James Bracey shares his daughter’s diabetes battle with Alexander Zverev

Bracey has interviewed some of the world’s most famous athletes. He knows more than most how powerful their voices can be.

That’s why he was so grateful that someone of Zverev’s stature was speaking publicly about the illness and thanked the 25-year-old for his willingness to share details of his journey.

“It can be quite isolating,” Bracey said of his experience. “It helps to educate people about it. You live quietly through this everyday life that only a few people know about. I feel like I was so naive back then.

“For someone like Zverev, going out there is tremendous on two fronts: first, it helps people who are struggling to realize that there are other people out there who know their pain; but secondly, it also offers aspirations for young children that they can do anything. You can win Olympic medals and travel the world even though you have Type 1.”

Zverev recently launched the Alexander Zverev Foundation, which supports children with diabetes and provides essential medicines to people in developing countries.

“My parents were very scared,” Zverev said to Bracey. “They were very worried. Mom cried a lot.”

“Many parents are intimidated by many doctors who say, ‘Your child is very disabled,’ which is not the case. I always said to the doctors, ‘Yes, I want to play tennis. That’s the only thing that really matters to me.

“Some of them said, ‘No, you have to stop … there’s no way you can be a professional athlete with this kind of disease. There is no way to do such a hard physical sport.

“That really stuck in my mind, upset me quite a bit … to be honest. I don’t think you should put any limits on kids because I don’t think it’s fair to them.”

Rating of the Murray Marathon

The ratings for the last two hours of the epic Andy Murray-Thanasi Kokkinakis fight are in. From 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., viewership averaged 78,000 nationwide, with a peak of 136,000 during that time.

Storm star addicted to tennis

Melbourne Storm hooker Harry Grant was spotted playing tennis on Saturday. It came a day after South Sydney captain Cameron Murray hung out in Melbourne after his team-mates went home to watch more tennis with his partner.

Keeping up with the Joneses

Australia’s Emerson Jones became the youngest player in the Australian Open girls’ draw at 14 years and 205 days.

Her brother Hayden is in the boys tournament. The family has a rich history in Australian sport. Her mother, Loretta Harrop, represented Australia at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics in triathlon.

Harrop finished fifth in Sydney in 2000 and four years later won a silver medal in Athens.

Korda honors his influences

There was a fantastic moment from American Sebastian Korda on his way to the Rod Laver Arena for his match with Daniil Medvedev on Friday night.

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The 22-year-old tapped the roll of honor from his father Petr Korda and mentor Andre Agassi on his way to the Champions’ Walk before scoring an incredible win over the Russian.

The shock loss means Medvedev will drop out of the top 10 for the first time since July 2019.

Evans slips on banana

Dan Evans may regret being so generous. The Briton noted that his opponent Andrey Rublev ran out of bananas during their game on Saturday.

Evans flipped one of his and eventually helped his opponent win.

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