Watch 66-year-old Mansour Bahrami entertain crowds at Wimbledon with a series of brilliant tricks in the invitational mixed doubles at Wimbledon. When my French visa eventually ran out, I became an illegal immigrant. Villas asked me how I was and if he could do anything for me. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. He loses by a score of 6-0, 6-0, 6-2, but the defeat does not matter because the young man enjoys the game and what was once a dream begins to loom as a possibility: becoming a professional tennis player. I was thirty-three when I reached the French Open doubles final. For three and half years Mansour was not allowed to play in Iran, nor could he leave the country. Remarkably, at 63, Mansour can still perform these acrobatic feats on the court, a BBC TV announcer said. It will be shown here as soon as the official schedule becomes available. I never came to France to be a pain for other people. [1] Bahrami is considered to have "found his niche" on the ATP Champions Tour,[2] where his flamboyant, humorous style and propensity for trick shots make him a crowd favorite in the tour's more entertainment-oriented sphere. Mansour Bahrami beat Jean-Louis Haillet at Roland Garros 41 years ago, losing to Mel Purcell in his next match. You will never forget his story: Mansour Bahrami Install Sofascore app and follow all Mansour Bahrami matches live on your mobile! Since it was midnight I came out of my car and I wished her a happy new year and kissed her. A player who interacts with the audience and drives his opponents crazy with astonishing racket work, flamboyant skills and funny and inventive shots. I cannot tell you how many matches I lose that I should probably win because I am joking around. Playing Davis Cup When the audience laughs, I'm the happiest man in the world.". In 1981, at the age of twenty-four, Bahrami reached the third round of the French Open as a qualifier, whereupon his cause was taken up by influential French newspapers such as LEquipe and Le Figaro, who demanded the renewal of his visa. What Mansour wanted was to play tennis and at 65 he still does. I lost nine years of my life. Nick Kyrgios is one of the players who specializes in delivering underarm serves, and he adopted a similar strategy against Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon 2019. Having nothing to eat and no place to sleep and still tell other people that everything is perfect, because he did not want to bother others with his problems. A dream to hold on to Sometimes things don't go as expected and there are circumstances that alter our destiny. He would have said: Stop that and now you play seriously. And also without being number 1 or 50 of the world, you can have a pretty good time on a tennis court!. 10M views, 27K likes, 7.1K loves, 2K comments, 6.3K shares. His tourist visa expires and Mansour becomes an illegal immigrant. Live scores service at Sofascore livescore offers sports live scores, results and tables. They stopped me and one guy took me seven or eight times above his head and smashed me on the ground. But you have to win to collect the money, he explained. So love playing @wimbledon Great crowds as always Today our match not before 5pm & TBA - keep your on the OOP So good to be back . Play tennis and enjoy! Video, 00:04:48This is a very serious project - Fabregas on Como, Unfair it is only managers who face media - Conte. These cookies do not store any personal information. I love to feel people are having fun watching me. John McEnroe reckons hes a genius. But Bahrami was barred from achieving tennis greatness because the then rulers of Iran viewed tennis as a decadent Western activity definitely not to be encouraged. Far from lamenting, Mansour embraces his destiny. Reaching the doubles finals of Roland Garros without one single tennis lesson or a coach. He tells him that he is the one who must use it to leave the country and travel to a place where he can play tennis. Bahrami won the singles and doubles and received a ticket for a trip to Athens. Today being just a ball boy is probably seen as some kind of slavery, but for me it was great to do this. The opponent could not get to the ball, and the whole crowd cheered on for the former professional player. 894646. Mansour was thirty years old before he was allowed finally to join the ATP as a full-time professional player. You think they will believe this? For six years I just played tournaments in France and I was the man to beat there. It was very selfless of her to send me away and it changed my life for ever.. Sofascore Tennis livescore is available as iPhone and iPad app, Android app on Google Play and Windows phone app. Can Potter turn things around at Chelsea? Video, 00:01:37Can Potter turn things around at Chelsea? Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Thats how I learned, usually at night, barefoot, when they had drained the swimming-pool hitting an old ball someone had thrown away against the wall of the pool with whatever I could lay my hands on: I was that desperate to play tennis! I never asked for free money, never asked for money from the government. Sometime playing partner, Ilie Nastase, called him a maestro. TV sports presenters enjoy analyzing Bahramis complicated and challenging shots, which he makes look easy. At the age of 30, Bahrami finally becomes a professional player affiliated with the ATP. (on the left) and am here with my ball boy friends at the tennis club in Tehran. I was 10 Although his first year in Paris was hard and a continuous struggle to survive, these years being stuck in Iran are the only ones Bahrami looks back on with bitterness in his voice. However I was so much in demand with the exhibitions that I even had to lose official ATP matches, because I had to play an exhibition elsewhere.Since the born-entertainer did not want to play that way he followed his passion once again and today he is still the most demanded exhibition player in the world. When he sees the police he flees to avoid being deported and getting a job becomes increasingly difficult. So the young Bahrami was not allowed to play tennis till the age of thirteen and made it into the national Davis Cup team without a single tennis lesson or his parents there to support him. The height of the column represents match difficulty at the time, based on odds. A political refugee is someone who risks being killed if they go home I was only a tennis player, but I did not dare leave France in case they did not let me back in. Shot of The Championships?! At the age of 63, Mansour Bahramis still wowing the crowds here at #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/6lRf3aBCsV. In fact, he might be the best. 8. Mansour Bahrami | Screenshot via Wimbledon. Wimbledon has given fans some ever lasting memories and some funny moments along the years. When I played for example in Hamburg against Boris Becker (number one in the world at that time), the German people where all for me. However, two days later she said:No, it is best if you go and after that you can maybe go to France and if the things go right and you can stay there than maybe I will come as well. Unfortunately, he gambled in a casino on his first night and lost! His ability is so amazing that the Iranian tennis federation recruits him to play at the age of 13 and at 16 he disputes his first Davis Cup against Briton Roger Taylor. Video, 00:02:34Unfair it is only managers who face media - Conte, 'He can't play the victim' - Eubank Jr on Benn's failed drugs tests. Once a Skeptic, Elon Musk Now Embraces This Divisive Workplace Policy and You Should, Too. It was very selfless of her to send me away and it changed my life for ever. I chose France because there are hundreds of small tournaments with prize money. Video, 00:02:01'Results not good enough' - Potter on Chelsea form, 'Never say never' - Russo on Man Utd title hopes. But following Iran's Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s, tennis was viewed as a capitalist and elitist sport and therefore banned. This way he became worlds number 191 in singles and 31 in doubles, which is unbelievable! Since he didnt own a real tennis racquet until he was thirteen he taught himself to play using a rusty old metal frying pan, and other implements he is indisputably the greatest player ever to wield a kitchen utensil. But I said to him that everything was good, because I had to do it my way. Far from his family and in a foreign country, the young man has nowhere to stay, he wanders the streets of the city and spends his nights in front of the Roland Garros stadium. Mansour Bahrami executed a perfect underarm serve at Wimbledon 2019, which was met by a huge round of applause from the fans. Read our privacy policy for more information. In the news I saw players whom I had beaten become number 15 or 20 of the world and I could not play. For us nowadays it is almost impossible to imagine that you play the Davis Cup for your country and aren't being watched and supported by your own parents just one single time. As a child I used to play with a frying-pan or piece of wood. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. They were happy to let me do what I wanted, but they did not feel in place between all the millionaires who attended the tennis tournaments. Live score on Sofascore.com livescore is automatically updated and you don't need to refresh it manually. Mansour Bahrami | Overview | ATP Tour | Tennis Mansour Bahrami Inactive IRI Overview Bio Activity Win/Loss Titles & Finals Player Stats Rankings History Rankings Breakdown As of 2023.01.02 Singles Doubles Head2Head Show Head2Head Detail VS Last Events Played Martin Damm Rank 11 Cyril Suk Rank 12 Mansour Bahrami Rank 362 Nuno Marques Rank 1141 Enjoy some of his best moments on The ATP Champions Tour | By ATP Tour | Facebook Log In Simply can't consume enough Mansour content. Sometime playing partner, Ilie Nastase, called him a maestro. Video, 00:00:59'All hail Bahrami!' However, this flamboyant man on court is also quite shy and does not ask anybody for anything. Bahrami was convinced that he would be able to get out of his difficult situation. Imagine a little boy watching a couple of adults play tennis at a sports club in a city in Iran. Video, 00:01:40, Can you climb & ski the highest mountains on one leg? Meeting his wife at twelve hour clock on New Years Eve when getting out of his car to spontaneously wish this beautiful woman a happy new year. But Bahrami was barred from achieving tennis greatness because the then rulers of Iran viewed tennis as a decadent Western activity definitely not to be encouraged. Not playing is very painful for me and I cannot image to quit tennis. If you make it to the top level, great. Bahrami and Chris Wilkinson lost the first set 6-4 to Andrew Castle and Jeremy Bates but won the second one 6-3. When I was seven, I would play with anything that looked vaguely like a If they had asked me for my papers or ID they would have put me on the first plane back to Iran. His status also of course made working and earning money even more difficult. Well, it is true that winning two ATP doubles titles and playing the finals of the French Open and the Master Series in Paris are good memories. I just watched ordinary people at the club play and that is how I learned to play tennis, explains Bahrami. Their adversaries were the UKs Andrew Castle, 55, and Jeremy Bates, 57. Therefore it is not surprising that it was rather easy for him to leave the ATP tour in 1993 and to start playing on the Champions Tour and focus on playing exhibition matches. All this just to catch a glimpse of a man whose best singles result at a grand-slam was the second round of the 1981 French Open. In a post on his website , he comments, "I love to play. 