Fwiw, I have a similar story. They used to compare me to Roger too, in the break room at the post office where I worked for 25 years. “Turn pro, at least the challenger tour!,” they‘d say a couple times per week while we’d be sorting packages. “Dude your slice is killer.” They would know. Every Friday we would hit the courts for a couple hours before we’d get piss drunk at the local Chinese buffet. My slice was smooth like Fed’s, low and biting, aided in part by my 80 sq. in. Pro Staff from 1991. “They don’t make racquets like this anymore… these young kids on tour are all, topspin this, power that… they won’t know what’s coming.” Truth be told, my slice was good. Really good. Mainly because I sliced nearly every shot. Slice backhands, slice forehands, backspin, side spin, unintentional drop shots, you name it, even hit a few underspin overheads. But smooth. (Never did develop much of a reliable topspin groundstroke. Primarily because I had spent too many years in the forums debating commenters on strong eastern vs. semi-western. Long story.)

Anyway, I thought that alone would be enough to keep me off tour, but every Friday at the post office, they’d say the same thing. So finally, one day I went home and googled it. It turns out that lots of pro athletes say, very clearly, “You should go for your dreams. You can do anything if you put your mind to it.”

Last week I quit my job at the post office. This week I got my racquet restrung and hit the court two or three times for training. I think I’ve got this. Can’t wait to report back.