I've been home for a week or so now and I have to say that Summer in the UK is a bit disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I love being home but my lovely tan is fading rapidly and I'm back under the blanket. During the day. They keep threatening us with the 'hottest June on record'. Hmm. When, I ask you? When? I'd much rather be swimming in the deep blue sea. But life has to continue and so I find myself back at the keyboard following my other dream.
Returning from a holiday is always disappointing, isn't it? Luckily for me though, they scheduled the French Open to coincide with my return, so I've been able to get my first fix of tennis. I love the tennis season, watching fit young men and women dashing about the court, whacking balls at one another, chucking their racquets in the air in frustration, swearing and shouting, grunting and groaning and cheering. I enjoy the fashion too - what? The fashion's important too. I must say that the pyjama pants the men seem to be wearing this year really doesn't do it for me. A year or so ago it was Serena Williams' 'non-underwear' that raised eyebrows and to be fair, the multi-coloured shorts the men are wearing this year is an improvement on that.
Marion Bartoli, glamorous (and very funny) ex champion, did a little tour though the tennis museum, with some fascinating insights into the way fashions, particularly women's fashion, has changed over the years. From floating dresses to frilly knickers to today's scientifically designed fabrics, tennis styles change constantly. Lest you wonder why I'm watching tennis instead of writing the next best seller, I have a sore foot. Yes, really.
What hasn't changed, however, is the burning desire the players have to win, and I always wonder how those players that never make it past round one keep coming back. I've heard that even the lower ranked players make a relatively good living from travelling to tournaments. I heard a story of a male player who slept in bus and train stations because he couldn't afford a hotel. Yet he continued year after year until finally he found sponsorship and hit the big time. Some of the players we think have 'perfect' lives, have made huge sacrifices to follow their dream of being a Grand Slam winner.
Many will never fulfill that dream, but we know who they are and I admire their steadfastness. The ones that left home as children to train in a foreign country or the one whose parents fled their homeland on foot to escape an awful war, they're the ones I admire most. The ones that refused to give up simply because someone else thought they should. How many of us are like them in our own small way?
It takes sacrifice and patience and a whole lot of commitment to 'make it'. And that's true for every one of us who is driven to succeed at our chosen passion. Whether it's tennis or writing or fashion design, the decision to sacrifice, to never give up and to press on despite the defeats or many (many!) rejection slips, is what makes us succeed, no matter how small that success might seem to others. Surrendering a dream isn't an option. Not for the tennis players, not for the writers and dreamers and thinkers. What about you?
Returning from a holiday is always disappointing, isn't it? Luckily for me though, they scheduled the French Open to coincide with my return, so I've been able to get my first fix of tennis. I love the tennis season, watching fit young men and women dashing about the court, whacking balls at one another, chucking their racquets in the air in frustration, swearing and shouting, grunting and groaning and cheering. I enjoy the fashion too - what? The fashion's important too. I must say that the pyjama pants the men seem to be wearing this year really doesn't do it for me. A year or so ago it was Serena Williams' 'non-underwear' that raised eyebrows and to be fair, the multi-coloured shorts the men are wearing this year is an improvement on that.
Marion Bartoli, glamorous (and very funny) ex champion, did a little tour though the tennis museum, with some fascinating insights into the way fashions, particularly women's fashion, has changed over the years. From floating dresses to frilly knickers to today's scientifically designed fabrics, tennis styles change constantly. Lest you wonder why I'm watching tennis instead of writing the next best seller, I have a sore foot. Yes, really.
What hasn't changed, however, is the burning desire the players have to win, and I always wonder how those players that never make it past round one keep coming back. I've heard that even the lower ranked players make a relatively good living from travelling to tournaments. I heard a story of a male player who slept in bus and train stations because he couldn't afford a hotel. Yet he continued year after year until finally he found sponsorship and hit the big time. Some of the players we think have 'perfect' lives, have made huge sacrifices to follow their dream of being a Grand Slam winner.
Many will never fulfill that dream, but we know who they are and I admire their steadfastness. The ones that left home as children to train in a foreign country or the one whose parents fled their homeland on foot to escape an awful war, they're the ones I admire most. The ones that refused to give up simply because someone else thought they should. How many of us are like them in our own small way?
It takes sacrifice and patience and a whole lot of commitment to 'make it'. And that's true for every one of us who is driven to succeed at our chosen passion. Whether it's tennis or writing or fashion design, the decision to sacrifice, to never give up and to press on despite the defeats or many (many!) rejection slips, is what makes us succeed, no matter how small that success might seem to others. Surrendering a dream isn't an option. Not for the tennis players, not for the writers and dreamers and thinkers. What about you?