Re: Ivanisevic promises final display of fireworks

看板Ivanisevic作者ivanisevic2 (精神萎靡中...)時間22年前 (2003/01/02 19:20)推噓0(0推 0噓 0→)

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再次看到Goran的報導真是太好了～雖然英文破破的~~但還是一口氣看完了^^ 如果Goran能打2003溫布敦還真希望hewitt能讓一下，開幕站讓Goran來吧喔...那那...我現在計劃去溫布敦不知還來不來得及(聽說中央球場的票半年前就發售了) 另外文中又出現Goran在2001溫布敦經典的『三位一體論』 (CC...就是Good Goran, Bad Goran, and Emergency 911 ) 令人想念的搞笑言論～昨晚轉錄了1998年和2001年溫布敦官方影片呵呵~~又搞回憶湧上心頭那一套...真是的... ※ 引述《noanoa (noanoa)》之銘言： : 不錯的報導文章 : : Ivanisevic promises final display of fireworks : Former Wimbledon champion is battling to regain fitness but insists : he still has a few surprises up his sleeve : By David Law in Zagreb : 01 January 2003 : : : Goran Ivanisevic has never done predictable, and he is not about to : start now. : : This is, after all, the man with the unreturnable serve, who : reached three Wimbledon finals in the 1990s, and lost the lot. This : is the man who was forced to retire from a match in Brighton two : years ago because he "lacked the appropriate equipment"; he had : broken all of his rackets, in anger, during the match. This is the : man who explained that his behaviour was largely dictated by Good, : Bad, and Emergency 911 versions of himself. : : This is the man who started 2001 renting practice-session tennis : balls at German tournaments on the challenger circuit, the tennis : version of the Nationwide League, and ended it as Wimbledon : champion. But after he suffered a shoulder injury so serious it : prevented him defending his title, most people thought he would : quit while he was so far ahead, retire to a little Croatian island, : and live happily ever after. : : Not Ivanesevic. He underwent surgery in May, began a punishing : rehabilitation schedule that is still ongoing, and promises to : return to Wimbledon this summer. : : "I'll be happy to play doubles in February in the Davis Cup tie : against America," he says. "If that's possible, I can then play : some tournaments in the States and, hopefully, be ready for : Wimbledon." : : On the day of our meeting, I find him cracking forehands on an : indoor clay court encased in a gigantic, plastic bubble at the : private tennis club owned by the former Milan footballer Zvonimir : Boban, in Zagreb, Croatia. : : Three weeks earlier, I had witnessed him jumping hurdles and : running 200 metre sprints in early-winter weather just up the road : at the Mladost athletics track. We were meant to meet there for our : interview the following day. In typical Goran style, he did not : show. : : "Hey man, sorry about last time," he says in his deepest baritone, : offering a bear paw of a hand for me to shake. "I had to go : somewhere urgently and couldn't reach you." : : It does not matter. Ivanisevic is impossible to stay angry with. : Among tennis players, he is one of the most genuine; it is just : that he simply does not know what he is going to do from one moment : to the next, let alone days later. : : As we settle down to talk in Boban's stylish sports cafe adjacent : to the court, everyone is aware of his presence. Here in Croatia : Ivanisevic is loved as much, if not more, than any other star, : sporting or otherwise. Most nod their head and smile their : greetings, before returning to their coffees and conversations, : leaving Ivanisevic to his. He might be a national hero but, apart : from the money and fame, he is basically a down-to-earth guy from : Split, on the Dalmatian coast. People here treat him as such and he : appreciates the normality. : : So, what on earth is he still doing wielding a racket with that : dodgy shoulder? : : He smiles. "I ask myself sometimes what I'm still doing on the : tennis court, but..." He pauses to think for a few seconds, : probably waiting for the three Gorans to sort out the answer. "I : owe it to myself and my fans," he explains. "I can't finish my care : er like this. I have to come to Wimbledon." : : Ivanisevic had waited a lifetime to open the Centre Court : proceedings this year in traditional, champion-style in the 1pm : match on the first Monday of Wimbledon, but, as his opportunity : approached, his shoulder injury worsened. A month before Wimbledon, : he could barely lift