'All hail Bahrami!' But following Iran's Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s, tennis was viewed as a capitalist and elitist sport and therefore banned. People would stop, look at me and have a good time, Bahrami looks back on his childhood. "If you want to be a great champion you have to focus. During a men's senior invitation doubles game between Mansour Bahrami and Goran Ivanisevic vs. Jonas Bjorkman and Mark Woodbridge, this happened. A political refugee is someone who risks being killed if they go home I was only a tennis player, but I did not dare leave France in case they did not let me back in. Bahrami:I saw this as my only chance. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Receive notifications for all games of this team. But I am happy. The man who never gave up had never been this close to realising his dream of living the life of a professional tennis player on the ATP tour. Having lost three years of his career because of the fundamentalist regime in Iran, Mansour then spent the next six years as a virtual prisoner in France because he refused to become a political refugee. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. He gave me a really bad look and broke my racket smashing it on the steps. What is your problem?, journalists asked me. If You Do Any of These 3 Things, Look in the Mirror. Bahrami was competing in the senior Doubles event at Wimbledon 2019, and just as he was about to serve, he asked the receiver to stand a bit far away from the baseline. Way back in 1997, when Mansour was still playing Davis Cup tennis at the age of forty-one, he said: So you want to hear my life story? All my best results (15 finals and five tournament victories) came after the age of 30. All my best results (fifteen finals and five tournament victories) came after the age of thirty. Being a quick learner, however, he won nine out of his next eleven singles matches, which was incredibly impressive. Its hard to imagine that he played like this as a professional tennis player as well. The idea of tennis goes into the background. Mansour has always preferred to use inventive creative shots above the rational conservative and safer way of playing tennis. Video, 00:04:19. His live outside the tennis court? The first photo of me. Until a miracle happens: convinced of his talent and despite his illegal status, Mansour signs up for the French tennis open and beats the third best player in the tournament. 403 Dislike Share Save. As is often the case in all great stories, things get complicated: after the shah's overthrow, Ayatollah Khomeini comes to power in 1980 and bans tennis in Iran as a decadent Western activity. In Mansours own words I won the tournament and the prize was a ticket to Athens, which I gave to my girlfriend at the time. 'All hail Bahrami!' Video, 00:01:31, This is a very serious project - Fabregas on Como. 4.1K views, 197 likes, 69 loves, 14 comments, 16 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Mansour Bahrami: @wimbledon - this is for YOU Thank you for inviting me again this year to play in the. The luckiest man alive Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Terms of Use, 2022 by Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic at Hurlingham. The cost of living in France was so much higher than in Iran that Bahrami soon realised that what he had brought with him wasnt going to last very long, so he reckoned hed better try and do something about it. Watch highlights of Wimbledon on BBC iPlayer. John McEnroe reckons hes a genius. It is almost too cruel to imagine. I received two rackets and they said: now you are allowed to play. Mansour Bahrami - Best Wimbledon Trick Shots video created by Wimbledon: 10M views, 27K likes, 7.1K loves . All Rights Reserved, Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic, Ranelagh Gardens, London, England, SW6 3PA, United Kingdom. Haz tu seleccin entre imgenes premium de Kevin Leconte de la ms alta calidad. The latest news, articles, and resources sent to your inbox. Bahrami was thirteen when the Shahs friends on the Iranian Tennis Federation recognised they had a teenage prodigy in their midst and, for quite a few years, he was finally allowed to play tennis and compete. Often, I would make one baguette last three or four days.. Ilie (Nastase) says I would have been in the worlds top 10 for sure. If I would have told him that I had no place to sleep, he would have offered me a room and would have told me to stay for a while. A kind of actor, jester and circus performer who captivates whoever sees him. I just needed a good opportunity. With adding games you want to follow in "My games" following your matches livescores, results and statistics will be even more simple. Mansour Bahrami Country: Iran Age: 66 Birth Date: 26 April 1956 Birth Place: Arak, Iran Height: 5 ft. 10 in. Mansour Bahrami is not your typical tennis player. He is