Crazy "tennis fathers"

[croatian sensation]

Becoming successful takes a lot of work and sacrifice which is hard at times so maybe you need someone to push you. But what is too much? We all know cases of crazy tennis fathers. Like the father of Jelena Dokic. All the stuff he did...he was in the papers more than Jelena, even when she was good. And Sharapov and Williams don't seem normal to me. It's usually female players' fathers but recently Novak Djokovic's dad was swearing and cursing him in public, during the 3rd round of USO when he was losing the 5th set. Later I read that he also doesn't allow his son to have his own cell phone, but all of his calls go through daddy. I've met Djokovic and he is really nice and well behaved (much quieter than some of his fellow Serbian players). I wonder now is it because he's intimidated by his dad. He's just a kid now (aged 18 ) but he's good (the youngest ATP player ranked higher than 100th place). I wonder will he run away from his dad like J.Dokic and Mirjana Lucic did?
On the other hand since those two have done it their careers colapsed. Is it a coincidence or do you really have to have a dictator near by to be successful? Hope not.
I mean how can you push your kid so much that he decides to run to another continent?
And we wonder why some of them look so miserable on court.
What do you think? Do you know any other cases of such, let's say over-involved ATP pro players' parents?

 

[timmyboy]

djokovic is only 18? didn't know. but tennis dads who pester are really gya.

 

[Kevin Patrick]

To be great(a pro) at any sport, to some degree you need someone to push you really hard. Some take it too far. But when you see an Agassi(whose father was extremely abusive/overbearing to him as a kid) have this ridiculous life, doesn't he owe a lot of that to dad?
This isn't limited to tennis, Roy Jones Jr. took a lot of abuse from Roy Sr.
He might have had a happier childhood if he had a nicer dad, but would he be one of the greastest fighters of all time without him?

 

[RealityPolice]

Richard Krajicek's father was supposedly violently abusive-- one wonders if he's the same way with Richard's half-sister Michaella now that she's on the WTA Tour.

 

[Matthew]

Yuri Sharapov is pretty much hated by every other player on the WTA tour I hear...

 

[croatian sensation]

Kev I agree you need to be pushed, but I suppose that daddy Federer, Nadal,Safin,Coria...and all other great players daddys weren't all abusive. I'm sure most of the players succeeded without being abused. So it's possible..it's not the price you simply HAVE to pay

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Kev I agree you need to be pushed, but I suppose that daddy Federer, Nadal,Safin,Coria...and all other great players daddys weren't all abusive. I'm sure most of the players succeeded without being abused. So it's possible..it's not the price you simply HAVE to pay

I agree, Sampras wasn't pushed by his parents ...

 

[callitout]

And for every kid who's pushed and made it to the ATP tour or some other pro sport, there are thousands who dont make it and have only the ability to hit a round yellow ball to show for their childhood on the court. Probably worth getting an education for most kids, and they might thank their parents for that too.

 

[Kevin Patrick]

how do you know sampras, federer, weren't pushed? both their parents played tennis. just because it isn't publicized, doesn't mean that they didn't push them. What do kids really want to do most of the time? play with friends, watch tv, etc. Not spend hour upon hour of hitting a tennis ball, especially at a very young age. There aren't that many 10 year olds that have the ridiculous work ethic needed to even aspire of being a pro.
You need to give up a lot of your childhood, & I'm sure there were times when Sampras or Federer weren't allowed to hang out with their friends because they had to practice or go to sleep early so they can wake up & play a tournament, etc.

 

[arosen]

The problem with abusive parents is that they kill their kids' self-esteem and thus load them with anxiety that may even lead to depression later. So what probably happened with Helena Dokic was she had enough willpower to break up with her dad, but she was a ruin psychologically when she finally got her freedom. Reason she was losing, it's not that she missed what her dad was giving her as a player, she probably simply could not cope with problems he gave her by abusing her and that, IMHO, has been bearing on her game.

 

[PierceCheng]

I remember that Mary Pierce's father Jim Pierce is the one of crazy tennis fathers too! :arrow:

 

[croatian sensation]

Arosen, I agree.
Kev, I wasn't talking about giving up childhood and make sacrifices like that. That's just necessary, and every successful pro did it.
I was talking about violence. Mirjana Lucic said her father would hit her when she was making mistakes during practice. I don't think she is thankful for that.
And do you consider normal cursing your son and swearing during an USO match? I read all Djokovic's father said..those weren't just "play, you idiot" type of things...he used such bad language that it can't be translated in english (croatian and serbian languages have so many various vulgare insults that maybe only 10% can be translated into other languages... )
You have to draw the line somewhere. Not being allowed to play with friends and getting slapped are not quite the same thing, don't you agree?

 

[Chloe]

Just out of curiosity, what is your source on the Djokovic information? I'm not doubting it. I'm just a fan and have read some of his interviews, so it's interesting ot see how much this contrasts with what comes from his own mouth (although obviously these would not be issues one would discuss openly)

 

[Kobble]

The measure of tennis potetnial is not how many right crosses to the chin you take from daddy. That is where it all goes wrong, it is not about being pushed, yelled at or beaten. It is about being given the best playing opportunity. So, no wonder every maniac gets high hopes for tennis success. They think, beatings, heck, you beat kids to get them to stop crying. So, why not do it to make millions.

 

[pound cat]

I would be very curious of know the backgrounds of world leaders to see if there is an analogy between them and eg tennis success/ fathers, mothers, etc. I would bet that it's similar.

 

[liionel]

what a coincidence, this crazy father thing was published in my newspaper too. it included maria sharapova's dad, williams sisters dad, and that jelena girl's dad. rather scary.

 

[bcslice]

To be great(a pro) at any sport, to some degree you need someone to push you really hard. Some take it too far. But when you see an Agassi(whose father was extremely abusive/overbearing to him as a kid) have this ridiculous life, doesn't he owe a lot of that to dad?
This isn't limited to tennis, Roy Jones Jr. took a lot of abuse from Roy Sr.
He might have had a happier childhood if he had a nicer dad, but would he be one of the greastest fighters of all time without him?

This does tend to be the rule instead of the exception, but you look at someone like Seles whose father was always so dear to her. Monica's got to be considered in the top 3-5 top fighters of all time, right?