Harry Hopman. Hopman Cup. Hyundai Hopman Cup… part 2
Harry Hopman. Hopman Cup. Hyundai Hopman Cup... part 2 | 
First off. Happy New Year. It’s hard to believe this site is about to cover its third Auzzie Open. Our third Auzzie summer of hot weather. Flies. Dehydration and sunscreen. But we love every minute of it. The flight’s long. The jet lag is tough. But after three days you arrive in body and spirit and hopefully mind. We never went to Oz with Harry. By the time we met he was already living in the United States.
I’m thinking a lot about HO. I’m thinking what a different player Mark Philippoussis would have been with Harry as his coach. Not that Nick Bollettieri didn’t try. But with HH it would have been so much more specialized. Harry would have known how to realize what his special needs might have been. This guy was a serious “hunk” still is (could he help that he was a chick magnet )… Harry would have been more relaxed in tailoring to his needs as they might be on any given day.
Harry knew a baloney story or a bad shrimp on the barbi in a blink. If you carried an extra pound forget it. Barely an extra ounce. Mark’s knees might have held up…… his trophy case would be filled with trophies. Slams. Davis cups.
Harry made all the guys get along. It was that simple. They were Auzzies. Watch each other. Cheer each other. Support each other.
The country has never lacked talent. In the nineties some truly great young Auzzies barely made it out of the juniors. They were a lazy bunch. Oh trust me they know who they are…. (big egos. Empty trophy cases). They were fitter after their careers were over…. They enjoyed the travel… The golf… The free stuff… the tourney cars that drove them around… The Parties… the exchange rate. They all wanted to open bars? Most of all I was disturbed by all the tearing down and teasing… they weren’t a group they were a gang?
We applaud the Auzzies that lived Harry’s dream. They were fit and determined. But they were missing the individuality that Hopman afforded them.
10sballs.com applauds Auzzies that would have had the HOP nod : Wayne Arthurs, Sandon Stolle. Scott Draper. Mark Draper. Catherine Barclay. Louise Pleming. Alicia Molik. Sam Stosur. Todd Larkham. Brent Larkham. Pat Rafter. Wally Masur. Richard Fromberg. Chris Guccione. Peter Lucsak . Paul Hanley. For certain the “Woodies”. Todd Woodbrige. Mark Woodforde. Lleyton Hewitt.
For Harry his best playing years were from 1933 thru 1943. He was a good singles player but excelled at doubles. He and Jack Crawford won the Auzzie dubs twice and were runners up in the French Open.
As coach of the Davis cup his teams won 16 times in 26 years. Unheard of. They dominated.
Ok. This is going three parts. I can tell….
Last wee bit for today. Harry believed in three things. That’s why part three is in order…. He believed tennis players needed to be strong. They needed three things built in. Here they are.
Agility, stamina, flexibility…… What a visionary. Stay tuned.
Topics: Australia, Harry Hopman, Hyundai Hopman Cup, Lovey's Lobs
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