Vera Sukova by Helena Sukova

My mom was, together with my dad, the most influential people in my and my brother Cyril’s tennis careers.

Dad was a Junior National Under-18 singles Champion and mom was an 11-time National and International Czechoslovak singles Champion, a singles Wimbledon finalist in 1962. Topping her list of achievements was a Top 5 position in the World rankings. Years later, I was lucky enough that BBC gave me a VHS tape that showed footage of my mother’s Wimbledon run.

After her playing career she became well-known tennis coach, becoming National leading coach for women ‘s tennis in Czechoslovakia. She was very well recognized globally, and under her wings grew players like Martina Navratilova, Hana Mandlikova, Miroslava Bendlova, Hana Strachonova, and many others. My brother and I, we got the best of her knowledge we could from our earliest stages of development, and thanks to that we continued to build up on further on.

My memories are very much helped by old photos from when we use to practice on the tennis courts at the Sparta Prague club. We used to play a lot of family doubles and singles on court No.4 in the late afternoons, after our parents had time after their work.

Lucky enough, my brother and I never felt any pressure from our parents to play tennis. We spent most of the weekday afternoons playing tennis or other games with the local coaches and other kids at the Sparta club – just having fun.

Our mom Vera was in charge of our technique, so even when other coaches practiced with us they followed her…