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I used to play with the same racket, same grip. It was so heavy.
I've been very lucky because my parents played tennis as well as my brother and two sisters.
I was at the club everyday playing against the wall.
Because at that time we didn't have the equipment of today.
I was crazy about tennis. I was going to bed with my racket.
It was a dream for me to play at the French open.
And I saw Nastase, Jimmy Connors and for me Borg was my hero.
When I was 17, 18 the way we practiced was different.
Sometimes we played 8 hours a day. 2 hours of backhand, 2 hours of forehand, 2 hours
of serve, then we stopped and had lunch on court.
Sometimes it was just too much. I was always remember one word -- 'I'm going
to try to break you. I want you to get cramps; I want you to throw up on court.' It never
worked. You go for the Grand Slam, you know the big
tournaments. Everything goes through your mind.
The worst moment is when you're walking and enter the court. You go through this to become
stronger. My generation was very lucky to have a lot
of personality and characters. When you have Macenroe and Jimmy Connors there was always
something going on. You have to just be yourself. Tennis is becoming
more and more professional. We used to have the same grip, forehand and
backhand. You are using the wrist more. All the old generation used to play like this.
The technique was very tiring. With the new generation, if they still had
the technique
of today, they wouldn't be able to play with the wooden racket.
It was unique.