Great (or Infamous) Tennis Fathers

[RaulRamirez]

Happy Father's Day to all who are celebrating - as a dad, or as a son or daughter!
I greatly miss my own dad, but am extremely appreciative, daily, of my son - and the opportunity to be a dad!
...
This has me thinking of tennis dads, and also of tennis father/son or father/daughter combos.
It's early here, and the dads coming to my mind are more the infamous tennis dads, but there are some positive ones.
Who comes to mind for you...
a. as a great tennis dad? and/or
b. as an infamous one?
(current or past)

 

[Lleytonstation]

Fed.

Lenny and Leo will go on to pass their father in slams as a duo. Dare I say Leo beats Stefan at Wimbledon?

Djoker and Stefan vs Leo and Fed at the Fatherers Cup.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Really the only one that comes to mind.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Otherwise if we're talking about infamous tennis fathers.

You've got the violent ones: John Tomic, Marinko Lucic, Damir Dokic, Jim Pierce and Igor Baczinszky.

And then you've got the ones who took money from their children or just had financial issues all round: Emilio Sanchez, Peter Graf and Stefano Capriarti.

Oh dads.

 

[RaulRamirez]

We often hear about the more infamous ones that's for sure...and Mary Pierce's dad comes most readily to mind, but Aussie Darcy mentioned some others.

I'm not sure which "column" to put Richard Williams in. He raised/coached two champion players - from a tough neighborhood - though he was hard to warm up to. Emmanuel ("Mike") Agassi was not remembered fondly by his son Andre in "Open".

But, who are the ones that we can really celebrate on this day?
Going way back, I mostly heard positive things about Jimmy Evert, Chrissie's dad.

 

[thrust]

We often hear about the more infamous ones that's for sure...and Mary Pierce's dad comes most readily to mind, but Aussie Darcy mentioned some others.

I'm not sure which "column" to put Richard Williams in. He raised/coached two champion players - from a tough neighborhood - though he was hard to warm up to. Emmanuel ("Mike") Agassi was not remembered fondly by his son Andre in "Open".

But, who are the ones that we can really celebrate on this day?
Going way back, I mostly heard positive things about Jimmy Evert, Chrissie's dad.

Jimmy Evert was a very nice man, who for years after his daughter became a slam champion, continued to run the tennis facility of a park here in Ft Lauderdale. Richard Williams, whatever his personal flaws, was a great coach for both of his slam champion daughters.

 

[Azure]

Nice idea for a thread. Infamous can be hard to define because ultimately they groomed their kids into the champions they became. Take Peter Graf for example. He was ultimately jailed for tax evasion. He had his share of other scandals - the scandal with a model that affected Graf considerably, his illegal coaching from the stands and in general his overall control of Graf. However he was also fundamentally the one who invested his life in Graf's career.

Another terrible father in my opinion is Jennifer Capriati's. He was a parent that so wanted his child to succeed that he ultimately sacrificed his own child. Talk about pushy parents. I think he milked his daughter for wealth and the poor child succumbed. To me this is one of the saddest tennis stories as she used to be one of my favourites.

Another sad one is Mary Piercer's father who used to openly abuse his fragile daughter. She even had to get a restraining order from him. Talk about fear of your own parent!

As I often used to watch WTA a lot more than ATP, my examples often have them and in general I have found Bartoli's father (check out the clip where Marion stops mid match in 2011 Wimbledon asking her father to get out) and Sharapova's father pretty obnoxious too.

On the ATP side my knowledge outside of the courts is smaller but wasn't Tomic's father arrested at some point?

 

[HetTheGreaterer]

Toni nadal..
But he's uncle, no!!??

 

[King No1e]

Serena and Venus's dad the most famous.
Damir Dokic and John Tomic for infamy.

 

[Subway Tennis]

I would like to add 2 tennis fathers to the list:

1. Yuri Sharapova
2. Marc Wickmayer

Both men have their own unique version of the migrant story, involving an initial journey to the United states to build a tennis career with their daughters.

Marc and Janina Wickmayer's story is a particularly brave one, which has become more complicated in recent years. Can recommend her biography for anyone wanting to read more about the story.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Mary Pierce's father and nobody else comes close! He physically abused her (brutally) off court and verbally abused her during matches. I don't mean generic verbal abuse like, "move your feet, moron!" but profane, vicious and shocking verbal abuse.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Going way back, I mostly heard positive things about Jimmy Evert, Chrissie's dad.

And Gloria, Jimbo's mom.

 

[Mainad]

Mary Pierce's father and nobody else comes close! He physically abused her (brutally) off court and verbally abused her during matches. I don't mean generic verbal abuse like, "move your feet, moron!" but profane, vicious and shocking verbal abuse.

Psycho nutcase on a par with Jelena Dokic's father. Both should have lifelong restraining orders against going anywhere near their daughters ever again.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario also comes to mind. She accused her parents of stealing or mishandling most of her fortune.

 

[RaulRamirez]

And Gloria, Jimbo's mom.

I did think of her as well. I know that she...and was it also his grandma? - were quite influential.

 

[The Blond Blur]

Fed.

Lenny and Leo will go on to pass their father in slams as a duo. Dare I say Leo beats Stefan at Wimbledon?

