Mansour Bahrami: "I have been playing tennis for 60 years and I still enjoy it"
The Iranian-French tennis player Mansour Bahrami answered the young tennis players’ questions during the kids Q&A session that took place right after Bahrami's master class at the "North Palmyra Trophies".
– Hello, Mansour. It was very fun to play with you in the team because you are very fun. You were amazing. Your tennis style is understandable, the tricks are amazing. I want to ask you about the tricks of course because I think on the court you are the strongest player. How much time you were training or you just did this for fun? You were training or just do it because you can?
– Thank you for your kind words. No, I never practiced those shots. It just happened. I never had a tennis lesson in my life. I learned just by watching.
– Like when you were young, you just tried this? It turned out really well, when you become a tennis player and this becomes your style. And you become winning?
– Yeah, I was a child. I was from age 5 to 13. I played with a piece of wood. I didn't have tennis racquets. I played with a dustpan.
– So the question about the mental part of the tennis life. Are you usually nervous before coming on the court? And how did you manage to cope with these emotions?
– Today I'm not nervous at all. I am just going to the court and I'm always nervous about if the people are going to like what I do or not. But when I played on the tour, I just tried to not think too much about my tennis match, just before, and think about something else, and then go to the court as loose and as easy as possible.
– What do you say to yourself during the game? What do you say to yourself during the game when you get carried away by emotions? How do you deal with emotions?
– Well, you know, sometimes you have a bad time on the court because you miss, you know, or your opponent is too good for you, you know, and what you have to do is just hang in there and try to put more balls back in the court and try to give a chance to your opponent to miss a ball. And just wait until the better moments come to you. That's what I try to do.
I want to say one more thing. Sometimes, you know, some players, they want to hit the ball very hard. They hit every ball hard, but it's always out. So instead of hitting the ball out, that you lose the point, sometimes it's just give a chance to your opponent to miss the ball. Just put the ball back in the game. And give him a chance, give your opponent a chance to miss. But if you don't give him a chance, you never win.
– So your advice is to play clever?
– That's it, exactly.
– How many years have you been playing tennis already?
– 63 years!
– When was the moment when you understood that tennis is your life?
– When I was 5 years old. My father was working in the biggest sport complex in Tehran. I was two, three years old, I saw football fields, basketball, volleyball, swimming, ping pong, everything. And I could have gone to any sport, there was no problem. But every time I came to the tennis court, they kicked me and they smacked me and they said, no, you're not allowed to come to the tennis because tennis was for the rich people and I wasn't rich. So at that moment I said, okay, because these people don't want me to play tennis, I want to play tennis. And that's why I became a tennis player.
– So the question is about the big tournaments, as you said, as you heard, Grand Slams and Masters, some final stages of this tournament, so we know that usually they are different from the mental part, feeling by the players, so maybe your thoughts on this, how did you cope with the emotions during the very important matches of the big tournaments?
– For me, the main goal was to make the people, the crowd, happy. You know, if I win, it was okay, but I wanted to win and to give a good show always, all my life. Since I was 10 years old, it was like that. And so, there are so many matches I won, but I thought the people were not very happy and I was sad, but sometimes I lost and I saw that the people saw a good match and for me that was like a victory.
The main thing in tennis or any sport is to enjoy what you are doing. If you enjoy it, you win. If you go to the court and you lose one point, you smash your racket and you break your racket and you start bad-mouthing with your family or with your friends, I don't think that's good. You have to make it fun. Try everything you can to win. But if you lose, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win. You cannot win every match you play. No one can do that. And so the main thing is just to be happy with your life. For me, that was the most important.
– Who was your coach and trained you for such a success?
– I have never had a tennis coach in my life. I have never had a tennis lesson. I learned only by watching. I was a professional ball boy. When I was a kid, I was not allowed to go to tennis courts. And the people there in the club saw me coming back. Finally, they said, OK, we cannot get rid of you. You can come here, but only as a ball boy. So I was only allowed to go to tennis courts, to ballboy for people, and I would get 10 cents per hour of ball boying. I have never had a tennis lesson in my life.
– Where do you find the motivation at 68 years old?
– Where do I take my motivation? You know, tennis is my life and the best moment of my life is when I'm on the court. And the motivation is the people, the crowd. When I go, I don't like to practice. I practice two hours a week, not more than that. Three, four times a week, I practice 20 minutes every time. But when I go to the courts, I like to stay with the crowd. I love to stay five hours, no problem. You know, I just love to see people with big smiles. That is the energy that I take from the crowd and that's why I want to play.
I want to say something to this, you know, in Wimbledon the legends play until they are 59 years old. When they are 59, they play for the last time. But that rule was taken off for me. I was 59, I went there. I was 60, and I went there. I was 61, 63, 65, 67. And now, next year, I'm 69, and I'm going to play there again. And I'm the only one who's 69 and played over 60.
– What is your favorite tournament?
– Everywhere where there is a tennis court is my favorite place. This is really what I think.
– What do you think about new Russian players, like Alexander Bublik, Andrey Rublev?
– You know, Alexander Bublik is a great player and he's doing very well. I think he's around 20, 25 in the world. You know, not everyone can be number one, but being number 20 in the world is not bad. And he seems like he's enjoying himself in the court and he's entertaining the crowd. And for me, he's doing a very good job. Rublev. I think he's an amazing player. I think he can play more if he doesn't hurt himself. Because when he gets nervous, very tired, he hits himself. I saw him hitting the racket with his... That can only hurt him, you know? It's not going to help him. But that's the way he is. Every player is different.
