| Tipsy Pierces Public Consciousness |
|
|
|
| Written by Ramaz Mitaishvili | |
| Saturday, 30 June 2007 | |
 With his jet-black hair, tattoos and facial piercings, Janko "Tipsy" Tipsarevic may look a little different from the average Wimbledon contender but, after his Centre Court victory over fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez, he is fast becoming a huge crowd favourite.But a few more matches like his epic three hour, 35 minute battle with Gonzalez and Tipsarevic may well end up as the most famous of that quartet. He certainly has some pedigree. The 23-year-old was ranked number one for his age in the under-14s, under-16s and under-18s and, although he has taken his time to find his feet at the senior level, he is now ranked 64 and looks ready to continue his rise up the rankings. Coming back from a match point down against the Chilean gave Tipsarevic his first victory over a top 10 player but he was quick to credit the support he received from the Centre Court fans - who quickly dubbed him "Tipsy" - as an important factor in his success. He said: “The thing is, I think the crowd likes a fight. The crowd likes to see someone beating and trying to beat and competing with the number five in the world. "Ever since I was a kid, my dream was to win matches on Centre Court of Wimbledon because for me this is the biggest tournament in the world. Not because I won today. I was saying this since I was 12, since I started playing tennis. “We don't have one hard court in the country. Tennis, as I know, is played 71% on something else except clay. We have five carpet courts. Everything else is clay. That's it." He said he finds it hard to believe that he is just one of a whole group of young Serbs storming to the top in tennis and explains that they hardly had a perfect platform to succeed. "The situation in the country was really bad. I would like to use this opportunity to thank my family because when I was growing up as a tennis player, there were no sponsors, no Federation, no nothing. "I'm not blaming the Federation or anything. It's just that the political situation of the country was a complete mess. I mean, everything was going down. Tennis is one of the most expensive sports in the world so how it is possible we have so good players today, I really don't know.” He parted with his coach Alberto Castellani earlier this year after being under his guidance for almost a year and a half, but he still pays tribute to the contribution that has been a key part in his rise. “This year when we started working on clay court, it didn't work so well. I just felt that I need a change. It's just part of being a professional. "I still talk to him. Actually, I talked to him yesterday. He gave me some suggestions and advice for the match with Gonzalez. He's a great person. He has a huge heart. We didn't finish forever. Maybe one day we will start to work again.” It is hard not to fail to notice Tipsarevic’s tattoos on both arms, which he said both have huge significance for him: “The left one is ‘Beauty will save the world’ and the right one is the first two letters of the names of the members of my family: father, mother, me and brother. “In my free time I like to read. One of my favorite writers is the Russian guy, Dostoyevsky. The quote, ‘The beauty will save the world’ is from a book called ‘Idiot’ where the main character believes in the idea that the inner beauty will save the world, and because of that idea he dies at the end. "This book means a lot to me in my personal ways because I have ideas about life because of this quote.” Tipsarevic now moves into the second week and the last 16 where he comes up against Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, who defeated him in five sets in the second round of last year’s Australian Open. The winner is likely to face the defending champion and world number one Roger Federer in the quarter-finals and, if he gets that far, that may be the day the Serb becomes a true star. Written by Tim Westmacott |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
Foundation Georgia
www.foundationgeorgia.com
Copyright © 2005 - 2009 Abkhazia Institute for Social and Economic Research.
Designed by irakli.org
Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.
Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.
