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Yulia’s angels
Fri, Apr 03 2009 10:00 CET byGabriel Hershman 308 Views 3 of 3
Magdalena Maleeva
Photo: Tsvetelina Nikolaeva
THE MALEEVA TEAM: From the left, Manuela Maleeva, Yulia Berberyan, Katerina Maleeva and Magdalena Maleeva
Photo: Tsvetelina Nikolaeva
Photo: Tsvetelina Nikolaeva
Think of three sisters all of whom have won major tennis competitions and made the top 10 World Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. They all grew up in a poor area, overcoming the apathy surrounding the game. And each of them defeated one of the all-time greats, nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova.
You’re probably thinking of the Williams sisters and their father Richard and racking your brains to picture a famous third sibling alongside Serena and Venus. You’d be wrong! There was no famous third Williams sister. Think closer to home – Sofia in fact - and the concrete blocks of Mladost 1 where a Bulgarian ladies champion produced three little girls who went on to pick up a tennis racquet quicker than a spoon.
Magdalena Maleeva was the youngest of three children of Yulia Berberyan and Georgi Maleev. Yulia, who hailed from a prominent Armenian family, was Bulgaria’s finest player in the 1960s. After she retired from the professional circuit, she became a coach and went on to train all of her three daughters, Magdalena, Katerina (highest ranking number six in the WTA rankings) and Manuela (number three).
‘Twas perhaps written in the stars that the three sisters would do well, that they would amount to something, but nobody imagined that they would amount to EVERYTHING. But they did, earning a total of $10 million in prize money between them and slaying several big beasts in the process. Welcome to what Navratilova jokingly described as the "curse of the Maleevas".
Now the family own a tennis club that bears their name in Sofia. Magdalena - or Magi as she calls herself - is the youngest of the Maleeva sisters at 34. (Manuela is 42 and Katerina is 39). She arrives at the club to greet me, nursing her three-month-old son Marco; she already has an 18-month-old daughter, Yulia. A softly spoken, faintly wistful-eyed lady of average height, it’s difficult to picture the powerhouse she was on the court, let alone someone who became champion at the tender age of 13 and reached number four in the world in 1996.
She lives quietly in Bistritsa with her husband, her partner of 14 years. Only a few weeks ago I saw her getting on a tram at Orlov Most. She may be a national treasure but she bears her status modestly.
The Maleeva tennis club, with its four indoor courts, two outdoor courts and a squash court, is an oasis of modernity amid the carnage of Sofia in March. Located in Lozenets, by Vaptsarov Boulevard near the Tokuda Hospital and the Greenville Hotel, the centre has nine full-time coaches - including Magi’s 65-year-old mother - who daily takes the youngsters through their paces because, in her words, "it’s all I’ve ever known".
Magi grew up in a prefab. I expected the inevitable dour recollections of growing up in muddy Mladost but was surprised. "I had a very happy childhood, enjoyed school and made many friends.
The depressing things didn’t affect me at all. My parents loved me and that’s all a child needs." She says it was much tougher for her mother, growing up in the communist era, because of travel restrictions. By the time Magi became a champion the new dawn had broken, enabling her to go, in her own words, "everywhere" thanks to her lucrative career.
Epic confrontations
I tell Magi about some of my own earliest memories of tennis: marathon contests between Bjorn - the machine - Borg, John - the artist - McEnroe and Jimmy - the animal - Connors. I even remember the original Mr Nasty, Ilie Nastase, railing against the umpire before ‘Superbrat’ made it an art form. One of my abiding recollections of Wimbledon is that of hapless tournament referee Alan Mills, looking every inch the archetypal English gent in his tweed jacket and tie, trudging forlornly to the Centre Court to be berated by ranting maniac McEnroe.
