Chris/Martina–
French '85
…Todd
At the close of this long
match, my faith was renewed in a number of ways. After Chris went down
love-40 at 5-all in the third to Martina I thought I would die. This would
be yet another loss that would be so difficult to swallow (the 1984 US Open
had just about killed me). But at the '85 French, Chris pulled it out
and I remembered thinking, “If Chris can do it, so can I”.
I was going through a phase with my own game and was finding it difficult to
“take my game to the next level”. I worked harder at getting
into better shape and focused more on playing one point at a time and not worrying
about the outcome. This attitude carried me to new heights and it is a
valuable tool that I use to this day. I could never have reached the level
I am at now with my play without the inspiration that Chris gave me so long
ago.