Tennis Players Name Sporting Heroes In ITF Olympic Book

Written by: on 4th July 2012
Max Mirnyi copy
Tennis Players Name Sporting Heroes In ITF Olympic Book

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The International Tennis Federation today announced the publication of its official Olympic Book Aspire, Inspire: Celebrating Tennis at the Olympics 2012. Thirty-six of the world’s leading tennis players took part in the ITF project to help promote the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Tennis Events.

This year’s 140-page publication features a series of specially commissioned photographs of the game’s top names posing with pictures of themselves as a child and talking about their sporting heroes. The book looks at which athletes inspired them when they were younger and even includes good luck messages from Olympic legends such as Usain Bolt, Sergey Bubka and Cathy Freeman.

Among the stars represented in the book are Beijing bronze medallist Novak Djokovic, who nominated Italian skier Alberto Tomba as his hero; Britain’s Andy Murray, who picked US track and field star Michael Johnson; Olympic champion Rafael Nadal, who talks about his memories of the Barcelona 1992 Olympics; Victoria Azarenka, who selected pole vaulter Bubka; and wheelchair tennis legend Esther Vergeer, who talks about Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband.

Several players have nominated other tennis stars as their heroes, including Olympic doubles champion Roger Federer, who chose the 1992 Barcelona champion Marc Rosset as his hero, while Federer himself was selected by Japan’s Kei Nishikori; and Beijing bronze medallist Vera Zvonereva, who picked 2000 Sydney champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Newcomers to the Olympic Tennis Event such as Kim Clijsters, Juan Martin del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also share their childhood memories, inspiration and ambitions for this summer’s Games.

ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said: “I believe this book shows the impact the Olympics has had on the lives of the current generation of tennis players, and how proud they are to represent their countries in the Olympic and Paralympic Tennis Events. The book also highlights the mutual respect between tennis players and athletes from other sports, with the Games providing a unique opportunity for all athletes to come together.”

Aspire, Inspire follows in the footsteps of the highly successful ITF publication Journey to Beijing that was produced for the last Olympic Games in China.

The 2012 Olympic Tennis Event will be held at the All England Club, Wimbledon from 28 July until 5 August, while the 2012 Paralympic Tennis Event will be held at Eton Manor on 1-8 September.

A list of the sporting heroes chosen by each tennis player is overleaf.

Tennis players and their sporting heroes

Men

Tomas Berdych                      Czech men’s ice hockey team (ice hockey)

Bob and Mike Bryan               The Dream Team (1992 US men’s basketball team)

Marin Cilic                               Goran Ivanisevic (tennis)

Juan Martin del Potro             Javier Sotomayor (high jump)

Novak Djokovic                      Alberto Tomba (skiing)

Roger Federer                                    Marc Rosset (tennis)

David Ferrer                            Jordi Arrese (tennis)

Mardy Fish                              Dan O’Brien and Dave Johnson (decathlon)

Jurgen Melzer                         Carl Lewis (athletics)

Max Mirnyi                              Vladimir Salnikov (swimming)

Juan Monaco                          Manu Ginobili (basketball)

Gael Monfils                            Michael Johnson (athletics)

Andy Murray                           Michael Johnson (athletics)

Rafael Nadal                           Spanish Olympic Team at 1992 Barcelona

Kei Nishikori                            Roger Federer (tennis)

Milos Raonic                           Pete Sampras (tennis)

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga                  Michael Johnson (athletics)

Stanislas Wawrinka                Kobe Bryant (basketball)

Women

Victoria Azarenka                   Sergey Bubka (pole vault)

Dominika Cibulkova               Slovak men’s ice hockey team (ice hockey)

Kim Clijsters                            Tia Hellebaut (high jump)

Gisela Dulko                           Argentine women’s hockey team (hockey)

Petra Kvitova                          Michael Phelps (swimming)

Bethanie Mattek-Sands          Shannon Miller (gymnastics)

Shahar Peer                            Gal Fridman (windsurfing)

Andrea Petkovic                     Bode Miller (skiing)

Agnieszka Radwanska           Michael Phelps (swimming)

Francesca Schiavone             Usain Bolt (athletics)

Peng Shuai                             Li Ning (gymnastics)

Samantha Stosur                    Cathy Freeman (athletics)

Caroline Wozniacki                 Michael Phelps (swimming)

Vera Zvonareva                      Yevgeny Kafelnikov (tennis)

Paralympians

Shingo Kunieda                       Ryoko Tani (judo)

Maikel Scheffers                    Maarten van der Weijden (swimming)

Esther Vergeer                        Pieter van den Hoogenband (swimming)

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  1. […] Tennis Players Name Sporting Heroes In ITF Olympic Book10sBallsThe International Tennis Federation today announced the publication of its official Olympic Book Aspire, Inspire: Celebrating Tennis at the Olympics 2012. Thirty-six of the world's leading tennis players took part in the ITF project to help promote the …International Tennis Federation launches Olympic book ahead of London GamesNDTVall 7 news articles » […]







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