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| Yes...I know. Every one of my posts have started with the same apology about the lack of updates on my website. I may sound like a broken record, but let me apologize again. I am absolutely awful at this!
However, if you have been following me on Twitter (@AmerDelic) you know that there is no shortage of updates of my current doings. Twitter has been a great platform for me to share some of my thoughts, ideas, questions, criticisms and compliments. It all started with an idea to stay involved in tennis while laying at home (on the couch) with my knee wrapped in post-surgery bandages. Most of my followers have been thoughtful and knowledgable on almost every "tweet" I send out. In my 5,000+ tweets topics have been all over the board. From tennis to politics. Religion to food. Candy to golf. Comedy to travel. With hundreds of photos and random observations thrown in between. While these posts may be off the wall, there is always someone in the world that shares a similar thought/opinion. Twitter has been able to bring those similar minds together.
Here and there I stumble across some punks who have nothing better to do then write hate messages and annoy people. I either call them out or simply block them. I don't mind a difference in the opinion. I welcome it... as long as you provide a legitimate and factual argument.
Also, I am not a fan of tippers/bettors/sport gamblers... I automatically block those. In my honest opinion, betting has ruined most of the sports. It is on the brink of ruining our sport also and I am the last person that wants to contribute to that. If there was a way to make betting on individual sports illegal, I would be the first person to vote for that law. In short, if you are one of those, dont bother following me.
With my public service announcement out of the way, let me go ahead and thank everyone that has been following me throughout my ups and downs in the world of tennis. It has exactly been that. At times it has seemed to be more downs than ups, but just as they say "that is life." Injuries suck. I won't sugarcoat it. In my profession absolutely nothing is guaranteed, unlike some other sports (Baseball, Basketball, etc.)
Few other things that have been on my mind:
1. Money-- over the few weeks during/after Australian Open there have been many rumors of the possible strike by the players. Just to clarify it, they were not just rumors. As much as I love (and I mean LOVE) the Aussie Open, it was super close to not happening at all. One of the main reasons was of course the money. Grand Slams earn insane amounts of money and share 12.5% of that. For an example, player that is ranked 50 in the World and yes, that would be the whole wide World, will get paid just under $20,000 for losing in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament. It takes my parents about 6 months to earn that amount, so believe me, I absolutely appreciate every dime of everything I have earned. That is a lot of money where I come from. However, lets deduct 30% tax from that and now you are already down to around $14,000. That is still a good check for just showing up at a tournament. However, you don't just teleport your way to Melbourne from Tampa, FL. That right there will cost you about $3,000 minimum for a round trip ticket sitting in the coach class for 16hrs from LAX alone. (By the way, that always feels great for a 6'5" guy with a surgically repaired knee. Practicing the next day when you land feels even better). Easy math gets us down to 11 grand before I even show up at the courts. In a perfect world, I would take a coach and a trainer with me to a tournament, but since I travel on a budget, lets say I only bring a coach. Thats another 3 grand for a ticket, $1,500 per week (minimum 3 weeks) so that brings me down to $3,500. Three weeks (two warm up tournaments plus one week at Melbourne) at a hotel rate $100 per night ($2,100) with food at per diem rates ($60/per person = $120 per day x 21 days = $2,520) leaves me in the minus about $1,120. Years ago I was told that I should incorporate myself because of all the tax purposes. i should change my status to "non-profit' organization.
Let me get something clear. No one is asking for charity handouts here. I am simply saying that tournaments cannot go on without other players not named Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Murray. NFL games are not played with just Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. Soccer games are not played just with Messi, Ronaldo and Dzeko. Golf tournaments are not played just with Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Mickelson. Otherwise they would be called exhibition or practice rounds. You get the point.
2. Smurf Clay- I was not in Madrid this year, so I cant talk about the courts from the first hand experience, however I did spend couple of hours watching it on TV. As an occasional couch-potato, I was a fan. Its definitely easier to watch. However, timing of such a drastic change, lack of consistency, safety of the players, bad preparation for the French Open, etc, etc... all outweigh the one lonely positive. I am a HUGE fan of progressiveness and improvement of tennis as an overall product, however, lets take a moment and think before we pull any triggers. Adam Hellfant, ex-CEO should not be the one making the final decision on court surfaces. Leave that up to the players. He was brought in to corral possible sponsorships, TV deals and improve marketing. How did this ever fly with the player council? Probably the same way the "Round Robin" was accepted few years back. We all know that backfired in a hurry. Where is the transparancy?
