Mother of tennis ace Kevin Anderson says her son’s positive mindset is what has kept him in the game, despite two knee surgeries last year.
Sandton born and bred Kevin beat Chilean Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera in the Wimbledon first round but lost in straight sets to world number one Novak Djokovic in an unfortunate second round draw – a flashback to the peak of Kevin’s career when they met at the 2018 Wimbledon final.
Kevin’s mom Barbara Anderson, who lives in Broadacres, said she is proud of how well Kevin has played following his surgery – even being nominated for comeback player of the year in 2020.
“With his persistent knee problems, he couldn’t play for a good few months, which resulted in a dropping ranking,” said Barbara.
“After surgery, he started playing challenges to get some match practice. Wimbledon started soon thereafter, with his first match being a real confidence-booster.”
She explained that it was a difficult road to recovery after surgery, but Kevin was soon back practising every day, doing extensive rehab work at the gym and spending lots of time on the court with practice partners.
“The first-round win helped to put his mind in a good place and he felt confident going into the match against Djokovic,” she said.
Barbara believes that Kevin’s greatest strength is his positive attitude.
“He never gets down on himself. If he plays a bad shot, he never reflects on it. He just moves on. He never lets his emotions get in the way. Even when he drew to play Djokovic, he walked on and played the best he could and really enjoyed the experience.
“He put up a good show and more than that he couldn’t wish for.”
Barbara said that her husband Michael devoted much of his time to coach Kevin and his younger brother Greg on their home tennis court from an early age. “They devoted all of their spare time to tennis, which was quite a sacrifice, since it was to the exclusion of many other events.
“It really worked out well as now he is reaping the benefits.”
She concluded, “Kevin has made us very proud doing what he wanted to do from a very early age. It is good when a dream like that comes to fruition. It makes us [his parents] happy to see him enjoying what he does.”
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