Hard Courts by John Feinstein

Author:John Feinstein [Feinstein, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-80096-1
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2011-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

15

TIRIAC

Ion Tiriac moved through the lavishly furnished restaurant with the ease of a man who is accustomed to spending time with the rich and famous. To eat here, the box holders’ restaurant at Roland Garros, you had to be one or the other—preferably both.

Tiriac sat in a chair held for him by a tuxedo-clad waiter, lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, and blew the smoke out through his nostrils the way an angry bull might snort at the sight of a matador dressed in red. He waved at someone across the room and said something to him in German that got a laugh. He then turned to the waiter and ordered lunch in French.

He took another drag on the cigarette, shook his head, and, in English, said, “I’m not going to take the shit for this one. Bob can take it or Boris can take it because it’s their decision. I think it is a big mistake and I told them that. But they don’t want to hear it.”

What Bob Brett and Boris Becker didn’t want to hear was Tiriac’s firm opinion that Becker should get himself on a plane that afternoon and fly from London to Paris for the International Tennis Federation’s champions’ dinner. It had been seven days since Becker’s crushing first-round defeat in the French Open.

Each year, the ITF holds the champions’ dinner on the second Tuesday of the French. “I told him that he may win this award again many times before he is through playing, or he might not, but one thing for sure is that he’ll never win it for the first time again. Sportsmen never understand that respect is much more important than love. People love you today, hate you tomorrow, don’t care about you day after tomorrow. But you can make them respect you if you respect them. I remember seven, eight years ago McEnroe flew in to accept the award. Probably took him six hours. He chartered a plane, shook a few hands, said thank you very much, and left. People still talk about that. Do they love McEnroe? No. But they respect him. Boris could charter a plane, he could charter the whole damn airline if he wants.

“But he won’t. He says I don’t understand him. Again. I understand Boris because I’m the same way. If someone tells me ten times not to do something I will always do it. That’s Boris. Fine. But the sad thing is ninety percent of the athletes in the world have no life after sports. Boris will have one. But the one thing all athletes have is their memories.”

The face that Ion Tiriac shows most of the world is a pragmatic one. He is a very shrewd, very wealthy businessman. At fifty-one he remains an intimidating physical presence with the wild curly hair, the huge mustache, and the mammoth hands that he often uses to clap people on the back so hard that if they are lucky they will begin breathing normally again a couple of hours later.

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