My Tennis Life

By Christian Koskorelos

I started tennis at the age of ten at Overpeck Park in Leonia, N.J. It was an accident, you know. I was with my friend Peter who lived upstairs from me in Palisades Park. We found a bunch of old racquets and we just started playing against the wall. Eventually we made our way to the court. I got hooked on tennis but he didn’t. Soon, he moved to River Edge and eventually I moved to another apartment in Palisades Park. I never thought I would take tennis so far after that first encounter. I started bashing the wall every day while my mother walked the circle at Overpeck. Once she was finished with the circle, we would leave.

I did this every day for one summer. My mom beat me in a set, 7-6. I made sure that never happened again. I took my tennis to another level by eventually playing with the adults. I used to write down the scores everytime I played somebody in the park. I loved playing everyone. I used to play up until ten o clock at night. I never did my homework. I always did my homework in the morning. There was a clash of personalities at the park. There was one funny guy who was always cracking jokes as the walkers passed by. There was an awesome player from Israel, who was in the Israeli army. He was a lefty, and he never missed. There was one player who was super competitive and always drew a crowd. There were the funny serves I used to imitate. There were battles and there were new faces and there were the regulars. There were some tradgedies and there was the tennis. It was a clash of strangers who had one thing in common. Tennis. That was all. The lights stayed on till ten o’clock. Even the wall lights worked. I used to sit on the bench and wait for a court. I always dreamed that a roller blader would say hello. One time it happened. The park was the park.

My first tournament

The first tournament I ever played was at the Fort Lee Racquet Club when I was around twelve years old. I was nervous as can be. The tournament was two days, a Saturday and a Sunday. I remember the first round I had to face a girl. But the real talk of the tournament was the number one seed, a player by the name of Amit, from India, who later went to Georgetown. I played some tough first couple of rounds for my first tournament but got through them. My friend Takashi from Fort Lee invited me to the tournament and ironically, I ended up playing him in the semifinals! I got through Takashi in straight sets but now it was the real test, the finals with Amit. Everyone was there, watching at the Fort Lee Racquet Club window. His parents, strangers, other players, I was extremely nervous. I remember I had my Wilson Profile, a heavy racquet, the only racquet I ever owned. It was silver. Amit looked confident but my practicing on my own was going to be the only way to get through it. I remember I had a white t shirt on and jean shorts like Agassi. The rallys went on forever and ever. Moon balls, mostly. Luckily, I won the first set 6-3 with my mental toughness. I had to stay mentally tough for the next set. I felt like I was in the zone as the tournament director watched on the sidelines, then boom! 6-3. I beat him the same score as the first set. My first tournament I ever entered I won in the month of October. I would soon enter more monthly tournaments in November, December, then January. January would be my last Fort Lee Racquet Club tournament.

Sacred Heart University Tennis Pioneers
1998-1999

I played tennis after I transfered from Lynn University in 1997 for Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, a small school located near Bridgeport. I played number one singles for the school. We had a lot of fun there, always laughing and having a good time on and off the court. One week, we went to Hilton Head South Carolina for spring break where we played four colleges. We all lived in a hotel and stayed up late sometimes going to the beach. We played four schools, I don’t remember the outcome of the matches because it was a long time ago, but we did do well. Our colors were red and white, but a different school compared to my last school. My roommate was on the tennis team too, he now lives in Virginia. All of the teammates were always pumped up before the matches and every match we played we had a good time. One player on the team loved Agassi, another player had great volleys. The girl’s team did well in Hilton Head as well. They had a lot of talent. I received the ‘Athlete of the Week’ award one week in the spring. Being No. 1 singles was tough and felt like I had a responsibility to lead the team. We traveled up and down New England until finally, the season concluded in May. Our courts were taken care of, beautiful six hard courts. Sometimes I played when I didn’t have practice. Or sometimes I used to run on the new football field and warm up.

