Tennis Prose




Jan/12

13

Meet Our Aussie Open Correspondent – Jayita Belcourt


Full name – Jayita A. Belcourt

First tennis memory: I started playing tennis when I was about 5 years old. In 1989, I had the honour of meeting Martina Navratilova and Ivan Lendl when they came to Australia for some training camps in Port Stephens and had my tennis racquet signed by Martina.

Favorite players to watch: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Bernard Tomic, Alexander Dolgopolov, Serena Williams, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters.

Residence: I live in Australia, although I call myself half-American as I studied in the USA (University of North Carolina) and love New York City!

Greatest tennis moment: Beating my father in a tennis match after losing to him all of my life.

Most painful tennis moment: Missing my serve at a critical moment of a match and thinking how annoying tennis can be having to serve the ball into a stupid box!

A funny memory of tennis: Watching Andy Murray hit the ball between his legs and thinking… man, what a show off!

Favorite courts to play: Grass.

Why do you love tennis: I love pushing myself and seeing what I am capable of achieving. I love watching elite tennis players push themselves to their highest potential. Tennis is not for the faint-hearted, every moment counts and it is like watching two warriors fight it out to the end.

Favorite tennis book(s): My all time favourite tennis book is “The Inner Game of Tennis”. I read this when I was like 10 years old and it shaped my whole philosophy of how to play sports.

Racquet you use: Wilson.

Shoes you wear when you play: Asics.

9 comments

  • Dan Markowitz · January 13, 2012 at 12:49 am

    Diplomatically, Jayita should’ve said her two favorite tennis books were “Marcelo Rios: The Man We Barely Knew” and “Break Point.” Anyway, I look forward to reading her posts.

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 13, 2012 at 1:34 am

    Thanks for the plug Dan! What a thrill for her to meet Martina Navratilova at age five, I’m still waiting to meet Martina, did meet Lendl though, got his Biofile in 92 at the Hamlet.

  • Andrew Miller · January 13, 2012 at 3:23 am

    Tennis highlight of my life: acing and defeating an aging Richard Williams in doubles. I love the Williams’ sisters games but trust me, they did not get their court savvy from their dad.

    Tennis lowlight: Beating one of my sisters in singles. It was horrible and made me feel that my beating her made her decide to quit the sport.

    2nd Tennis Highlight: Watching my little sister play! She had a ferocious forehand, a solid drop shot, and an inside out forehand that she would use in juniors. She didn’t play more than the 10s and 12s but it was fun watching her play.

  • Andrew Miller · January 13, 2012 at 3:26 am

    on that note: my kudos to the Bryan brothers. It’s been said they were practical in abandoning singles for doubles – that they weren’t good enough, so threw their whole weight into doubles. But their dad also raised them not to compete against each other in tournaments (they took turns defaulting) and I think it led to one of the world’s best ever doubles teams. It’s one way to deal with siblings in tennis – make them respect each other and work together, and in this case I think it rescued doubles!

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 13, 2012 at 3:33 am

    Andrew you actually played the Legend himself Richard Williams? Please tell more..

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 13, 2012 at 3:36 am

    Interesting that Wayne Bryan would not let the brothers compete against each other in tourneys and they alternated defaults. Never heard that about the Bs. I heard the Radwanksa sisters rarely played against each other but they always and still always practice together.

  • Steve · January 13, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    Always a good sign when someone appreciates Henin’s game! Looking forward to the reports from the Aussie Open.

  • Andrew Miller · January 14, 2012 at 1:09 am

    Richard Williams talks a lot! He talks a lot of smack also. Played him in doubles one evening a long time ago in West Palm Beach….and he talks and talks and talks and talks. It was not too far from Palm Beach Gardens, and he just kept talking and talking! The only way to get someone like that to stop talking is to beat them, so we really took it to his team – going for the alleys, smashes, just about anything we could do to ensure the V. That’s pretty much it. I remember what he spoke about – a lot about “Hot Plate Williams”, a basketball player who “supposedly” he was representing because he was a lawyer, which of course he was not. The beginning and the end of it is that he was a talker – a big talker! I met the Williams sisters too – they were pretty darn nice when I met them.

  • Steve · January 16, 2012 at 3:22 am

    Gasquet vs. Seppi looks a good match.

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