Since when are you watching/following Tennis and who was your first hero in Tennis ? (Mention name in comments)
- Thread starter Sunny014
- Start date
Novak
Third Serve
Talk Tennis Guru
Eh, there were several players I really liked when I first started seriously watching in the late-2000’s (Roddick, Delpo, among a few others) and some I didn’t really like too much (Federer, Djokovic) before Fed started winning me over as he got older. Nadal too tbh.
nolefam_2024
Talk Tennis Guru
Boris Becker. I knew only two names, Becker and Edberg. They were in school textbook.
Then around probably 2004 saw the photos of Federer and Agassi in Dubai hotel rooftop. Those were the earliest memories.
Started watching in 2012 though.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
First hero: Roger Withdrawerer who was the 2008 US Open champion.
But then 4 match points blown at U.S. Open 2010 and U.S. Open 2011.
Became a Djoker fan soon afterwards.
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Mediterranean Might
Professional
I started really following tennis late 2000s/early 2010, this was when my school friends got into the sport and roped me in. Rafa was always my guy.
My dad watched a lot of sports growing up including tennis and Bjorn Borg was his favorite player by far. My dad bonded with me by telling me about the awesome matches he saw on TV and about the Borg-Mac rivalry. Roland Garros was always my dad's favorite tournament to watch too so we'd try to catch as much of that and Wimbledon as we could.
Who was dominating the French Open when I started watching tennis? A tenacious fighter from the Mediterranean. Rafa was always my guy and always will be
My dad watched a lot of sports growing up including tennis and Bjorn Borg was his favorite player by far. My dad bonded with me by telling me about the awesome matches he saw on TV and about the Borg-Mac rivalry. Roland Garros was always my dad's favorite tournament to watch too so we'd try to catch as much of that and Wimbledon as we could.
Who was dominating the French Open when I started watching tennis? A tenacious fighter from the Mediterranean. Rafa was always my guy and always will be
Bumbaliceps
Professional
Started watching in 2003-2004, was rooting for the French basically. Then Fed and Monfils were definitely my favorites in the first years, "hero" seems a bit much. At the time I was not rooting as much as I did afterwards, because I didn't really know the players I guess. Then Nadal came to the scene, at first I despised him and it changed progressively and he's been my favorite for about 10 years I think.
Sunny014
Legend
Thriller
Hall of Fame
Favourites
Mens: Ashe, Borg, Lendl, Sampras, Rios, Nadal, Murray, Del Potro, Djokovic
Womens: Goolagong, Navratilova, Seles, Venus, Clijsters, Myskina, Amelie Mauresmo, Serena Williams, Azarenka, Osaka
Couldn't stand, still can't:
Mens: Connors, McEnroe, Hewitt, Federer
Women's: Graf, Capriati, Henin, Sharapova (after she was unmasked as a drugs cheat), Dementieva, Radwanska
Mens: Ashe, Borg, Lendl, Sampras, Rios, Nadal, Murray, Del Potro, Djokovic
Womens: Goolagong, Navratilova, Seles, Venus, Clijsters, Myskina, Amelie Mauresmo, Serena Williams, Azarenka, Osaka
Couldn't stand, still can't:
Mens: Connors, McEnroe, Hewitt, Federer
Women's: Graf, Capriati, Henin, Sharapova (after she was unmasked as a drugs cheat), Dementieva, Radwanska
Third Serve
Talk Tennis Guru
What about Ljubicic? I heard you were a pretty big fan of his.
Thriller
Hall of Fame
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40-15 still haunts me
Banned
I grew up watching Tiger Tim at Wimbledon. Back then the only Tennis I could watch was Wimbledon, mainly after coming home from school. I didnt necessarily know what was going on but loved watching Henmania and seeing him go to the semis where he always lost as much as I wanted him to win. Didn't even know much about the majors or that there were 4 of them and started to understand more and more about the history of the sport, what players had done previously and then Mr Federer came along…..
Since then I’ve loved the sport and it’s got me through a lot of difficult times in my life
Since then I’ve loved the sport and it’s got me through a lot of difficult times in my life
Rosstour
G.O.A.T.
Started watching in early childhood (early 80s), Sampras was the first player I really followed.
Should also add that I tried to copy Pete on the court. There were plenty of other players I liked, but he was the one I wanted to play like. And so when Fed came along it was like that torch was passed.
Should also add that I tried to copy Pete on the court. There were plenty of other players I liked, but he was the one I wanted to play like. And so when Fed came along it was like that torch was passed.
