Modest Janowicz vindicates parents’ sacrifices

Published on 02/11/2012 01:42

A FEW years ago, Jerzy Janowicz’s parents sold their shops and apartments so that their son could play professional tennis.

Yesterday, Janowicz started to repay their faith with a barnstorming performance that left US Open champion Andy Murray red-faced in the third round of the Paris Masters.

“It’s not easy for me to talk about this week because I had really tough moments in my life and this is really like a movie for me,” said the 21-year-old Pole, who has also beaten Marin Cilic and Philip Kohlschreiber in Paris, following his 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 win over the Scot.

Asked to elaborate, world No 69 Janowicz added: “Well, I had problems in my life. First of all, I have always had problems with sponsors. I didn’t have money for my career; all the time my parents were helping me. They were selling their shops, they were selling the few apartments, so they decided to go all in to help me as much as possible.”

The son of two former professional volleyball players, Janowicz picked up his first racket while he was still wearing nappies. “When I was two years old I was running already with a tennis racket on the court,” he said. “I couldn’t basically hit one ball but I was holding this racket all the time.”

Becoming a pro tennis player is no easy feat as Janowicz acknowledged, adding: “I would like to have a few days off to think about what happened this week, because this week is really not easy to take for me because I’m from Poland and I know it’s not easy to become a professional tennis player.”

Janowicz will face Serbian eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic for a place in the semi-finals.