I take a step back. He did bring in a champaign company as a new sponsor. Maybe the plan was to spray the blue clay courts with the Moet to improve its speed and traction? Maybe? No one really knows. Thats another thing... I am willing to bet that if I asked all of the Top 100 players, if they ever even met Adam Hellfant, at least 50% would say no. How can you represent people that you don't even know? Would that be kosher in any other corporation? My guess is probably not.
3. The Grass is greener- Lets be honest. At the end of the day i am playing a sport for a living, so things are really not all that bad. Tennis has opened many doors and introduced me to many people. I don't want to portray this ungrateful and uber-negative personal perspective. My goal is to make all current/future players and fans aware of the situation. Reality is, sooner or later i will hang up the sticks and move on from the tour. However, before I ride off into the sunset (or get a "real job") I wanted to make people aware that not all of us tennis players fly on private jets, with entourages while getting massages and eating gluten free meals. Those that do have certainly earned it and have every right to enjoy it. But for every Roger or Rafa, there are 50 other world class players fighting just as hard only to cover expenses every week. Most guys will continue grinding with the hope that one day they will enjoy the perks at the top. I am one of those guys. I do it for the love of the game.
Ironically enough, in this sport love means nothing. | | |
| Real quick... I haven't had any time to update the blog with all the stuff from the Davis Cup and Sarajevo Open so far. As soon as I am done with the tournament, I will post photos and describe my experiences from the past few weeks. Until then, please follow me at http://www.twitter.com/AmerDelic Feel free to comment on there. I read everything mentioning my name on the Twitter and I try to respond to most of it. AD | | |
| Tennis wise, 2011 has started for me unfortunately on a similar theme from the last 3 years. One good match, then five days of rest/rehab. During my match vs. Klec, I tweaked my foot (thankfully not the knee) and because I was still warm and with adrenaline pumping, I was able to get through the match. However, next morning I was barely able to push off on my foot. Thankfully anti-inflammatory pills work wonders these days, and with the help of ice and ultra-sound along with the medicine, foot has been feeling much better.
We completed our first team practice today and in the evening had a chance to visit the Marrakech's famous Jamaa el Fna along with all the food spots, street performers and vendors. Place is an absolute zoo with thousands of people and scooters zooming around while honking non stop. I have come to a conclusion that Moroccan drivers are the "Safest Awful Drivers!" Does that make sense? No, not really… but neither does their driving. Driving lanes might as well be invisible. Honking a horn is a substitute for blinkers, stop signs and even some of the traffic lights. Motorcycle drivers are on a whole another level. At times three people per 50cc scooter from 1943, whizzing through packed squares and streets. Other times, as you might have seen in a video that I have posted, you will see a donkey or two "galloping" down the main road in the middle of Casablanca, which seems to be completely normal, but for the most part horns and gas are a solution for everything on the road. However, with all of that happening, you never ever see anybody getting in a wreck. Most of the cars are dinged up here and there, but no serious pile ups or people getting injured. I haven't seen a police car since I have been here. In my 10 days, all i have seen is traffic controllers in uniforms with a whistle, mostly spectating from the side. Does a label of "Safest Awful Drivers" make any sense now?
Either way, here are few photos from the last few days spent in Morocco.
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 Some ball-kids in Casablanca thought it would be funny to beat me... 7-1.
 Official drink...of the World.
 Need I say more?
 Future of Moroccan tennis
 Davis Cup Center court. Very nice.
 Center Court named after one of the best Moroccan players, Younes El Aynaoui. He wasn't bad on the ATP Tour either. (Very sarcastic)
 Ismar (teammate) cruising down one of the streets of Marrakech, putting on his best "tourist" face.
 Some of the best dried fruits... ever.
 The official poster for the Davis Cup Match.
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| As i am writing this, I am currently about 37,000 FT above the central USA on my way to Tampa, FL. Yet another tennis calendar year has been completed and its time to start getting ready for 2011. Not sure if its just me, but 2011 sounds like something out of Sci-FI movies. It might take a while to get used to saying "2011."
