In our culture, sport is like a societally endorsed obsession where crazies are lauded for going all in, even if it’s thinly disguised exploitation, extremism, abuse and addiction.
Take my father for example. Looking back now, I can clearly see he was an addict, coaches were like his dealers, and my sporting career was his favourite drug of choice.
Dad was somewhat idolised like a folk hero around the tennis traps for human trafficking me around the globe, while he got insanely drunk off the sporting fix I supplied him with. And when he wasn’t busy bingeing off my brilliance, I had to endure his volatile withdrawals when my game didn’t give him the tennis-high he was looking for.
When I crash landed back in the streets of Adelaide after a botched tennis career, I succumbed to the legal drug trade and became a ‘sporting dealer’ myself, packaged up as a tennis coach. I can now see the errors of my ways, as it was extremely dangerous to supply powerful uppers such as hope and optimism, to susceptible tennis parents with a proclivity to full blown sporting addiction. (Luckily, I served no hard time)
And just of late, I’ve experienced my grandiose thinking take me all the way to the players box at Wimbledon after watching how naturally my 3-year-old son can hit a backhand over the net, in a tennis hot shot program. (I still can’t get that shot out of my mind)
I’ve been everywhere man. Unhealthy addictions, healthy addictions, I’ve dabbled in all of it. And yes, you’re right, I might just be one of the biggest heathens/hypocrites walking around the tennis world, seeing as I still make a living from coaching the sport. I would have to agree with you there. BUT. NOWWWWWWW, I look at myself as a rather sensible and morally principled drug dealer by telling customers about the dangers of chasing the dragon of child sporting excellence while supplying them with their J bag of tennisamphetamines.
Am I happy about being a sporting dealer? No! But like any kingpin will tell you, if the customers don’t get their fix from me, they will just go and get it from somewhere else. And I can assure you one thing, you are better getting your gear from me than anyone else, cause while my product can be an extremely harsh toke, it’s by far the purest stuff around town. It’s a thing called the truth!
My book SMASHED: Tennis prodigies, parents and parasites is out January 2025. You can preorder it here now.
