Sheffield PORTRAITS
In the first Sheffield Portrait Framboise talks to Yorkshire's Simon Parke
...
I’M WINNING THAT ONE,
says PARKE ...
When, this morning, I asked the 32 year old (since yesterday) English
player, “So I hear you are going to win this one?”, his answer was a “YES, I
am”, and that put a smile on my face.
And believe me, putting a smile on my face before I have had a gallon of tea
in the morning is not an easy task…
I know what you are thinking, and shame on you…
I was of course referring to Simon’s encounter today at 5.30 with his old
pal, Mark Chaloner, at this moment world number 13.
“Mark is actually a very good friend of mine, and for years, he didn’t beat
me. He succeeded 3 years ago, in Toronto, and I don’t think we’ve played
since, so, that should be a good test.”
“I have been training very hard in the past 3 months, much harder than I
have for the past three years actually. I was offered a coaching position in
Chicago, a very tempting offer. So I had to make a choice, or to stop my
career as a player, and go to coaching, or give it a last go!”
I asked the fair haired Parke what were his expectations career wise, and
once again, the answer was straight to the point:
“I admire Agassi a lot, and I think that, as long as you are fit, you can
keep on going! So, that is why I am training so hard, to get as fit as
possible. Although I’m based in Nottingham, I train with David Pearson and
David Campion, and I play sometimes with John White and John Rooney.”
Does he have the intention of winning the tournament?
“I know it’s a cliché, but I will take match after match, and hope for the
best!”
To finish, I asked him his prognosis for the event:
“The great thing about the circuit at the moment is that you have 4 or 5
players who can win every tournament, and some outsiders that can upset it
all, it makes it much more exciting than in the Jahangir era.”
Well, good luck to you, Simon, and maybe see you again at breakfast
tomorrow…
In the restaurant of the Hilton, you people!
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Simon
Parke
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Mark is actually a very good friend of mine,
and for years, he didn’t beat me. |
Showdown
at Breakfast
TODAY IN SHEFFIELD
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I admire Agassi a lot,
and I think that, as long
as you are fit, you can keep on going!
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