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Sheddie


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Mackin now enjoying life as a pro
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Alan Mackin is finally enjoying life on the baseline after years on the breadline.

The 25-year-old Scot struggled for years to make ends meet in his bid to make the grade in world tennis.

Just a few months ago, Paisley's Mackin was on the brink of chucking his racket in the bin.

But he has been rescued from despair with funding instigated by the Lawn Tennis Association's new chief executive Roger Draper.

In the first six months of last year, he won only a handful of matches and by August had slumped to 385 in the world.

After 10 years on the road, his average earnings just about topped £8000 a year and he felt no one cared whether he won, lost or quit. That changed with Draper's appointment.

Mackin said: "I'd had enough of feeling I didn't belong and wasn't wanted.

"Thankfully Draper has agreed to fund my coach Mike Raphael and me to work at Saddlebrook in Florida rather than insisting we must stay at Queen's Club.

"Tennis isn't all glamour. I once had to hitchhike to a tournament in Italy and then there were long train rides in India where hotel rooms may not be very nice.

"It costs around £60,000 a year and tennis is one of the toughest sports in which to get to the top.

"Tennis isn't big in Britain because it still has that upper class image. My dad Alan was a footballer for Motherwell and Falkirk and my mum works from a benefits agency.

"We don't struggle for money but we're certainly not upper class.

"I have always had the hunger to do well and to aim for grand slams.

Mackin has been receiving tips from compatriot Andy Murray and his coach Brad Gilbert. And Murray is impressed with Mackin's achievements.

He said: "With the right guidance and right people, Alan could be in the top 100. He just has to relax a bit on court."

From:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/tennis/tm_headline=this-game-was-mackinmesick-&method=full&objectid=18470817&siteid=66633-name_page.html

 

 



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Count Zero


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come on david, this is old news, get with it

i dont know, some people just cant keep up.

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Count Zero - Creator of the Statistical Tennis Extrapolation & Verification ENtity or, as we like to call him, that steven.


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Sheddie


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Lol, it's about a month old but I only found it this afternoon   I thought I'd post it as there's some good Mackin quotes there and I didn't know that he'd been on the verge of retiring. It's good that Draper started funding him, it's definately been paying dividends as his results have shown.

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