John Figaro
Director of 1stserve tennis leagues 

USPTA (1986) & USPTR (1995) certified teaching pro

1980-1996

Competed in USTA men's Open division in N.Y. (ETA) and Florida section and a couple satellite events. Won 7 tournaments

1997 (Best ranking)

Number 10 - Men's Open Florida division 1997

1998

Number 22 - Men's Open Florida Division, knee injury, low ankle sprain, played the minimum tournaments with a lot of pain.

1999

Injured, plantar fasciitis, bursitis, heel spur, it has to get better, I'm tired of being injured all the time, did not compete! Best finish in 1stserve league, Spring 99, Men's Open runner-up

2000

This will be my year! We shall see...

November 7: Hold the presses, while playing a league match, I ruptured my Achilles heel

November 12: The heel was operated on and re-attached, I'm looking at the prospect at not playing at all next year, but I intend to stay in shape, rehab and be in better shape than before. Wish me luck.

November 22: The stitches were taken out, another 3 weeks in the hard cast

December 13: My cast is off, I now have a boot, which allows me to take it off and try to wiggle my toes and eventually work my way towards getting my foot at the right angle. The current range of motion is zilch, stiffer than a 2 x 4. One month from now if all goes well, the doctor will allow me to put a little weight on the foot, if I do so now, back to the surgery room I go, that's my biggest fear.

January 10: I'm allowed to put some weight on my foot, nothing drastic, along with stationery bike riding at low resistance.

January 20: It happened, I'm now walking or hobbling around without crutches, with my foot still in orthopedic boot.

February 10: I'm trying to wear regular shoes, but still very tender and painful

February 20: I'm walking around with regular sneaker in the house

March 1st: I'm walking with regular sneaker, the ortho boot is gone

March 20: I jogged for the first time since the injury, 1/2 mile on the track, and felt good afterwards, no pain.

April 1st: I jogged a full mile on the track felt good afterwards, but still dragging the foot without getting on the toes.

April 10: Picked up the pace but only able to make it 3 times around the track, pain on the side from dragging that leg

April 15: a full mile, with 3 laps at an elevated speed and one lap snail pace, side pain again

April 22: ran a full mile at elevated pace, no pain on the side, not dragging the foot as much

April 30: One time around the track using proper gait, fully on the toes, no foot dragging

May 3: A full mile using proper gait, fully on the toes, no foot dragging, also less pain and discomfort when walking around

May 16: My doctor has released me, no more visits are necessary unless something bad happens, he's given me exercise to do at home and to continue whatever I've been doing and let time finish the healing process, most important "don't over do it" Great news!

May 23: I did something that I have not done in over a year, even prior to the rupture, I was in so much pain, and my mobility was so limited, that I did not dare attempt sprinting, which is what I did today, I wanted to do ten 100 yard sprints - sprint one, walk back and sprint again 10 times, I did it, but unfortunately, my legs gave out after 8. It hurt afterwards, the road back to full recovery or something close is full of pain.

June 1: I ran a 9 minute and 49 seconds mile, felt good, but still with obvious pain and noticeable limp, it takes a couple of days to recover from running.

June 5: I'm now soaking and massaging my feet, on top of my normal stretching and exercise routine even if I don't run, or jog. It make a huge difference when I wake up in the morning, there's considerably less pain.

June 10: I'm up to 25 minutes fast and moderate pace on the stair master, 10 minute moderate, followed by 10 minutes fast pace and 5 minutes slow pace to cool down, (non-stop). I want to increase to 30 minutes in July. My goal is to be a in great cardiovascular shape. The stair master and total gym training daily is getting me there. I don't want to be worried about stamina when I seriously get back on the court. I'm looking forward to returning, it looks like my surgery was successful and I will be playing without pain - something I have not experience in 3 years.

June 12: I ran an 8:53 mile, my goal is to be able to run a sub 8 by the time I get back on the courts and practicing hard.

June 25: I hit from the baseline today and decided to take some steps to reach the ball, my lateral range\movement is about 2 steps, with no up and down mobility but felt damn good, my hand to eye coordination is still there, no frame shots, what a sport, I have to give thanks to the English for inventing tennis or is it discovering tennis. They're responsible for soccer, golf and cricket also. Thanks Brits.