his left arm without pain. : : "It was impossible," he says. "At the Davis Cup [in April] I : managed to play doubles, but only with great pain. I rested for six : weeks and it got even worse. I didn't want to come to Wimbledon : and play only one set just because I was the defending champion. I : wanted to defend my title the best I could and I was not able to do : that. I couldn't serve, so I decided it was time for a surgery." : : In the end, it was Andre Agassi, his first Wimbledon final : conqueror in 1992, who took his place on the opening day. "It was : not easy for me to see him do that, because I always dreamt of win : ning Wimbledon, coming next year and opening the tournament, but I : am always unpredictable; I won Wimbledon and didn't show up!" : : His rehabilitation has been a long, grinding process. He says his : ground strokes are better than ever, but his serve, the lifeblood : of his whole game, is still only 30 per cent of what it needs to be : . : : "The doctors keep changing their story," he explains. "First it : would take six months, then nine, now it's 10. I have to be patient : , it's the only way I can fight back." : : He is probably not the best patient in the world, I ventured. The : observation seems to strike a nerve with Good Goran. : : "No, I'm not a bad patient at all," he says. "People, they judge me : how I am on the court– a little bit crazy, a little bit different : , impatient -but I am different out of the court, I am more patient : ." : : It does not take long for Bad Goran to butt into the conversation. : "The doctor said: 'Be patient'," he growls. "I listened to what he : said and did everything by the rules. I'm going to be patient for : another three or four months, but after that I can't promise what : I'm going to do." : : If he does get to play Wimbledon in 2003, though, surely that will : be that? He shakes his head. : : "We will see. I have a vision maybe to play through to the Olympic : Games in Athens. It would be my fifth Olympics and I can maybe : carry the flag for Croatia," he suggests. : : "That is my vision, but I can't plan for the future too much : because I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I'll take it : slowly. This year was a strange year, different for me. I had a lot : of free time to think." : : He also had time to start a family -his partner, Tatiana, is due to : give birth to their first child this summer, just in time for : Wimbledon ?and took the chance to indulge one of his football : fantasies. : : Ivanisevic had long spoken of his desire to play for his beloved ho : metown team, Hajduk Split. Thanks to Boban, he got the next best : thing. : : A couple of months previously, Boban, a key part of Croatia's 1998 : World Cup semi-final team, retired from football in a blaze of glor : y and nostalgia, just up the road at the Maksimir stadium, home of : his first team, Dinamo Zagreb. : : In tribute, the 1998 World Cup side reassembled for the first time : since their heroics in France, to play a World XI consisting of pla : yers such as Rivaldo, Lothar Matth酳s, Jean-Pierre Papin, and the B : razilian goalkeeper, Taffarel. : : Fifteen minutes from the end, the action stopped, fireworks explode : d in the sky, and 40,000 fans rose to acclaim Boban as he was subst : ituted. His surprise replacement trotted on to the field to an equa : lly rapturous reception. It was Ivanisevic. : : With his first touch, he went round a defender, and clinically slid : the ball, left-footed of course, past the sprawling dive of Taffar : el. The crowd went wild and Ivanisevic ran around the pitch swirlin : g his shirt around his head. : : Wouldn't he like to retire in a similar style to Boban? : : "I have in my head how I want to stop tennis and it's going to be : unique," he says. "Nobody's going to stop tennis like I'm going to : stop." : : Meaning what? : : "No, no, because then it's not going to be a surprise," he insists. : "But it's going to be unique. All my life I have done strange and : crazy things, and I think I have a right to stop my career like : that." : : No one would have it any other way. -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw) ◆ From: 61.224.228.37