Obituary Of Pancho Segura • Davis Cup • Tennis Tidbits • 10sBalls Postcard From Paris

Photo by ESPN.com

 

 

Writing an obituary is never easy. It’s Hardest when you know the person. Harder if you knew them well. Harder if you knew them a long time. Harder if you were friends and you laughed and always had fun with them. Yup. Pancho Segura was all that and more.

 

In writing an obituary the first thing I’ve learned to look for is:

Was it a life well lived? Was it a life that no time was wasted on watching and waiting for a chance or opportunity. Did this person make their own destiny? (biggest help was from GARDNAR Mulloy) • YES!

 

It was a life filled with sheer determination. Francisco “Pancho” Segura grew up poor in a poor country with a little body and ” bowed legs ” from a childhood disease called “Rickets.”

 

The man made himself the life any King Or Billionaire would envy. He travelled the world. He hung out with the world’s wealthiest he ate at the swankiest restaurants, Country Clubs, Hotels, Resorts. He knew the “A List” HOLLYWOOD and “B List” HOLLYWOOD and anyone who was anyone in any form famous. From Royalty to Presidents, and all in between. Yup. Little Pancho sure showed them all that with his will and his wit he could beat the best of them. Pancho had a life well lived and it didn’t take living to 96 to prove it…

 

We have added a few comments from Sven Groeneveld (Orange Coach)..

Tennis has lost a great tennis legend by the passing of Pancho Segura. A legendary player and coach that shared his passion for tennis with his presence every time I saw him attend the BNP Open in Indian Wells. RIP Pancho you will always have a special place in my memories.

 

It’s hard to explain what the past few weeks have been like. LONDON, the 02 tennis. It was the ATP Nitto Year End Championships. The boat rides along the Thames on the daily river rides. The “pumped atmosphere” and high level of tennis at the 02 Arena.

 

Then off to Amsterdam with Sven. Yes, Sven was so right. It’s so much more fun to be in Holland when the “Orange Coach” is there. I knew it it but it was new with the rest of the crew, they were so happy to see it thru Sven’s tour.

 

Followed by we all ran off to Paris For Davis Cup. The FRENCH BENCH was strong enough to field 3-4 World class teams. Hadn’t seen a bench like that since “The Hopman Years” in Australia.

 

Sorry to see they didn’t play Mahut. But what a Davis Cup! How can you explain that place. The FRENCH in blue the Belgians in red. Talk about adrenaline… Oh.. And having friends on both teams. Simple. I wore black Sven said orange. But I look like a pumpkin. So black it was. The Davis Cup was awesome. The celebrations so crazy. The singing. The party was all right there! Glad I had ear plugs. The place was going nuts. We are off to Belgium. Sorry we won’t be celebrating. So wearing black worked out ok after all.

 

Also in London we have great legends tennis in the amazing Royal Albert Hall. And the great Xavier Malisse. So it’s a busy time. But so much fun.

 

2018 has great promise for tennis. Now if people could only figure out where and how to watch it…. Via a computer? A live feed? A link? A TV? Where? How? When?

 

Celebrating with the ballkids – Photo by @daviscuptennis via Instagram.

 

Captains-in-arms. Yannick Noah consoling Johan van Herck #DavisCupFinal – Photo by @daviscuptennis via Instagram.