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catskillthunder
Professional
Began playing tennis in 1988. My first favorite and one of my favorite athletes of all time was/is, Andre Agassi. I have only rooted for 2 players my entire time watching tennis. Agassi and Nadal.
Sunny014
Legend
I have little memories of watching Tennis in 98-00 period, did not understand Tennis back then, later from 01-02 onwards followed more, used to dislike Federer initially as I found his ponytail too girly, later he started dominating tennis and his racquet was dominating guys who had their caps backwards 
Nadal's presence was annoying from day 1, he is a nice guy in real, humble compared to the other 2 members of the big 3 but somehow it is not possible to like Nadal
Nadal's presence was annoying from day 1, he is a nice guy in real, humble compared to the other 2 members of the big 3 but somehow it is not possible to like Nadal
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GhostOfNKDM
Hall of Fame
Why don’t you share something about yourself first
Spencer Gore
Legend
Laver, Borg, Connors, Lendl, Agassi, Nadal, Murray, Nadal.
In that order.
In that order.
Sunny014
Legend
Did above, since late 90s-early 00s I am following Tennis
I am fan of Federer since 04 and I don't like Nadal's game
But I have never disliked Djokovic, don't know why there is so much of dislike between Fed and Djokovic and also between their fanbases.
D
Deleted member 771911
Guest
1988. Steffi Graf/ Stefan Edberg.
ForehandCross
G.O.A.T.
I actually started with YouTube matches before ever watching live matches around 2016 end when I was selected to play for a highly depleted college team.
I didn't know rules of tennis so had to learn from watching stuff.
Since USO 2016 had just concluded , the YouTube recommendations were filled with Stan stuff.
Wawrinka was my first fav, although I liked Hewitt from the past matches. (He looked my height).
My coach was a Federer fan and since he knew nothing about tennis he would say we should watch his videos to learn how to play.
So because of that and Stan I ended up with single hander that barely crosess the net when going DTL.
Must have discovered Thiem around mid 2017 but wasn't a hardcore fan till about late 2018 . Med would be mid 2019.
P. S : I was mad about tennis and used to watch 5-6 hours of tennis on YouTube just to learn.
I never really learned to play at a level high level and usually got pasted by the best, but I still have the honour of being the only guy that won a one set match against the best college player of the city. Would always remember that day, didn't miss shots and made ones that I probably won't ever make again in this life.
I remember there was a long rally, my 3-4 FHs landed mid courts but he didn't do anything about it , I went cross from my FH next and he went for a bullet DTL from his BH but without width so I was in reach, I ended up hitting an almost impossible BH CC off of that, at even a higher pace and all he could do was to bring the ball back near service line. I moved into the court and hit a BH CC winner right in front of him.
Best. Tennis. Moment. Of. My. Life.
I didn't know rules of tennis so had to learn from watching stuff.
Since USO 2016 had just concluded , the YouTube recommendations were filled with Stan stuff.
Wawrinka was my first fav, although I liked Hewitt from the past matches. (He looked my height).
My coach was a Federer fan and since he knew nothing about tennis he would say we should watch his videos to learn how to play.
So because of that and Stan I ended up with single hander that barely crosess the net when going DTL.
Must have discovered Thiem around mid 2017 but wasn't a hardcore fan till about late 2018 . Med would be mid 2019.
P. S : I was mad about tennis and used to watch 5-6 hours of tennis on YouTube just to learn.
I never really learned to play at a level high level and usually got pasted by the best, but I still have the honour of being the only guy that won a one set match against the best college player of the city. Would always remember that day, didn't miss shots and made ones that I probably won't ever make again in this life.
I remember there was a long rally, my 3-4 FHs landed mid courts but he didn't do anything about it , I went cross from my FH next and he went for a bullet DTL from his BH but without width so I was in reach, I ended up hitting an almost impossible BH CC off of that, at even a higher pace and all he could do was to bring the ball back near service line. I moved into the court and hit a BH CC winner right in front of him.
Best. Tennis. Moment. Of. My. Life.
GhostOfNKDM
Hall of Fame
Mid 80s. Fan of grass court and indoor tennis.
Wasn’t into idolizing particular players just started liking whoever I saw more often on final sundays. Players like Navratilova, Graf, Edberg, Stich, McEnroe, Becker
I liked the women better because I could look at panties on TV.
First male player I started to idolize was Agassi probably more because he was cool. Helped that his ground game was just as fresh and exciting.
