ATP Firsts: Kevin Anderson

First coach and most important lesson he taught me
My first coach was my dad, and I think the lesson he definitely instilled in me was hard work. We worked very hard and he said in order to chase your dreams, you definitely have to put in the effort and that’s something that’s really stuck with me throughout my career.

First pinch-me moment on the ATP World Tour
Playing a practice set with Federer in Miami. I had been on the tour for a little bit, and I had seen some of the top guys… I remember I won the practice set, too. I know in hindsight it’s just practice stuff but that was a pretty surreal feeling… That was the year I beat Novak as well (2008). I would have said that but practising with Federer was just a couple days earlier. 

First thing I bought with prize money
I bought my current wife, girlfriend at the time, Kelsey, a trip to Australia (Australian Open, 2009). So that was cool. That was also after my first year so definitely some of my prize money went to that.

First celebrity crush
It’s cliché but just like me and probably everybody else at the time, it was [Anna] Kournikova.

First album I bought?
I think it was the Offspring, “Americana”. That was the “Pretty Fly For a White Guy” CD… Off the album, I think “Staring at the Sun” was my favourite.

First pet
The first pet I had was a little Maltese poodle, her name was Lulu. We got her when I was six. We always laughed because she cost like 60 rand, which is like $8. But I think she passed on some sort of bacterial something to me, because I ended up having my appendix taken out because of her. I don’t want to blame her for it without concrete proof but we ended up laughing about it. The doctor said there was a good chance it might have been from the puppy, so she ended up costing us a little bit more [than $8] but she was great. She was my childhood dog so obviously we had a lot of memories with her.

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