June 26: I'm really getting into this stretching thing, especially now that I'm seeing a little improvement, I'm reaching spots where I never did before, and it feels darn good. I'm able to raise on my toes (barely) and stay there for about 5 seconds ( of pain). This is the first time that I've been able to do that since the rupture - a major improvement. 

(Since my injury in November, I have heard news of two people rupturing their Achilles, Dan Hicken a local sports announcer ripped his while participating at the Mal Washington 24 hour tennis marathon and a casual tennis player while hitting with Mark Frisk the same individual that I was playing when it happened, ripped his also. Mark called and said it was deja vus all over again)

July 1: I go on the courts and again hit from the baseline, my range has improved to where I can cover any moderately hit ball that comes across the baseline, so my movement has drastically improved, but still no first step, I can't go/sprint for anything. The hit again felt great, but I my fully preoccupied with my injury, constantly monitoring how it is feeling, before I hit any shot my first instinct is check to see if my foot is ok and then I go into my normal shot routine, needless to say anything more than two feet away from is a winner. I think my foot can take a lot more that what I'm letting happen, now like my doctor told me is the mental aspect, training my mind to let my brain move without first checking with it. That's going to come against the wall, constant of hours of hitting and moving and expanding my range  while hitting against the wall is the prescription, which is how I learned to play 25 or so years ago.

July 2: I ran an 8:39 mile today. A sub 8 is going to be tough, but very necessary. The Achilles actually felt better after the run then before, I need to do it more often.

July 30: My range of motion and movement continues to improve. I'm favoring the bad foot less and less, and putting less stress on the good foot. I've lost 5 pounds, which means that I'm only 5 pounds away from my normal playing weight of 155. I'm playing games of 11 with a couple of the fellows in the pro division, they are spotting me 6 points and can't use drop shots. I started out winning about half of them and now they are only spotting me 4 points. It looks like my strokes have not deserted me, which means I won't have to start below what I used to be. I'm in now hurry, I'm still a long way from total recovery, I can not do toe raises on the bad foot alone without pain or discomfort. The ultimate goal is to be able to jump up and down on my toes without pain and discomfort, once I reach that stage, I'm home free.

July 31: Just got news that orthotics will be in later this week. I can't wait to put them on, they are suppose to alleviate the pressure on both my Achilles and are made according to my feet to meet the needs of tennis. I hope they deliver

August 18: Celebrated my 39th birthday on the 9th, which happens to be the exact birthday as Brad Gilbert, August 9th, 1961, the one glaring difference is that he plays tennis a whole lot better than I do, but as ugly as that guy plays, I'd like to think that I'd get some threatening games off him. I had to take a week off, the pain from my foot was unbearable, and for a while there was inflammation, I think I did a little too much. It is now back to normal, (normal being a relative word). It is feeling the best it has ever felt, my range of motion is equal to the good Achilles, which was also hurting. It turned out to be that even though I was doing my stretching religiously, I was slacking off on my strength rehab.  (calf raises, toe raises and squats etc). If you have not done any calf raises lately, please do so, it's good therapy even for good Achilles. I'm now able to get on my toes, I'm able to lift myself up using my bad foot. The next step is being able to jump and land on my toes using the bad foot. And one day soon, I will not have a bad foot any more.  My orthotics are still not here. I don't understand why it takes so long. I have small feet, it's not as if they were building insoles for Sahquille O'Neal. Another ruptured Achilles happened, this time it's Trent Dilford backup quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. The sad part is, he hobbled off the field, they did not use a stretcher, I hope his did not roll up his leg.

Sept 2: The night that I wrote the above entry, I got a call that my father had passed away! Needless to say, I may things to do and my Achilles was not a priority. I've been hearing the phrase "Life goes on" but it means more when a loved one is gone, life does go on, but it's not the same. My orthotics came in. I made a big mistake! When I came back from the funeral and after not doing anything physical activity for a couple of weeks, I went on the tracks and ran a couple of miles, I'm still suffering the effects. 