Djoker and Stefan vs Leo and Fed at the Fatherers Cup.

With a name like Lenny that kid isn't going to win anything Leo on the other hand might have a chance.

 

[EloQuent]

Don't forget the dads who ripped off coaches. Leonard Francois, Sergio Giorgi. I guess they are good fathers but bad people?

On the good end (as far as we know): Father/coaches Zverev, Tsitsipas. Special mention for Tiafoe Sr, who worked menial jobs as an immigrant for a better life for his family.

 

[RaulRamirez]

Which "column" would Piotr Wozniaki be in?

 

[BeatlesFan]

I did think of her as well. I know that she...and was it also his grandma? - were quite influential.

Grandma played a minimal role, it was Gloria doing the heavy lifting.

 

[Mainad]

Marion Bartoli's dad was an oddbod. I read he insisted she piled on weight so she would be able to hit harder. I think Marion broke with him eventually. She's had fluctuating weight problems since she retired.

 

[Cashman]

I would say that the best tennis parents are the least visible/well-known. I think it is almost impossible to be so hands-on involved in your kid's career and professional development without compromising the parent-child relationship to some degree.

Someone like Richard Williams seems to have done an amazing job at balancing things, but I am sure there are still things about his relationship with his daughters that have suffered as a result of his constant presence, management, pressure to succeed, etc.

Ash Barty's parents seem to have done an amazing job supporting her though some incredibly difficult times, and they weren't even in the Northern Hemisphere when she won the FO.

 

[Cupcake]

James Blake's father was supposed to have been a good man.

As was Monica Seles' father/coach.

Didnt Federer's father steer him towards the path of being less angry when, as a kid, he was a bit of a problem? Good on him for that.

While Sharapova's father was extremely intense, I don't think he was abusive. And when asked to step out of the limelight, he did. Both Sharapova parents did a lot to give her a good tennis upbringing. She got her intensity from her father.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Mary Pierce's father and nobody else comes close! He physically abused her (brutally) off court and verbally abused her during matches. I don't mean generic verbal abuse like, "move your feet, moron!" but profane, vicious and shocking verbal abuse.

Jelena Dokic's dad definitely comes close. Horrific physical beatings, went to prison. After her Wimbledon SF loss in 2000 (she was just 17) he banned her from coming back to the hotel and she was found by the tournament referee later that night who arranged accommodation. Later that year he beat her til she lost consciousness.

 

[Deleted member 763024]

If Bartoli is any evidence, her dad did a number on her

 

[RaulRamirez]

Jelena Dokic's dad definitely comes close. Horrific physical beatings, went to prison. After her Wimbledon SF loss in 2000 (she was just 17) he banned her from coming back to the hotel and she was found by the tournament referee later that night who arranged accommodation. Later that year he beat her til she lost consciousness.

Yeah, that would be a close contest - so sad!

 

[vernonbc]

I would say that the best tennis parents are the least visible/well-known.

This!

There are many dads/parents who are very supportive of their tennis playing kids and don't get any credit or notoriety because they stay in the background. The ones that come immediately to mind are the Federers and the Nadals. They're quiet and relatively composed in the player's boxes but behind the scenes they're very gracious and kind. They're quick to hug and congratulate the other parents regardless of who won. Judy Murray is too. When Gilles Muller was commentating a match a month or so ago he told the story of being in the locker room just after he beat Rafa in that Wimbledon thriller and both parents and the rest of Rafa's team all came into the room to hug and congratulate him. Gilles was very appreciative of and extremely impressed by their actions. So Happy Fathers Day to the quiet ones too.

 

[Subway Tennis]

Which "column" would Piotr Wozniaki be in?

You need to create a special extra column just for Piotr on his own lol.

 

[EloQuent]

You need to create a special extra column just for Piotr on his own lol.

What’s the story here?

 

[Subway Tennis]

What’s the story here?

Not in the category of bad or abusive tennis Dads. He's just a strange, interesting, weird and funny man.

It goes without saying he's completely crazy.

I wish I could find the video of him walking out on court at the wrong time when he thought he was allowed to do on-court coaching.

 

[Artificial Grass]

I see that nobody has mentioned Djokovic's dad thus far. Does anybody know anything particularly interesting about him?

The only times that I've ever even really noticed him were when Fed told him to "Be quiet" and when he and Djokovic's mom used to wear those "Nole" shirts at the US Open when he was at the beginning of his career. Besides those two things, I've never heard much about him at all. Not even vague snippets about his personality or whatnot.

 

[vernonbc]

I see that nobody has mentioned Djokovic's dad thus far. Does anybody know anything particularly interesting about him?

The only times that I've ever even really noticed him were when Fed told him to "Be quiet" and when he and Djokovic's mom used to wear those "Nole" shirts at the US Open when he was at the beginning of his career. Besides those two things, I've never heard much about him at all. Not even vague snippets about his personality or whatnot.

Oh there are stories about him out there! I'm not going to post them here though as it would start a war, but let's just say he wasn't included in the Fedal nice group purposely.

 

[Technology Ruined Tennis]

Nadal's dad clapped after "the backhand". I doubt Toni did.