The Agassi-Sampras battles is where I got into really rooting for a player and being disappointed when he lost.
Safin, Nalbandian, Federer‘s game started impressing me from the gen after.
Fed fan since Nov 2003
I can appreciate good tennis still without being a fan of certain players; don’t think the Agassi/Fed type of fandom will happen again in my life
Typing all this makes me realize Im too old for this **** and I should be spending my time better!
Wasn’t into idolizing particular players just started liking whoever I saw more often on final sundays. Players like Navratilova, Graf, Edberg, Stich, McEnroe, Becker
I liked the women better because I could look at panties on TV.
First male player I started to idolize was Agassi probably more because he was cool. Helped that his ground game was just as fresh and exciting.
The Agassi-Sampras battles is where I got into really rooting for a player and being disappointed when he lost.
Safin, Nalbandian, Federer‘s game started impressing me from the gen after.
Fed fan since Nov 2003
I can appreciate good tennis still without being a fan of certain players; don’t think the Agassi/Fed type of fandom will happen again in my life
Typing all this makes me realize Im too old for this **** and I should be spending my time better!
The Green Mile
Bionic Poster
Kuerten and Agassi, then Fed and Gillou
junior74
Talk Tennis Guru
Started watching in the late 80s. The first players that I really liked were Edberg and Navratilova. Sampras was huge, but a bit boring, I rooted for Agassi - and then along came Safin who was my favourite until Federer's irresistible shotmaking. In 2013, Wawrinka became my favourite out of nowhere. He was a new Safin for me, big game, good humor and an attractive court presence.
ImmorTAL Big 3
Semi-Pro
2003-04 I was big fan of Hewitt and loved his determination and fighting spirit.After Novak appeared i started rooting for him back in 2007 long before he became the GOAT.
El_Yotamo
Hall of Fame
Watched for the first time '03-'04 as a 4 year old. Started watching more regularly when I started playing tournaments as a 10 year old in '09. Been a Nadal fan since the very first match I watched and I have liked/cheered for several other players over the years but none as much as Rafa. Fwiw a lot of my game style was modeled after Ferrer/Murray both of whom I both liked a lot over the years. In recent years my #2 fave has been Thiem and I hope he and Nadal can both recover from their relatively miserable first halves of this season
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Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
Late 80s
Andre Agassi
Back then, it was only Wimbledon that we watched at home. I was watching the Agassi vs Wheaton match in 1991. I fell in love.
Gabriela Sabatini around the same time. That was more of a school boy crush. Andre was true love.
Andre Agassi
Back then, it was only Wimbledon that we watched at home. I was watching the Agassi vs Wheaton match in 1991. I fell in love.
Gabriela Sabatini around the same time. That was more of a school boy crush. Andre was true love.
10S-Junkie
Semi-Pro
Late 70s.
Borg -> Lendl -> Agassi -> Djokovic & Wawrinka
Borg -> Lendl -> Agassi -> Djokovic & Wawrinka
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StannisTheMannis
Hall of Fame
Following at all? Early 2000s but I never had a favorite player I just liked watching people run around. First real player I cared for was Roddick then Novak then stan. Now probably Tsitsipas, Thiem.
I suppose retroactively I’ve begun liking Nadal a bit more.
I suppose retroactively I’ve begun liking Nadal a bit more.
Drop Osaka . The rest is fine.
Slowtwitcher
Legend
Since the 50's, that's how I know that Pancho is GOAT.
TennisFan3
Talk Tennis Guru
Late 80s.
Pete Sampras. Pistol Pete Forever. The King of Swing. The Humble Champion.
Pete Sampras. Pistol Pete Forever. The King of Swing. The Humble Champion.
Spencer Gore
Legend
I didn't realize everyone here was so young!
Nadal15thslam
Hall of Fame
The first match I've ever watched was Wimbledon 2008 final. What an introduction to the sport! My favourite is, of course, Rafa.
The Devil probably
Rookie
I've been watching tennis since 2012. My first hero was Fed.
Sunny014
Legend
How old are you?
MiamiWeekendWarrior
Hall of Fame
Man I'm old! I started watching in the mid to late 70s. My "hero" was Borg. I grew up watching him, Mac, Lendl, Connors, etc. I started playing seriously in the early 80s, played high school then some college. Since then my favorites have been Agassi, Sampras, Federer.
On the women's side Evert, Navratilova, and in my late teens and early 20s Sabatini.
On the women's side Evert, Navratilova, and in my late teens and early 20s Sabatini.
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