In the newly released book “The Decisions of the Heart are always right” by the Sextante publisher, former tennis player Fernando Meligeni, 53, pays tribute to his father, Osvaldo Meligeni. Respected photographer, ‘Osvaldão’ died in 2015, at age 73, after complications resulting from surgery among the treatment of liver cancer.
In the work, Meligeni speaks of the importance his father had in his formation as a man and an athlete, recalling striking passages and learning as he had a kite in Ibirapuera Park, descended aboard a roller cart in the Jaraguá peak, and especially sailing by the sea in Angra dos Reis.
Some of Carlos Gardel’s tangos that the Argentine father enjoyed so much call the 19 chapters, interspersed with family photos. These are songs that Meligeni left playing on the playlist at home during the production of the work-described in partnership with journalist and friend André Kfouri-, making him often thrilled.
“It was a cry of joy, not pain. The memories I have of it are the best possible,” he told Sheet.
Having reached the number 25 of the world at its height in 1999, when he was semifinalist of the Grand Slam of Roland Garros, and Golden Medal in the Pan American of Santo Domingo in his farewell to tennis in 2003, Meligeni also deals with the book that did not please him so much in the relationship.
He says that to try to prevent his son from falling into a kind of comfort zone, his father, although proud of the achievements, did not usually show great enthusiasm, even after important victories inside the courts. Sometimes he called him on these occasions, albeit affectionately, “pangaré”, which caused a certain discomfort to the tennis player.
Throughout his career, Meligeni had emblematic victories against names such as Pete Sampras, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Patrick Rafter, Carlos Moya and Marcelo Ríos.
In a sincere conversation after already hung the rackets, Meligeni says that his father recognized that he had passed a little of the point.
“I am very careful to be hard, demanding, but at the same time praise,” said Gael’s father, 15, and Alice, 11, the fruits of union with actress Carol Hubner.
“My father was amazing, but he was not perfect. There is no perfect one. There is no perfect education.”
He added that he has wondered countless times, unable to reach a conclusion about the impact of this way of acting his father and whether she has helped him or hindered on the courts.
“If you were sure you helped me, you could shook me to be the same with my children. Even though you don’t like it,” said Meligeni.
The former Brazilian-born and naturalized Brazilian tennis player also stated that, therefore, he accompanies outside the conviviality of young João Fonseca with his parents, identifies similarities to what he himself lived with his own during his professional career.
Meligeni praised the importance of being able to count on the support and presence of the family in a competitive environment such as the Tournaments of ATP (Association of Professional Tenns) around the world, but also said that the relationship needs some care to stay healthy.
“They show care, affection, proximity, but with freedom. This, for me, is fundamental,” he said.
Meligeni also said that he considers Fonseca a less phenomenon for the power of blows, and more for maturity by recovering in difficult times in matches having only 18 years.
Faced with the excitement of fans and the press about a new national idol that begins to emerge, Meligeni also stated that it is necessary to give time to time and let the boy develop without so much pressure.
“He has been demonstrating a frightening level. That can be top 10, top 5, obviously he can. But does he want, will he have opportunity? Will his body endure, his head? What can he speak today is that he is very good. For age, it is phenomenal.”