Tennis seems to raise testosterone levels higher than other sports. In his autobiography McEnroe explained his own short fuse thus. "I’m all alone on the court, up against the rest of the world. In the crowd people would be enjoying their orange squash and sandwiches and I’d just get incredibly angry." Such temper tantrums were not for Magi, however. "He (McEnroe) was a very angry man. I’ve read his book. Some players thrive on anger; if it helps them, fine, but it never helped me," she says.
Sadly, the aforementioned titanic battles passed Magi by. "Tennis was not an Olympic sport and produced no medals in Bulgaria. The authorities were completely uninterested. They just didn’t care for it all. We never saw any of those tournaments because they were never televised," she says.
Robbed of early tennis role models, it was only natural that her two older sisters (Manuela lives near Geneva and Katerina in Sofia) became her idols instead. Magi and her sisters simply saw it as their "destiny" to become professional tennis players. "It was just something I had to do," says Magi. "I wouldn’t say I was intimidated by it at all."
An early baptism of fire came against Navratilova in the first round of Wimbledon in 1991. She lost on that occasion but later wreaked revenge, defeating the legendary player at the US Open in 1992. It was her later career, however, that she’s most proud of. "I sustained a serious injury in 1998 and didn’t play for two years," says Magi. "But I clawed my way back to become number 11 in the world. I won a tournament in Moscow, defeating (former Wimbledon champion) Lindsay Davenport."
Magi was also Monica Seles’ opponent in the ill-fated 1993 match in Germany when a deranged fan stabbed Seles in the neck between games. "It was really so sad for her because her career never really recovered after that," says Magi.
Environmentalism, injury and other inconvenient truths
It was around the time of her injury that Magi’s interest in environmental activism begun. "I started reading quite a lot and became fascinated in environmental issues. Two or three years ago in Bulgaria nobody mentioned climate change or sustainable development but awareness is slowly growing." Her website, gorichka.bg, which is currently undergoing a major relaunch, reflects her passion for the cause. She has also created a brand for organic foods distributed in Bulgaria.
She laughs when I ask her if she succeeded in interesting the government in her crusade. "A couple of years ago we showed Al Gore’s movie about climate change (An Inconvenient truth) and invited senior politicians to a special screening. No one came. They’re just completely uninterested. Perhaps the EU will make people do the right thing and reduce emissions. I suppose things can only improve."
Mention the government and Magi becomes angry. "I’m very unhappy about our leaders; there’s so much corruption and it doesn’t seem as if anybody can do anything about it. We’re doing very badly compared to other European Union countries. Bulgaria is also very racist and homophobic and not at all cosmopolitan."
Magi now has more time to devote herself to heartfelt causes following her retirement in 2005. "I was getting tired. By then I’d been a professional player for 16 years. A player usually peaks at between 20 and 25 and so I was past my prime, even though I was still playing well." She believes that tennis is currently becoming ever more competitive.
"More players are competing at higher levels than ever before. I can’t imagine any one player dominating these days as they used to. Most professional players have started by the age of six," she says.
Tennis may still be seen as an elitist sport - particularly in Bulgaria where racquets and the hire of a court (30 leva per hour at the Maleeva club) tend to be beyond the reach of many families - but Magi assures me that if a youngster has talent he or she will be trained for free. As for bright new homegrown talents, she names Gregor Dimitrov as one to watch, the 17-year-old who won Wimbledon’s youth tournament last year. "We’re hoping he’ll break through into the top 100," says Magi. Pressed to name the greatest male player of all time, she opts for Roger Federer. "He’s more rounded than Pete Sampras and has a greater variety in his game." She believes that Steffi Graf was the greatest female player.
Magi became friends with the likes of Conchita Martinez and Martina Hingis on the circuit and still keeps in touch with them occasionally, although being a mother now consumes most of her time.
When I leave the club Magi’s mother Yulia is at the door surrounded by several of her (seven) racquet-wielding grandchildren. No one should be surprised if there’s another budding tennis champion among them. Never has the old maxim "get ‘em young" been more apt. I’m now thinking of buying my three-year-old a tennis racquet.