The importance of preservation

Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchardrsquos revelation of preserving her photograph as an eightyearold posing with Maria Sharapova then 15 who she faces in the French Open semifinals in Paris today adds to the many fascinating offfield stories in sportBouchard admitted that she looked up to the Russian and was inspired by her Her semifinal entry is no mean feat and shersquoll have to ward off every bit of emotion and nostalgia attached to this vital clash The photograph story caused me to recall some stories of preservation and inspirationCanadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard with Maria Sharapova in 2002 and 2013 Bouchard will face Sharapova in the French Open semifinals in Paris today PicFacebookThe ones that came to mind concerned former Mumbai cricket captain Milind Rege who in his younger days used to carry an action photograph of departed India batsman Dilip Sardesai in his walletRege said he started keeping the photograph in his wallet ever since he saw Sardesai batting for the Associated Cement Companies in 1963 And it stayed there for a while even after Rege made his firstclass debut for Mumbai in the 196869 seasonRege showed that photograph to Sardesai while he shared a room with him at Solapur during the Ranji Trophy game against Maharashtra in November 1968 The typical Sardesai response went like this ldquoOkay enough of the fuss Now play alongside merdquoFive years later far away in Barbados a young cricket enthusiast watched the West Indies draw the second Test of the 197273 series against the touring Australians at the Kensington Oval As the Australians boarded their bus after the game the bowler thrust a dollar note at Greg Chappell and asked the star batsman to sign itldquoDo you play cricketrdquo asked Chappell and the boy said ldquoYeah man Irsquoll play with you some dayrdquo He turned out to be Joel Garner and in four yearsrsquo time he was bowling to Chappell in Kerry Packerrsquos World Series Cricket The story doesnrsquot end thereI met Garner at the Cricket Club of India when he came as manager of the West Indies lsquoArsquo side in 1998 and asked him about the above incident which was related in Adrian McGregorrsquos biography of Chappell Garner shocked me by revealing that he still had the dollar note and carried it with him everywhereThe next afternoon Garner posed for this newspaper holding the dollar note that also had signatures of Chappellrsquos teammates Dennis Lillee and Keith Stackpole ldquoThis note means a lot to me I take it wherever I go as a remembrance of my early years in the game I will present it to my 16yearold daughter Jewel when she grows up and is aware of how valuable this isrdquo Garner said thenMore recently Sachin Tendulkar revealed that he treasured the coins he earned from his coach Ramakant Achrekar who used to place a onerupee coin on the stumps A bowler who dismissed a tired Tendulkar in the final session of nets at Shivaji Park could keep the coin His talent and determination ensured he earned far more than just a coupleWhile Tendulkarrsquos prized possessions were coins Ian Chappellrsquos constant in his wallet was a note which he wrote to himself as a 16yearold cricketer in 1959 when he and his South Australia schoolboys teammates were taken around the Adelaide Oval by then South Australia coach Geff NobletThe boys were also taken to the South Australia dressing room where Noblet asked the boys to write down their cricketing ambitions on a piece of paper and place it in their wallets ldquoas a constant reminder of what you wish to achieve in this gamerdquo Chappellrsquos words in his biography Hitting Out written by teammate Ashley MallettThe note stayed there at least till February 4 1971 when Chappell became captain of Australia That afternoon state player turned journalist Allan Shiell phoned Chappell to break the news of his captaincy After the news settled in Chappell pulled out his wallet and stared at the words in the crumpled piece of paper ldquoMy ambition is to captain AustraliardquoNot that he ever craved to displace Bill Lawry as captain but Chappell scribbled those lines because he believed in aiming for the highest honour in Australian cricket and that was to captain his countryHe said he tossed the paper away when he became captain because ldquoit had done its jobrdquo just like he did to the captaincy despite winning the 1975 Ashes in England Of course therersquos no way tennis star Bouchard will chuck away that 2002 photograph with SharapovaClayton Murzello is middayrsquos Group Sports Editor