– Hello, Mansour. It was very fun to play with you in the team because you are very fun. You were amazing. Your tennis style is understandable, the tricks are amazing. I want to ask you about the tricks of course because I think on the court you are the strongest player. How much time you were training or you just did this for fun? You were training or just do it because you can?
– Thank you for your kind words. No, I never practiced those shots. It just happened. I never had a tennis lesson in my life. I learned just by watching.
– Like when you were young, you just tried this? It turned out really well, when you become a tennis player and this becomes your style. And you become winning?
– Yeah, I was a child. I was from age 5 to 13. I played with a piece of wood. I didn't have tennis racquets. I played with a dustpan.
– So the question about the mental part of the tennis life. Are you usually nervous before coming on the court? And how did you manage to cope with these emotions?
– Today I'm not nervous at all. I am just going to the court and I'm always nervous about if the people are going to like what I do or not. But when I played on the tour, I just tried to not think too much about my tennis match, just before, and think about something else, and then go to the court as loose and as easy as possible.
– What do you say to yourself during the game? What do you say to yourself during the game when you get carried away by emotions? How do you deal with emotions?
– Well, you know, sometimes you have a bad time on the court because you miss, you know, or your opponent is too good for you, you know, and what you have to do is just hang in there and try to put more balls back in the court and try to give a chance to your opponent to miss a ball. And just wait until the better moments come to you. That's what I try to do.
I want to say one more thing. Sometimes, you know, some players, they want to hit the ball very hard. They hit every ball hard, but it's always out. So instead of hitting the ball out, that you lose the point, sometimes it's just give a chance to your opponent to miss the ball. Just put the ball back in the game. And give him a chance, give your opponent a chance to miss. But if you don't give him a chance, you never win.
– So your advice is to play clever?
– That's it, exactly.
– How many years have you been playing tennis already?
– 63 years!
– When was the moment when you understood that tennis is your life?
– When I was 5 years old. My father was working in the biggest sport complex in Tehran. I was two, three years old, I saw football fields, basketball, volleyball, swimming, ping pong, everything. And I could have gone to any sport, there was no problem. But every time I came to the tennis court, they kicked me and they smacked me and they said, no, you're not allowed to come to the tennis because tennis was for the rich people and I wasn't rich. So at that moment I said, okay, because these people don't want me to play tennis, I want to play tennis. And that's why I became a tennis player.
– So the question is about the big tournaments, as you said, as you heard, Grand Slams and Masters, some final stages of this tournament, so we know that usually they are different from the mental part, feeling by the players, so maybe your thoughts on this, how did you cope with the emotions during the very important matches of the big tournaments?
– For me, the main goal was to make the people, the crowd, happy. You know, if I win, it was okay, but I wanted to win and to give a good show always, all my life. Since I was 10 years old, it was like that. And so, there are so many matches I won, but I thought the people were not very happy and I was sad, but sometimes I lost and I saw that the people saw a good match and for me that was like a victory.
The main thing in tennis or any sport is to enjoy what you are doing. If you enjoy it, you win. If you go to the court and you lose one point, you smash your racket and you break your racket and you start bad-mouthing with your family or with your friends, I don't think that's good. You have to make it fun. Try everything you can to win. But if you lose, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win. You cannot win every match you play. No one can do that. And so the main thing is just to be happy with your life. For me, that was the most important.
– Who was your coach and trained you for such a success?
– I have never had a tennis coach in my life. I have never had a tennis lesson. I learned only by watching. I was a professional ball boy. When I was a kid, I was not allowed to go to tennis courts. And the people there in the club saw me coming back. Finally, they said, OK, we cannot get rid of you. You can come here, but only as a ball boy. So I was only allowed to go to tennis courts, to ballboy for people, and I would get 10 cents per hour of ball boying. I have never had a tennis lesson in my life.
– Where do you find the motivation at 68 years old?
– Where do I take my motivation? You know, tennis is my life and the best moment of my life is when I'm on the court. And the motivation is the people, the crowd. When I go, I don't like to practice. I practice two hours a week, not more than that. Three, four times a week, I practice 20 minutes every time. But when I go to the courts, I like to stay with the crowd. I love to stay five hours, no problem. You know, I just love to see people with big smiles. That is the energy that I take from the crowd and that's why I want to play.
I want to say something to this, you know, in Wimbledon the legends play until they are 59 years old. When they are 59, they play for the last time. But that rule was taken off for me. I was 59, I went there. I was 60, and I went there. I was 61, 63, 65, 67. And now, next year, I'm 69, and I'm going to play there again. And I'm the only one who's 69 and played over 60.
– What is your favorite tournament?
– Everywhere where there is a tennis court is my favorite place. This is really what I think.
– What do you think about new Russian players, like Alexander Bublik, Andrey Rublev?
– You know, Alexander Bublik is a great player and he's doing very well. I think he's around 20, 25 in the world. You know, not everyone can be number one, but being number 20 in the world is not bad. And he seems like he's enjoying himself in the court and he's entertaining the crowd. And for me, he's doing a very good job. Rublev. I think he's an amazing player. I think he can play more if he doesn't hurt himself. Because when he gets nervous, very tired, he hits himself. I saw him hitting the racket with his... That can only hurt him, you know? It's not going to help him. But that's the way he is. Every player is different.
