I first want to thank Fedeze14 for his help in this, because something really special happened today I wanted to share with you all.
In yet another story of how tennis reaches outside the lines, here is a story that involves a certain player who has now been sidelined away from the game for as long as his amazing 3 year run of top 8 finishes from 2003-2005. But such is the imprint El Mago leaves in his tracks (as we all know!!)
The first part is relevant, which is that the KingCoria site I run is the only english-language Guillermo Coria site on the web. So to the point, I received an email a few weeks back... and like many things we get on the web telling a story of woe, I thought it was a prank or a virus. But as I read the letter over, and then over again, I began to believe it was entirely real. The details were too specific, and the desperation a little too palpable.
A woman was writing from Japan that her young daughter had cancer, and had only 1 month to live. During her time in the hospital, the daughter had been watching tapes of Coria's inventive racquet-magic play from 2003-05, and using it as inspiration for her own battle. Knowing Coria was also out with troubles of his own over the past few years, she proceeded to sit in her bed watching, while making 1,000 paper birds, which is believed in Japan to bring good luck.
The mother wanted to grant her daughter this last dream to come true, and so since she only spoke Japanese & English, the KingCoria site was her only way of making contact. Since I don't have direct access to reaching him, I went on a trial-laden search of non-answers including sending this to the contacts I had at Forocoria & MySpaceCoria & others. But the month was nearly up this week, and fimally I decided to try another tact. I knew our very own Fedeze14 was actively involved with Forocoria & that since he spoke spanish, he would do a better job than I could.
Well alas, he put me through to the moderator there and we finally REACHED Guillermo, spoke with the woman in Japan over the phone, and arranged to deliver the 1,000 birds to Coria. Meanwhile, Guille is, as I type, scanning personal pictures to send to this poor girl, who from the pictures from her mom looks to be about 10-12 years old.
I am really touched by all of this, as it was quite dramatic as we neared the one month mark since I had received the initial correspondence, and was not sure if the girl was even still alive at this point. After weeks of dead-ends, including connecting the mother to the Vilas Racquet Club in Buenos Aires (where Guille is known to practice, but where they only spoke Spanish, so nothing happened), this last-ditch effort finally found a way through!! The 'month' was almost up!! But a dream did come true today.
In yet another story of how tennis reaches outside the lines, here is a story that involves a certain player who has now been sidelined away from the game for as long as his amazing 3 year run of top 8 finishes from 2003-2005. But such is the imprint El Mago leaves in his tracks (as we all know!!)
The first part is relevant, which is that the KingCoria site I run is the only english-language Guillermo Coria site on the web. So to the point, I received an email a few weeks back... and like many things we get on the web telling a story of woe, I thought it was a prank or a virus. But as I read the letter over, and then over again, I began to believe it was entirely real. The details were too specific, and the desperation a little too palpable.
A woman was writing from Japan that her young daughter had cancer, and had only 1 month to live. During her time in the hospital, the daughter had been watching tapes of Coria's inventive racquet-magic play from 2003-05, and using it as inspiration for her own battle. Knowing Coria was also out with troubles of his own over the past few years, she proceeded to sit in her bed watching, while making 1,000 paper birds, which is believed in Japan to bring good luck.
The mother wanted to grant her daughter this last dream to come true, and so since she only spoke Japanese & English, the KingCoria site was her only way of making contact. Since I don't have direct access to reaching him, I went on a trial-laden search of non-answers including sending this to the contacts I had at Forocoria & MySpaceCoria & others. But the month was nearly up this week, and fimally I decided to try another tact. I knew our very own Fedeze14 was actively involved with Forocoria & that since he spoke spanish, he would do a better job than I could.
Well alas, he put me through to the moderator there and we finally REACHED Guillermo, spoke with the woman in Japan over the phone, and arranged to deliver the 1,000 birds to Coria. Meanwhile, Guille is, as I type, scanning personal pictures to send to this poor girl, who from the pictures from her mom looks to be about 10-12 years old.
I am really touched by all of this, as it was quite dramatic as we neared the one month mark since I had received the initial correspondence, and was not sure if the girl was even still alive at this point. After weeks of dead-ends, including connecting the mother to the Vilas Racquet Club in Buenos Aires (where Guille is known to practice, but where they only spoke Spanish, so nothing happened), this last-ditch effort finally found a way through!! The 'month' was almost up!! But a dream did come true today.