[舊聞] When a New Border Splits a Tennis Team
這篇文章寫在捷克斯洛伐克分裂後第一個澳網, 1993年
文中有幾位選手在當時的看法 (Mecir, Novotna, Korda)
分裂成兩個國家不是他們能選擇的,在當時和平的情況下,
其實他們不太能接受這條界線的存在.因為他們會有許多朋友變成來自"另一個國家"
像Mecir就一直認為,他是代表'捷克斯洛伐克'比賽,而不是斯洛伐克
後半段提到當時兩國網球發展的狀況和困難.
Novotna講了一段資本主義漸漸滲入網球運動後,選手們打網球的目的和心態上都有了
很不一樣的轉變
http://www.iht.com/articles/1993/01/28/dcze.php?page=1
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1993
MELBOURNE: Like many former Czechoslovaks, Miloslav Mecir is part of a family
tree with varied branches. His mother is a Slovak, his father a Czech. And
although he lives in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, and comments on tennis
for Slovak television, his wife is a Czech.
"For me," he said sadly, "the border is something I don't like."
The border was created at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1 when Slovakia
officially became independent of its more populous and cosmopolitan neighbor.
In the world of sport, the effect of the division is already in evidence at
the Australian Open. For the last three decades, Czechoslovakia held a firm
place among the world's leading tennis nations as its state-controlled system
produced a succession of sensational players, beginning with Jan Kodes in the
1960s and continuing with Martina Navratilova, Ivan Lendl, Hana Mandlikova,
Mecir and, most recently, Jana Novotna and Petr Korda.
Navratilova and Lendl fled the communist regime and later became American
citizens, but Novotna and Korda have continued to represent their homeland.
Now, they find themselves in Melbourne with a new affiliation: the Czech
Republic.
"Of course, it's a bit different," said Korda, the No. 7 seed, who reached
the quarterfinals here. "But you know, it's very hard to realize this thing
has happened because I have a lot of friends in Slovakia, and I don't want to
change personally. I don't want to say we are from different countries and
now we have to hate each other. All I know is that the politicians choose
this way, and I have to follow. I am just a tennis player."
The Czechs and the Slovaks are, of course, merely the latest additions to
Europe's expanding list of nationalities. Between the demise of the Soviet
Union and war in the Balkans, the tennis honor roll has undergone several
revisions. Goran Ivanisevic, formerly of Yugoslavia, began declaring his
allegiance to Croatia in 1991. Natalia Zvereva, formerly of the Soviet Union,
is now representing her native Belarus. And the list goes on.
"I don't look at this like Goran Ivanisevic, who is really proud to play for
Croatia," said Novotna, the ninth-ranked woman in the world. "It makes sense
that he feels like that because of the problems there. But in our country,
everything went a smooth and easy way. So I will just take it as it is.
"What I don't understand is that in one part of the world, people are trying
to make a united Europe, and in the other part, nations are breaking into
small countries. What kind of Europe is this? Who knows who is Slovakian or
Slovenian? Who knows Czech Republic or Czechland or whatever we call
ourselves?"
The Czech half of the country was always the stronger in tennis terms. Of
Czechoslovakia's myriad stars, only Mecir could be considered a Slovak. A
finalist at the U.S. Open in 1986 and the Olympic gold medalist in 1988, he
prematurely ended his career because of a chronic back problem.
"I was always playing for Czechoslovakia, not Slovakia, and I wish I could
still be playing for Czechoslovakia these days," he said. "It was a good
country. Until three months before the split, I still couldn't believe it
could happen. But at the end, nothing could stop it, even though I don't
think most of the people wanted it in their heart."
With the division, the once-powerful Czechoslovakian Tennis Federation has
ceased to exist. Henceforth, each nation has its own governing body for the
sport, although the two countries will field combined squads for one more
year in the Davis Cup and the Federation Cup.
The Davis Cup team will be exclusively Czech, because Slovakia's best male
player is Karol Kucera, ranked No. 208. But the Federation Cup team should
include Radka Zrubokova, a Slovak ranked 30th in the world. Slovakia also has
another female player in the top 100: Karina Habsudova.
"The tennis development in Slovakia is still very good," said Andrej Bucko,
a tennis writer who is covering the Australian Open for the Bratislava daily
Pravda. "We have some girls and boys who are highly ranked in juniors. One of
our big problems is courts. We don't have so much as the Czechs, and we don't
have a big stadium for tennis. We will have to play Davis Cup in 1994 in a
hockey rink because we can't build a new one in just a year."
The lack of good facilities could lead to a talent drain. Ludmila
Richterova, a 16-year-old Slovak ranked eighth in the world, has asked for
Czech nationality.
"Her coach lives in Prague, and the conditions for training are better
there," Bucko said. "We can have some problems in Slovakia with organizing
tennis things. We are not very skilled with management and sponsorships
because our tennis administrators are not so experienced on the international
level. They also don't speak English so well."
The administrators are perhaps more fluent in English at the reorganized
Czech Tennis Federation in Prague, but according to Korda, the system is
suffering.
"I think this change is going to hit hard on both sides," Korda said. "The
big problem on our side is that everybody who knows how to handle a racket is
teaching in Germany and making money for living. We don't have any coaches in
my country, and between 16 and 20 years old, we don't have so many young
players. It's getting a little better with the young ones at 10, 12 and 14
because they can get sponsors. Money talks, you know."
And it is this attitude that reflects a change even more profound than the
new border between the Czechs and the Slovaks. When Korda and Novotna were
growing up, tennis was controlled by the state. Since the Velvet Revolutionin
1989, tennis is ruled - like nearly everything else - by the market.
"When we were young, the idea was to play for trophies, to be somebody like
Lendl or Navratilova or Mandlikova," Novotna said. "That idea isn't there
anymore. Now, the youngsters are starting to play because they see the
potential of money. It will be more and more like that, I think.
"In our time our parents would do anything so we could travel, so we could
go out and maybe learn something from the West and be a little bit different.
Now, the parents pay for the coaching, they pay for the practice time, and
soon they're saying, 'That's enough. Send some money home.' I personally am
very happy for what happened in 1989, but it's not always pretty,
capitalism."
Nor is it always easy to change old habits overnight. Bucko, a supporter of
Slovakia's independence, has been waging a personal crusade against political
incorrectness since his arrival in Australia.
"Look at this," he says, unfolding an article from The Canberra Times. "They
write that Australia will recognize 'the two independent Czech republics.'
There is only one Czech Republic. People outside, the people in America or
Australia, they don't really understand."
That may be true, but even Bucko has some catching up to do. His Pravda
business card still reads: Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.
--
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