He was 6 foot 3 with dirty blonde hair. He had a powerful lefty serve, and a calm exterior that always kept him under control. He didn’t show a ton of emotion, but there was a fire burning deep inside of him.
His name was Daniel Nestor.
He was my first love.
I was 11 years old when I saw Daniel play for the first time. My father took me to watch Daniel play Thomas Muster at the 1996 du Maurier Open in Toronto.
Muster had been the #1 ranked player in the world earlier that year, and it was unlikely that Daniel had much of a chance. Still, being the loyal partner that I am, I was there to support Daniel.
Behind a raucous home crowd, Daniel took the opening set 6-3. When Daniel shocked the world to win the 2nd set 7-5, I knew that I had found a love that wouldn’t soon dissipate.
After that point, I followed Daniel religiously. I would wake up in the morning, and scour the back pages of the sports section to see how Daniel had done.
The high point of our relationship came during the summer Olympics on the night of Tuesday, September 26th, 2000. I stayed awake through the night to watch Daniel win Olympic Gold for Canada.
I was not a very attentive Grade 10 student that Wednesday.
But hey, sometimes when you’re a teenager, your boyfriend keeps you up all night.
As time went on, my relationship with Daniel soured. Daniel always worked hard for me. But as much as I tried to deny it, there was always something lacking in our relationship. Daniel was a spectacular doubles player. One of the best of all time.
But I craved fame. I craved glory. I craved a Singles player to call my own.
After all, a man has needs.
After being in a long-term relationship, I decided that it was time to sow my wild oats. For a while, I jumped from one fling to another.
There was Frank.
There was Peter.
There was even a French Canadian named Fred.
I don’t know what I was thinking with Fred.
As much fun as I was having, I knew that I could only keep this up for so long. The emotional turmoil of jumping from one man to another was taking its toll on me.
That’s when Milos came along.
Milos was a towering 6 foot 5. He had a serve that would leave the most deft of returners shaking in their boots.
When Milos upset Mikhail Youzhny to reach the 4th Round of the 2011 Australian Open, I knew that my bachelor days had come to an end.
My intense romance with Milos had begun.
On the eve of my 27th birthday, I spent the night watching Milos battle Roger Federer for the first time in his career.
My girlfriend wasn’t happy that I’d spent my birthday streaming a tennis match on my laptop.
Was I really getting in trouble for doing what I wanted to do on my birthday? It’s my birthday!
Is it too much for a guy to watch his boyfriend play Roger Federer on his birthday?
Milos may have lost to Federer in 3 exciting sets, but our relationship was at an all time high. I congratulated my man on his great effort, and gave him a friendly reminder to wish his boyfriend happy birthday on Facebook.
Like any supportive boyfriend, Milos came through for me. “Happy birthday man” was emblazoned on my wall all day.
A token of our love for each other.
He has since deleted Facebook, and his happy birthday post has thus disappeared from my wall.
Perhaps he deleted Facebook because looking at my profile was just too much for him to bear after we broke up. Perhaps being constantly harassed by dorky fans with no lives was taking its toll on him.
But trust me, he wished me happy birthday.
Over time, our relationship became a little bit shaky. Milos went behind my back to hang out with my friend Josh.
It also seemed like our Facebook messages were becoming more and more one-sided.
Eventually, I had to face reality. Our eternal love was not to be.
Luckily, Vasek came along.
I fell for Vasek pretty hard.
I loved Vasek so much that I would research upcoming tournaments to see what the weather was going to be at those events. My man just could NOT deal with humidity.
My girlfriend wasn’t very happy when I snuck out of our hotel early in the morning while on vacation to watch Vasek play Novak Djokovic in Beijing.
I loved Vasek so much that I allowed him to play Doubles at Davis Cup with my ex-boyfriend Daniel.
Boy, was that a mistake.
Daniel told me that he just wanted to play doubles with Vasek, but I know he was trying to sabotage our relationship.
Daniel would shamelessly flirt with Vasek while pretending that I didn’t even exist!
Lately, there have been a couple young Canadians battling for my affection.
Denis and Felix.
They are also best friends. I hope that isn’t too awkward for either of them.
Felix is only 17, so I should probably wait before I make anything official.
But I can’t wait too long since Josh is already trying to squeeze his way in.
Stop stealing my men Josh.
I don’t know what the future has in stock for my love life. I don’t know if it’ll be Felix or Denis winning my affection, or if Vasek or Milos will fight their way back into my heart.
Either way, I know I’m in for one hell of a ride.
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