My one month at Gorin’s Tennis Academy

I remember landing at the Sacramento Airport on November 14, 2005. Vahe, who is now the tennis director at the academy, picked me up from the airport and forty minutes later we were at the academy at Granite Bay. When I saw the academy for the first time, I knew I was in the right place. I remember a bright full moon and stars shining bright. I saw three courts as the day turned into night and two courts in the back. I opened the door to the academy for the first time and saw a woman sitting on the couch. We talked for a bit and I introduced myself as one of the coaches. I remember seeing the gym for the first time and then the kitchen area. I walked up stairs and before walking upstairs, I noticed Russian professional tennis player Dmitry Tursonov’s trophies and the office area. I walked upstairs and saw students playing video games and sitting on the comfortable couches. I saw my room for the first time to the right of me. I had a bunk bed and a window, a view of the two courts. I had a desk and a closet and I remember a book resting on the desk, a popular novel. I put my stuff down for the first time and walked around the academy. I met all the students, most from Russia, one from Poland, one from Japan. I was the only coach staying at the academy but later a coach from Poland would arrive. Everyone was always on a laptop checking emails, websites, chatting. Sometimes, I played video games and sometimes I would run into Dmitry Tursonov, ranked #20 in the world at the time. I nearly fainted as I saw him in the cafeteria eating lunch. I thought it was a dream but it wasn’t. It was really him. One day while I was at the academy, he invited me to a restaurant with the other students. I sat in his sports car and we took off and drove on the California highway to the restaurant going in and out of lanes. I didn’t know what to say. I was in shock I was in his car. We finally arrived at the restaurant and I remember making a joke to him. I didn’t know what to say really to the world’s 20th best player on the ATP. We sat down, me, Dmitry Tursonov, and other students. Roger Federer was playing a match on TV and Dmitry made a comment about the match. I tried speaking to him but I just couldn’t. I was speechless. The night soon ended. During my one month there I would see him again every now and then. I saw him play next to us one day and another day he was just standing in the living room of the academy. I remember bonding well with the students from all over.

My one week at Weil’s Tennis Academy
in Ojai, CA

California. Sun. Mountains. Beauty. Weil’s Tennis was the complete package. I had a room and a roommate from Indonesia. There was a student from Bulgaria sleeping in the living room. We lived about ten minutes from the academy. Intense drilling and match play. We climbed up to the mountains of Ojai working on conditioning. Ojai was full of beauty, an artist’s town. The courts were amazing and the students from all over the world. I could have stayed longer but I didn’t. I came back. I was supposed to go to Santa Barbara on a Saturday to drive the students but I never did. One day, during my one week there, we went to Pepperdine University in Malibu. It was awesome, breathtaking view of the ocean. We sat on the bleachers and watched college matches the whole day. I sat next to the owner, Mark Weil, founder of the Weil Tennis Academy.

My Two Weeks at Bolletieri’s, 1994

Back in the summer of ’94, I went with my two friends to the Nick Bolletieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida and booked it for two weeks. It was a two weeks too long. Not in a bad way, but during the first four days, we couldn’t even walk. I remember sitting in our dorm room and the doorbell ringing. We tried to answer the door but we couldn’t even move a muscle. We were laughing at the fact that we couldn’t even move because of the intense training. I went with my two friends from home and we met students from all over the world. Even our roommate was from another country, I believe it was Venezuala. We actually prayed for rain because we were so exhausted from the training. Every day was like a new adventure. Tons of tennis action and sometimes even soccer in the afternoon. Once in a while we would see tennis stars walking around the academy. One time, from our window, we saw Mary Pierce getting out from her car. My friend said he saw Petr Korda somewhere. I used to love going to the cafeteria and enjoying a time out for dinner.

The US Open, in Flushing, NY

Talk about excitement. Talk about running into people. Talk about celebrities. Talk about the best tennis in the world. The US Open. I go every year. I never miss a year. I haven’t missed a year since 1993 when I first went as a kid. I went with my friends Kevin and David and we got tons of autographs. Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, Jim Courier, America’s greats. I got autographs from Nick Bolletieri, I still get autographs from him to this day. Never miss a year. I walk around the entire day at the Open meeting people from the past. I go to the shops, buy ice cream, buy the expensive food, watch tennis on the big screen. I even watch the finals on the screen. I’m like a little kid getting autographs. I look at the clothes, the restaurants, the players of course. I stay about eight hours and decide to head back home on the 7 train.

"Tursunov invited us to dinner"

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