Two Great Tennis Players

His childhood was a huge tragedy. Even before he was born, three of his older siblings died. When he was barely 18, his mother died. Three years later, his father and brother died. At the young age of 22, he was the only survivor of a once big family.

He was encouraged to play Tennis by a relative, who considered it to be a form of therapy for his grief.

Five years later, he became the first American player to win a tournament at Wimbledon, in England. In the 1920’s he dominated the sport of Tennis like no one else. He won seven US Championships, three Wimbledon titles. In fact, his form was so good during his peak that he won 57 games in a row.

He was Bill Tilden, one of the greatest Tennis players of all time.

 

When he was barely 6 years, his mother passed away. To avoid his loneliness, he started playing Tennis. It did not take a long time for him to come to the main stage. In 1969, he won both US Open and the Davis Cup for his country. Yet, in that year, he was denied entrance to a South African tournament because he was black. He then started using his star status to help African American people to achieve equality. He also won the Wimbledon on a come back effort.

In 1980, he had a heart stroke; in the hospital during surgery, he was given HIV infected blood. He contacted AIDS. Still, for 13 years, he fought to bring awareness about AIDS worldwide.

One of his fans wrote a letter asking him that while there were five hundred billion people on the planet, why God chose him for the deadly disease? To which, he replied – “Every year fifty million people start playing Tennis, 50000 people come to the circuit, 5000 reach the Grand slams, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to the semi-finals, 2 to the finals and only one player among all wins the title. When I was holding the Cup (After winning the Wimbledon), I never asked God “Why me?”. And today in pain too, I should not be asking God, “Why me?”  

He was Arthur Ashe, another renowned Tennis player of his time.

It is from these great people that we must take inspiration. Not the hero’s and heroine’s of Bollywood.

 

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Success

There is one more quotation which I would like to share with you all… This is the definition of Success by Ralph Wandoo (Waldo?) Emerson. This is by far the best definition that I have been able to find on the topic – Success.

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better – whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life breathed easier because you lived – That is to have succeeded in life” 

 

Seems convincing for me; have you guys anything to add?

 

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Thought provoking Quotes

There are certain quotations which do not advice. They do not preach. They are not judgmental.  They don’t claim that they are the Truth. But still you would have to think about each of them at least twice. The wisdom ingrained in them is sometimes not visible openly. That’s why I have categorized them as thought provoking. I have been getting the following quotes from a friend through email (The subject is Good Morning, though and with a neat picture). Some of them have indeed made my day, not just the morning. Have a look at a few selected ones that I have liked over the years.

 

“The true mystery of the world is the visible; not the invisible”

 

“Money is a very excellent servant; but a terrible master”

 

“An angry man is again angry with himself when he returns to reason”

 

“Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten but they may start a winning game”

 

“Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind”

 

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”

 

“It’s not what you are called, but what you answer to”

 

“Putting off an easy thing makes it hard”

 

“Having enemies’ means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life”

 

“Failure is not falling down; but staying down”

 

“By learning to obey, you will know how to command”

 

“To be content with a little is hard; to be content with much is impossible”

 

“If you wish to travel far and fast, try traveling light, taking off all your burdens”

 

“LUCK….. stands for Labouring Under Correct Knowledge”

 

“Intellectuals solve problems. Geniuses prevent them”

 

“The future will be exactly like the past; only far more expensive”

 

“Hardwork has a future pay-off; Laziness pays-off now”

 

And how about this one to close: “Cheer up, the worst is yet to come” !!

 

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 PS: I’ll try to post more such quotes, but at irregular intervals. But the worst is yet to come – so cheer up people 🙂 

Related Reading: Thought Provoking Quotes – II

You could visit the Quotations and Humour section of this blog for similar articles. 

Bhutan – Learning’s from a Little Country

This is an update to my earlier post on Bhutan:

https://destinationinfinity.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/bhutan-gross-national-happiness-democracy-and/

Somehow, I seem to be fascinated by the Bhutanese.  In these times, when the elected ‘representatives’ are more concerned about retaining their power by any means, there is a King in Bhutan who has introduced Democracy and given the right to the Parliament to remove him by a majority vote of no-confidence, which never existed before – in this mountainous kingdom. And no, people did not force this through a revolution. They were happy to have their King, and now they are happy to embrace Democracy. Their happiness comes through a concept introduced by the Bhutanese King – “Gross National Happiness”, which he uses to measure the progress of his state. This doesn’t take only the wealth created (Like Gross National Product measurements) to judge the progress of the nation. They are more concerned about the happiness and well being of their people and nature. If you have around fifteen minutes to spare, please take a look at the below video and also go through the link given at the beginning of this post.

You can see this YouTube Video on Bhutan Here

 

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