Never in my wildest dream did I imagine myself setting foot on a grand slam event much more rub elbows practically with the gods of Tennis. Here I am awed like a young boy staring at arm’s length practically the best players in today’s tennis world. Thanks to my daughter who made this all possible.
I love tennis. It is the next sport I get hooked with after basketball.
As a young lad in our hometown in Manay, Panabo City in Davao del Norte I knew already what tennis is all about. I used to read the daily news from our neighbor, Mr. Pol Camino, the only one in our barrio who bought papers daily from downtown Panabo. He always offers the news dailies at their open terrace every morning when he can see me approaching their house. God bless your soul Manong Pol.
My favorite section was the Sports and as young as five years old I knew already the rules of tennis by just reading the sports news. It also somehow introduced me to some of the local icons in tennis like Alex Marcial, Eddie Cruz and the like. As I grow older, however I became to know and adored Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Chris Evert and Evone Goolagong to name a few. Ilie Nastase was the bad boy then of tennis but I love his antics in court.
I developed my likeness to tennis but sadly I haven’t held a tennis racket until my fourth year in high school. Somebody among my uncles gifted me with a Wilson racket but haven’t used it until one summer in 1979 when a group of friends prodded me to do some “walling” at the old Baker Hall in UP Los banos. I find it interesting but too personal since I am more inclined to team sports like basketball and baseball. Luckily one of our neighbors Ronnie Saradilla, gave me some free lessons of the tennis fundamentals and aided by research and reading I gradually developed my strokes.
I knew about the grand slam of tennis since I am an avid fan of Jimmy Connors and Christ Evert at that time. Ivan Lendl was then the king of clay court in French Open but the trio of McEnroe, Borg and Connors dominate the other events, the US Open, Australian Open and the Wimbledon on the grass court.
It was when I was assigned as a young engineer in Surigao del Sur that my uncle Pedro Urbiztondo guided me to the proper mechanics of the game. I bought a Pro Kennex graphite model, my first equipment to start my love hate relationship with this sport.
Tennis is the sport played mostly by politicians and top government officials in Surigao del Sur. That’s why my uncle told me to abandon basketball and shift to tennis to meet influential people and avoid injury in contact sports like basketball. I developed a liking to tennis but since I need to travel every now and then my progress in the sport was somewhat slow. I still played occasionally but ultimately I got hooked to another sport using smaller ball but that’s another story.
Past forward 2025 and here I am now practically staring at Novak Djokovic in arm’ length at the Australian Open. In the triumvirate of Raffa, Roger and Djoko, I adored and prefer the later. Djoko’s intensity, sense of humor and on court antics endear him to fans. His charm and charisma transcends all ages. The intensity in his face under pressure and his concentration is enough to create fear among his inferior rivals.
This Serbian tennis great has a record of 24 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, including a record 10 Australian Open titles and recently won the Olympic gold at Paris 2024 to complete a career Golden Slam. Overall, he has won 99 singles titles and the only man in tennis history to be the reigning champion of all four majors at once across three different surfaces.
Is Djokovic the greatest of all time? Tennis fans will shout their lungs out to argue it any other way, but if the point of being a professional athlete is to win matches, tournaments and trophies, then this debate was really settled a long time ago.
Whether you like it or not, Novak Djokovic is the GOAT.