Has it been almost a years since i wrote my last post? Longer? Its very possible. I have been slacking to say the least. Unfortunately, I was laid off and to be honest, there wasn't much to write on. My daily thoughts were posted on my Twitter account (www.twitter.com/AmerDelic), but that was about it... There is only so much you can write about daily rehab process... It was getting old in a hurry. That is for sure.
However, I was back in the swing of things (no pun intended) just in time for the US Open. I was getting impatient driving up to Saddlebrook every day, hitting tennis balls and strengthening my knee. It was time to go out there and test it out. No better place than the slick courts at the Flushing Meadows, home of the US Open.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get through any of the matches. However, the good news was that my knee held up just fine and that it was time to go out and keep playing. Shortly following the US Open, i was already boarding a plane to Lisbon, Portugal to play my first ever Davis Cup match. Most of you were surprised to hear that I was on my way to Portugal to play Davis Cup match, when US was actually playing their match in Columbia. Reason I was on a completely different continent to play my match was because I switched to play under the Bosnian flag. As many of you may know, I was born and raised in Tuzla, Bosnia. I moved to Jacksonville, FL in 1996 when I was turning 14. Since then, Ricardo Acuna, on behalf of USTA has done an unbelievable job raising me as a tennis player and as a person. Following those 4 years with Ricardo, I found my way in Champaign, IL experiencing college tennis. Three years later, Team and Single's National Championship later, once again I was taken under the wings of USTA to develop and play professional tennis. In return for their favors, I was asked to help out the US Davis Cup team whenever I could. It was my absolute honor to play with such people as Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Bryan Brothers, Taylor Dent, Mardy Fish,... Such experience will never be forgotten by me. It was something I only dreamed of coming from the red clay courts of Bosnia.
After many years of wear and tear on the tennis courts, many of you know that I was forced to take significant time off to heal and re-evaluate my life as a tennis player. During that time, I was approached by the Bosnian Tennis Federation asking if I can help out with the next Davis Cup, vs. Portugal. This is wasn't the first time I was approached by the Bosnian Federation. In 2006-2007, when I was playing some of my best tennis, I could have turned my back on the USTA to go and play for Bosnia. However, i didn't. I couldn't turn my back on someone that helped me all those years. I couldn't do it because of Ricardo. I couldn't do it because of the USTA.
In September of 2010, after 14 months of being laid of because of a knee surgery, I had time to re-evaluate my situation. Priorities have changed. As a tennis player there aren't too many things that I haven't done. I have played every Grand Slam, played on every big court and played against most of the top players in the World. However, there were two things I never got to do. Davis Cup and the Olympics. I was a practice partner for the US Davis Cup, but I never got to play the full match. As far as the Olympics, I got as close as being an alternate to going to Beijing.
Sitting on a couch those 14 months, many things go through your mind. These were some of the thoughts...I felt like this was the RIGHT time to play again for the country that I was born and raised in. Was I going to get some "crap" about switching? Maybe by a common spectator, but as far as all the other players, everyone understood. I am 28, coming off of a knee surgery, not knowing how much longer I will get to even play; chances were thinning out in a hurry. No one blamed me. I knew it was the right thing to do. | | |
| I have just realized that it has been 5 months since my last post on my own website. Embarrassing, I know. However, out of the last 5 months, I haven't even played since the first week of July. As far as tennis updates, there haven't been many. I have had an injury on my knee (two tears in patella tendon) and I have been forced to sit out for a while. For most of you familiar with Twitter (www.twitter.com/AmerDelic) I have been very actively updating my rehab progress daily. Its a very interactive way to communicate with pretty much everyone willing to read 140 character "blurbs" from people like myself. In those updates I have included many topics other than just tennis. From other sports, to health, occasional stab in politics and current happening in classrooms. Yes, you have read that right. Due to the extent of my injury, I have decided to "kill two birds with one stone" and come back to University of Illinois to finish up some of my classes while doing rehab.
So, until next update on here, which will include pretty much a complete overhaul, please follow me on Twitter. (www.twitter.com/AmerDelic) Feel free to comment on everything that I post.
For those wondering when I will be back and playing again, the goal is Spring of 2010. I have made a mistake of coming back too early from injuries before. I can't make that mistake again. As my chronological clock is ticking, I have realized that I wont have too many more chances to come back from serious injuries. So, this time when I come back, I will be 100%. Nothing less.
Until then...
Cheers from Champaign, IL.
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