Meeting Max, THE BEAST, Miryni – Biography
The previous series on Max, has prompted some questions and interest on “who” Max actually is and this is what I came up with after some digging – indulge and feel free to comment:
Max has singles wins over Federer, Hewitt at the 2000 Olympics, Safin, Sampras, Rafter, Kafelnikov, Kuerten and Blake. He reached a singles ranking of 18, and has since gone on to win four doubles grand slams!
Born? DOB: July 6, 1977 – Minsk, Belarus
Hobbies/Leisure Activities? “Well, I like music and fishing”.
Favorite Movies? “Classic Russian movies.”
Musical Tastes? “Classic rock, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan.”
Favorite Ice Cream Flavour? “Rum raisin.”
Toughest Competitors? “Andre Agassi whom I never beat-our games were so similar.”
[I also know that Agassi has heaps of resepect for Max, notably, one of Max’s massive serves hit Andre so hard and the mark lasted for a month!]
Embarrassing Tennis Memory? “Probably the fifth set against Zib I played at the U.S. Open about ten years ago. When I totally ran out of my dry shirts and dry shorts. And I had to undress on court and have the new sets of clothes sent up to me at the court. I won that match.”
People Qualities Most Admired? “No matter what you do, I like it when it’s done properly and correctly. And when people are faithful to one another. I think that’s the most important thing.”
The road was very hard for Max in the early days, arriving with barely nothing in the US as a child, furnishing their apartment with items salvaged from the streets to get by. He began playing tennis at age six with his father, Nikolai and trained at IMG-Bollettieri Tennis Academy. This is also the place where his dad prompted Serena’s dad to allow him (Max) and Serena to play doubles. They won at Wimbledon, and again at the U.S. Open.
Hard work has earned him a lifestyle of dreams. He is a UN Ambassador and has completed an internationl law degree. At this point I must mention that Nick Bollettieri has utmost respect for Max and his work ethic and has been quoted saying that the world would be a better place if it had more Max’s!
This is only but a minor snippet of Max’s life and does not even begin to adddress his compassion and the hardships he has had to endure to achieve his tennis dreams.Max lives in the US with his wife and three children.
Sources: accessed 20/12/14 (http://www.tennis-prose.com/articles/biofile-with-max-mirnyi/ & http://www.tennis-x.com/playerbio/Max-Mirnyi.php)
Pictures: personal / google
Tennishunni
Tennis2Bee (London)
