My hands were on my knees as I stood bent over behind the baseline. After retaining my title in Houston last month, I was choking back tears. I looked to the sky and pumped my fist as I walked to the net to embrace my opponent, Tennys Sandgren, 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.” Aaron M. Sprecher/US Clay 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. One year...
17 October 2002. That date will always be etched into my mind. I close my eyes and I can still put myself there. The memory of my first Mutua Madrid Open back in the Rocódromo in Casa de Campo has not gone away, and I don’t think it ever will. I was just 21 years old and in only my second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. But I was digging deep against one of the best players in the sport: Andre Agassi. Although I didn't manage to win the three-setter, it was a magical defeat and one of the most special days of my career. The atmosphere was unbeatable and the emotions incomparable. That day, I knew that I...
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...
