting into the game, the Sunday Dispatch ran a tournament called the Dispatch Cup and you’d have a huge draw on the men’s side and less on the women’s, but the bottom line was there was a ton of people playing tennis.
The tournament was played at the Wyoming Area tennis courts since it was convenient and they had lights.
Two things I recall about the lights: the event was play during the heart of summer and the May flies where all over the place; and the lights were more suited for football then tennis and they were so bright. Oh, one more then, there were way too many of them and the light standards were placed on the courts making them a hazard.
I truly fell in love with the sport and with world players like Bjorn Borg, Guillermo Vilas, Martin Navratilova, Evonne Goolagong and Americans Jimmy Connors, Vitas Gerulaitis, Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, and Billy Jean King, leading the top ten standings.
I started to watch a weekly, half-hour PBS series “Vic Braden’s Tennis for the Future” in the early 1980s and I recorded it on my very large VCR at the time.
Braden got into the science of the sport as well as teaching technique. It was great to watch and learn and try to take what I learned to the tennis court.
I began to hit off the wall because I wasn’t confident enough to play with anyone. I hit off the wall for hours and created huge blisters and calluses from a racquet I bought at Thomas R. Davis Hardware store for less than $10 — $7.99 to be exact.
I was learning and working hard and then, one day, a fella a few years older than me would hit off the same wall and, man, could he hit the ball. I said in my mind I wanted to be as good as him one day — he was a college player at one time.
Eventually, that player, Fred Bohn, asked me to hit on the court. I was thrilled beyond thrilled, but I was a nervous wreck. We eventually became steady hitting partners for many years that followed.
As my love for the game grew, I wanted to see the pros I had been watching on TV play in person.
In 1979, my then girlfriend Cathy and I embarked to NYC to the U.S. Open. We bought grounds pass ticket for $13.50. Last week, my ticket for the nosebleed section at the Open was $160, but I digress.
Watching tennis up close was amazing and I wanted to be just like them, well minus all the money and lessons they took to get that far. If I couldn’t play like them, I could dress like them and that I, along with 20,000 others attending the Open, did as well.
Tennis has given me so much including helping me cope with my father’s illness of Alzheimer’s disease. When I got on the court, I’d forget all my problems and sadness for two hours a day.
I improved a great deal and could hold my own on a court and, eventually, I was able to teach my two daughters. Tiffany went on the play college Division II tennis and Ashley was a high school District II bronze medal winner.
One of the high points of my journalism and photography career was working at one of the world’s premiere women’s professional tennis tournaments at Charleston, S.C.
I still work at the event with some time off over the last 18 years. Talk about the 18-year-old tennis player wannabe living out his wildest dreams to be side-by-side with the world’s best.
My best playing days are behind me, but my passion for the sport I truly love burns brighter than ever. I’ve seen many greats over the last 40-years including working with the late great Bud Collins. Bud first hit the broadcast air in 1968 for CBS.
Bud was known as the “voice of tennis” in America and went on to write a Tennis Encyclopedia on all facts and stats. I have one signed by him to me that I treasure today.
Former world No. 4 and legendary tennis announcer for ESPN, Cliff Drysdale, just retired. I had the chance to work with him at Charleston including the time he spilled something on his shirt just moments before airtime at 1 p.m. I came to the rescue by dabbing water on his shirt and assuring him it wasn’t bad and millions wouldn’t notice.
Tennis has given me much and I’m forever grateful.
Quote of the Week
“I never smile on court. Smiling is for the locker room.” – Serena Williams