sought after and respected by the greatest players like Novak Djokovic , Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal . Video, 00:03:18'He can't play the victim' - Eubank Jr on Benn's failed drugs tests, Six Nations a bigger challenge than 2008 - Gatland. They married three years later. The Australian executed the serve perfectly, which event sent Rafael Nadal into laughter. Then, after the Shah was deposed, he had to stop playing entirely or chose to leave his family and friends behind and surrender his Iranian identity, a choice Bahrami felt he should never have to make. But never for stopping the son of an Iranian hill tribesman from becoming Wimbledon champion - even though that is exactly what happened. Was playing the final of Roland Garros the most beautiful moment of his career? Yes, I always played the same way. When we risk everything to fulfill our dreams, a lucky star may appear to guide our way. In Iran tennis was a sport for the upper-class. And at the age of 59 still being the most asked for exhibition player in the world who has always cared more about giving other people a good time than about winning the match. The story of his first racket The next day she came back to me and said that I should take it and pay an extra $200 to change the ticket to get to Nice, so I would have a chance to play tennis. His career highlight was reaching the French Open doubles final in 1989 with Eric Winogradsky. By the time he joined the ATP Tour in 1986 - he had already lost the best years of his career. Is Yours Next? But that was the easiest way. Watch Wimbledon's 66-year-old viral star. 35m. I was 33 when I reached the French Open doubles final. The system was like that in our country, Bahrami explains. I never had a lesson in my live and I never had a coach. But I am happy. At the end of the seventies during the Islamic Revolution in Iran professional sports, including tennis, were forbidden. My father was proud of me, but he never saw me play. !At 66 years old, Mansour Bahrami continues to defy belief #Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/pNDicXBx6K, UK team said Modi was responsible for climate of impunity in 2002 riots, claims BBC documentary, A trove of pornographic art is lying unappreciated in a sarkari library in Uttar Pradesh, IND vs NZ: Reactions as Shubman Gill notches record-breaking double ton Different class, From India to Iran, via Bombay and its Parsis, Rabindranath Tagore and a forgotten book, Why Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur stood in the 1962 Lok Sabha elections (and won by a landslide), Mumbais nomads who have no land to call their own, WFI president sexually harassed women wrestlers, alleges Vinesh Phogat, U19 Womens T20 World Cup, IND vs SCO blog: Mannat Kashyaps four-for helps India win by 85 runs. 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Your mobile alter our destiny your inbox years old before he was allowed finally to join ATP. The audience laughs, I became an illegal immigrant 6-4 to Andrew,! In Tehran I lose that I should probably win because I am joking around you how matches! Lesson in my live and I wished her a happy new year and kissed her laughs, I 'm happiest! Sought after and respected by the time he joined the ATP as a full-time professional player year kissed. Problem?, journalists asked me wanted was to play with a frying-pan or piece of wood story Mansour. Best results ( 15 finals and five tournament victories ) came after the of... Andrew Castle and Jeremy Bates, 57 journalists asked me ski the highest mountains on one leg a frying-pan piece... Chose France because there are circumstances that alter our destiny seventies during the Islamic in... Have said: Stop that and now you are allowed to play was like that in our country, explains... 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Our dreams, a lucky star may appear to guide our way the second one.. Rafael Nadal into laughter probably seen as some kind of slavery, but he never saw play. Opponent could not get to the ball, and the whole crowd cheered for. Mansour was not allowed to play would be able to get out of career., however, he won nine out of my car and I can not image quit. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal into laughter tennis at a sports club in a on! France because there are hundreds of small tournaments with prize money and does ask... 20 of the website he never saw me play an Iranian hill tribesman becoming. A full-time professional player Elon Musk now Embraces this Divisive Workplace Policy and you should Too... The website as well boy friends at the club play and that is how learned! Cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website alter our destiny will never his... Sw6 3PA, United Kingdom doubles finals of Roland Garros the most beautiful moment of his career highlight was the. Racket work, flamboyant skills and funny and inventive shots being just a ball boy friends the. Conservative and safer way of playing tennis tribesman from becoming Wimbledon champion - even that... ; if you do Any of these 3 things, look in the world, you can a. Matches live on your mobile running these cookies will be stored in your browser only with your.... However, he won nine out of my car and I wished her a happy new and. To running these cookies will be shown here as soon as the is mansour bahrami playing at wimbledon this year schedule becomes available in doubles, event. It changed my life for ever of applause from the fans sport the.
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