Sept. 22: Whoever said that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" was a million times correct. Although I can get on my toes, run, jog, sprint, jump, I can not get myself to go for balls on a tennis court without favoring the previously injured leg. I drag it around like Igor or Herman Monster. I'm constantly thinking consciously and sub-consciously about the foot, when I get short balls or balls that are away from me, I either stand there and stare at them or if I do go for them, I do so in a slow, awkward manner. I now know what it is like to have two left feet! I'm putting so much pressure on my good foot or the foot that was not operated on that after half an hour or so I feel it going to sleep.
It's back to the drawing board, I Have to go play shadow tennis while using proper footwork and practice sprinting for drop shots and wide balls from opposite end of the court.  The funny thing is, my strokes have not suffered, if I can reach them, I'm smacking the ball just as nice if not better than before (I'm a bit stronger these days) but my mind is killing me.

Sept 26: For the first time in 10 months, I played a match, and to my surprise, the fear of moving, or freezing, or pre-occupied with my foot is much less than when I just hit and rally back and forth. It seems that the competitive spirit in me takes over and makes me focus on winning and winning means moving and getting to balls. The bottom line, is, I'm slower than molasses, but I ran for the balls and was very alert. I played Rick Vach, (he's in the open division of the league). I jumped to a 2-0 lead, but his competitive spirit would not let lose to a crippled guy, we went back and forth, until he broke me and won the set 6-4. The second set was a blur, I have no idea what that guy was on, he bagled me in what seemed like 2 minutes, He kept hitting winners after winners. we decided to play a 3rd set, that's when he came back to earth, still I did not win, but pushed him to a 7-5 set. I have to do my normal training, including shadow tennis and practice matches. My goal is to get back to full competition in January 2001 and to play at least two national tournaments next year.

Sept: 28: I played another set, but this time it was on hard courts, would I be able to go for balls like I did against Vach on clay? My opponent was Ron white, another open division player, it did not start out that well. I went down 1-5, that's when I mounted a comeback, in I served my first ace in 10 months, celebrated a little, it felt damn good. I came all the way back and went ahead to a 6-5 lead, then he had to go, his wife came to pick him up and he had to leave, taking the joy of me winning my first set in almost a year. Gosh I felt good, unfortunately, I must have gone a little too hard my Achilles inflamed and tightened.

Sept. 29: I received this e-mail from Elin stocks "you mentioned Dan Hicken and his injury. I was his dbls partner when it happened. (he really stinks at tennis!) he was so determined to return a "power shot" that I was actually in position to take, but he came running out of no-where behind me, I stopped, thinking I would switch to the other side of the court, so sure he had the shot, and the next thing I know, he is writhing in pain laid out on the court. several of us had to carry him off the court. the strange thing is that it did not look like he did anything all that special, just a little sprint, it was hard to understand the amount of pain the poor guy was in. what a nice guy he is though!" Small world!

Oct. 1: I reached a milestone off the court, I ran a sub 8 minute mile, 7:55 to be exact. My next goal is a sub 7 mile before I play my first national tourney next year. After watching the Olympics, I realized that something that looks as simple as running is not that simple. The middle and long distance runners, similar to tennis, have better form and technique than the rest of us. Just like Pete or the top pros have better form and technique than we do. I tried to run and copy their form, I'm sorry to say it, but I could not do it and it's not because of the foot. The whole process have to be coordinated with the correct breathing and strategy, world class athletes deserve a lot of respect and praise, the money they receive is well earned. The thought of running over 20 miles non-stop while averaging 5 minutes per mile is scary.

