Kevin Anderson enjoys fatherhood at home in Florida, hoping one day..

The two-time Major finalist Kevin Anderson played 68 matches on the Tour in 2018, qualifying for the first ATP Finals and reaching the final at Wimbledon. Following a career-high season, the South African couldn't follow the same pace in 2019, struggling with a knee injury and playing only 21 encounters in the last 15 months, undergoing surgery last September and another one a month ago. Losing the points from Pune where he won the title last year, Kevin dropped out from the top-100 for the first time since April 2010, playing only seven ATP tournaments since the beginning of 2019 and the ATP Cup where he fought well against Novak Djokovic. With the tennis season put on hold due to a coronavirus, Kevin is spending time at home in Florida with his wife and little daughter Keira, enjoying every moment of fatherhood while waiting to return to the court, still feeling he has enough fuel left to fight against the best players in the world again. 

"Obviously, it's been a little bit different… last year I was injured and didn't play the rest of the year; I only played a few events this season, first with that surgery and then the virus," Anderson told ATPTour.com. "I haven't experienced full life as a dad and competing like I usually have. On the plus side, it has been nice spending time at home in Florida and just having more family life, being able to spend more time with her and my wife. I think what I'm most fascinated by is just watching her, even though it's so small, just watching her learn things. There's still so much to come, but even just listening to the baby talk and her grasping for things, being able to move around a little bit, it has been great. Obviously, the time with her has been great and gives me a different perspective on life and responsibilities and everything that comes with that. At the same time, there's still a lot I want to achieve on the tennis court, which I've pursued my whole life; that ambition is still there. My wife's been amazing through this whole process, being understanding just at home and with me still training and recovering from two surgeries while she was first pregnant, and then giving birth and then having her here, allowing me to do some of the things that I need to do.

For the most part, I think we've been fortunate, Keira's been a very easygoing baby and well-natured for the most part. She's had a couple things that have made things a little tougher, but all in all, we've really enjoyed this. Keira is just a name that we have always liked. Funnily enough, when we told my mother about it, from a young age, she always knew that if she had a boy, she would name the boy Kevin and the girl Keira, which we thought was interesting. It'd be great if I'm still playing in four, five years when Keira will be old enough to remember that time on the court. Some of that is out of my control. It would be nice, but that's something that's many years down the road, so it's not something I'm thinking about too much at this point. I'd say I'm probably more focussed on enjoying her each step as it comes. She's got a toy tennis racquet, but not a real racquet just yet."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2UInig3