March 14, 2014

It was a Saturday late in August 2011 at Mont Tremblant in the finals of the Under 14 Nationals that I came to respect Raheel Manji the way I do. He was a scrawny kid from Pickering playing in his first National finals. As the Ontario coach, I had been preparing Raheel for his matches all week. He was a joy to work with because he was so committed to his objective of winning a National Championship. I must admit I was influenced by the fact that he really seemed to respect my opinion. What is funny about that is now I know that that is the way of Raheel. He asks everybody, listens to everybody, makes everybody feel like they are the only one he listens to and then….does what he wants.

For most sports fans in North America tennis is still a fringe sport.  The sport comes to life four times a year in Melbourne, Paris, London & New York City.  Eight weeks out of 52 is not enough to bring the sport to the upper echelon. To find tennis on most websites in North America you have to scroll down to the “other sports” category. It is not front and center and on the main pages like it is in Europe, South America and Asia. It can’t compete with the likes of the NHL, NBA, NFL or the MLB.  Women’s golf – a sport on life support – has gone this route – they added a fifth major to their schedule and broke with tradition. What’s wrong with the concept of adding another Grand Slam to a sport with a rich history? It’s along the same lines as the major sports increasing the number of teams participating in the playoffs. It’s a risky move but in all instances it has been successful.

Former Canadian tennis player, coach, & Fed Cup captain Rene Simpson, who passed away in 2013 of brain cancer, was an inspiration and a role model to all of those involved in the sport. She was inducted in the Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame in 2011.