Oct. 10: So far I've played a handful of sets and 11's (groundstroke games without serves) and have not won any of them, each time I get close I commit the cardinal sin of losing focus and thinking about winning - "Wow, I'm going to win my first set in over a year" and of course I lost. I realized my problem and decided to just play tennis, while playing Rick Vach, I went up 4-2 with a break and was cruising without any fanfare when Mr. Vach approached the net and said, "I bet you a 6 pack you don't win this set". These guys have no mercy, he knows darn well, I'm struggling, I can't chase balls down, my tennis mind is extremely fragile but still he challenges me, normally I'm not a betting man, but I had to accept his dare and low and behold, I won the set 6-3, my first in a very long time. My good fortunes did not last long, in the second set, I quickly went down 0-3, and again Mr. Vach approached the net and said, "If I bagel you this set, I get my beer back", ok I said. I luckily squeezed out a game and lost the set 6-1. We played a tiebreaker for the third and I lost. I hope I can get my first practice match win soon.

Oct 18: I have finally decided on a racquet to play with, after a very frustrating search, the midsize Sampras Wilson 6.0 model has won me over. The racket looks like it was built in the stone age, but it feels superb, not recommended for anyone looking to add power to their game. I would love to add more juice, but I can't control the other more modern frames. Oh yeah, my Achilles, I'm looking for the nerve to go full out after a point and see what happens, but I'm still scared, I have very sore after I play, especially on hard courts. I don't want to be a one surface player, I want to come back fully, January is my target date, I'm very optimistic that I will be 100% by then.

Oct 23: My wife Jackie reminded me that although I used to be ahead of schedule with my rehab, now that it is days away from the one year anniversary, I have fallen behind, it's either put up or shut up she said, you're either injured or not injured, which is it? I've decided that I'm not injured. The doctor told me a while back that there's no danger n ripping it again, if I stretched do my daily exercises, all should be fine, so as of now, I'm fine, it's just a matter of getting my game back.

Oct. 29: If I'm going to come back and play, I had to do it -  A week from today will be exactly one year since I ruptured my Achilles - Yesterday I played a match on the same court, (ATP at the Marriott) on the same day (Sunday) at the same time (2pm) and on the same court. I felt no nerves, and when I stepped on the spot that it happened, I could barely remember the noise that it made, for months after the injury all I could hear was the gunshot sound that the rupture made and the feeling of a 10 pound brick being dropped on my foot. Yesterday, those memories were very faint. I'm back, now for my game. Oh yeah, I take back my racquet choice, It is and will be the Hyper 5.0 regular mid-plus.

May 5 ( 2001): WOW, it's been that long?? I guess I'm still alive - I was wrong back in October, I was not back, I could not chase drop shots, I did not have any acceleration, and I was totally favoring the foot to the point where I was getting cramps 15 minutes after I got on the court. As of today, the foot is light years better than October and I've been training and will be playing my first official match On Wed. and hopefully finish out the season. I don't expect too much the first season back, but being a competitor I will not go down without a fight, back in October I was too willing to say good shot and not chase balls, now, I go for them, unfortunately, when I get off the court, the foot feels great, but my arm, back and everything else hurts like a mother. Just got to build the body strength again.

May 9 (2001): It's match time this morning at 10:30. I'm ready mentally and physically, there will be lots of rust, but it's a buildup process, go out and work on the game under pressure situation, hopefully by next season I will be match tough.

I lost!
It was a matter of not being match tough and the other player refusing to lose. He was not going to let me taste victory on my first attempt. The match lasted over 2 hours and it was only a two set affair. score 6-3,7-6. I had my chances, served for the second set, had tons of break points in the first set but it was not to be. My next one is Saturday. I need to work on a few things, mainly my return of serve and forehand, and hopefully I can do better and win a set.

May 21: In a match that started May 14 and halted by rain at me behind 2-5, I played like I was begging for points. The result, I lost 6-2,6-2. It's a 10 step process, to any recovery one has to admit a few things and be willing to accept the faults and move on in a path to control and curb the demons. The first and most important step is the ability to acknowledge, accept and face the mirror, yell it out loud for all to hear, for your inner self to hear. And this I must do, so here goes, I say this with the utmost sincerity and the will and desire to be cured. Listen world, listen up John,
 "YOOOOOOU SUCCCCCKKKKKKKKK" See now that wasn't so bad. It's ok, the sun still shines, we can't all be winners - I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck! I have three matches left, I need to get at least two wins to have a chance to make the playoffs - there I go again, I forgot, I suck, I can't win!