I’m not saying women shouldn’t be on the court. Otherwise, who would pick up the balls?
Bobby Riggs
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These days I tried to interview Billie Jean King, aka BJK.
BJK is an octogenarian lady who in the sixties and seventies had won twelve Grand Slam titles, and who had come out of the closet at the end of the eighties, when very few celebrities did, and who had defeated Bobby Riggs, former number 1 world cup, in a match that received the nickname The Battle of the Sexes (it was held in 1973; he won 6-4 and a double 6-3) and earned him $100,000 and, years later, much more applause: in 2017, The Battle of the Sexes It was going to be made into a movie starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell.
(I beg you, reader, look at Steve Carell in The Officeyou won’t regret it).
I’ll go back: this week, BJK was supposed to see me via video call, but at the last minute she felt unwell and that’s why we left the commitment for another day.
(And there will be time to get back to it, because the Billie Jean King Cup, which is the old Fed Cup, the female Davis Cup, starts this Wednesday in Malaga and the legend that gives its name to the tournament will be there and I will be there likewiseif nothing prevents it).
(…)
–Anabel, what time can you attend to The Vanguard? –Antonio Arenas, head of communication at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, asks Anabel Medina.
And Anabel Medina (42), who speeds by, carrying a backpack full of rackets, looks at her watch, narrows her eyes while doing calculations and says:
–At one o’clock in the afternoon, right here.
And he leaves quickly.
Renaissance
These days I tried to interview Billie Jean King, but she became unwell; Anabel Medina is a Renaissance man, like that one
right here It is on the terrace of the Club House of the academy in Manacor, a large and sunny space that I am visiting while I prepare a report on Nadal, tennis legend.
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Well, reader, in case you hadn’t already heard: Rafael Nadal will leave elite tennis in a couple of weeks.
(And we will publish that report about the academy next weekend, it’s not time today).
(…)
Now it’s one o’clock and Anabel Medina appears.
And it is offered to Eugeni Aguiló, the photographer, who frames the portrait that accompanies this Round and round.
And then he asks me:
–Shall we sit?
And we sat down.
Anabel Medina has been an essential tennis player in our country.
She has been 16th in the WTA in the singles table and third in doubles. Between both teams he has won 28 titles. In Beijing 2008 she won Olympic silver in doubles with Virginia Ruano. He also has two doubles titles at Roland Garros.
And today?
He retired six years ago.
Anabel Medina is the head coach of the women’s tennis program at the Nadal academy, she is a television commentator, she directs a WTA 250 tournament (the BBVA Open Internacional Valencia), she is captain of the Spanish Billie Jean King Cup team since 2018 and, for the afternoons, she takes care of Lucas, her two-year-old little boy.
–Do you ever play tennis? –I ask him.
And she shrugs.
–The truth is that no. Now, paddle tennis.
-And so?
–I am at the academy from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon. And when I leave here, I run to pick up my son and I stay with him. And I started playing tennis at the age of seven and retired at 36… I have more than enough, right?
–Well… –I observe–: I retired from athletics at 31 years old but I have never stopped running. That makes me feel good and age healthy.
–So, you are doing well, right? –he gives me a slap in the face.
And I remain blank, not knowing very well what to answer, how poorly I have explained myself, earth swallow me. Let’s move on to something else.
For example? To Spain from the BJK Cup.
–It’s going to be complicated from the beginning, we start against Poland (Swiatek’s Poland, on Wednesday at 5 p.m.), but we have a good team with Paula Badosa, Jéssica Bouzas, Sara Sorribes, Marina Bassols and Nuria Párrizas, who are growing in these country tournaments. I’m thinking about big things, of course (Cristina Bucsa is low, with an abdominal injury).
I would have a good time in your company, but I must continue with the visit to the academy, since I miss the flight back home.
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#Anabel #Medina #lady
