Tennis World english 39 Tennis World EN 39 | Page 36

A Fateful Flight
by
Cristiano
Chesi

On
21
December,
1988,
a
Pan
Am
flight
took
off
from
Heathrow
to
New
York.
Onboard
there
were
259
people,
but
two
passengers
who
were
supposed
to
be
on
the
flight
cancelled
at
the
last
minute.

One
was
Mats
Wilander,
the
other
his
wife
Sonja.
An
hour
later,
the
plane
exploded
mid-air,
courtesy
of
a
suitcase
filled
with
a
bomb
instead
of
mismatched
socks
and
souvenirs.
It
was
planted
by
a
Libyan
intelligence
officer,
who
later
jailed
for
the
crime
before
being
released
shortly
preceding
his
death
on
medical
grounds.
Wilander
learned
the
tragic
news
in
his
hotel
room.
Winner
of
seven
Grand
Slam
titles
and
world
number
one,
he
was
at
the
very
height
of
his
powers
as
a
tennis
player.
Every
pundit
in
the
world,
along
with
all
of
his
peers,
believed
he
would
be
a
major
force
in
the
sport
for
years
to
come.

Yet
some
events
change
one
forever.
For
all
his
success,
for
all
of
his
fame,
Wilander
could
very
well
have
been
on
that
flight
and
had
his
career,
and
his
life,
cut
short.
He
had
stared
death
in
the
face,
and
it
forced
him
to
look
at
his
life.
Yes,
he
had
accomplished
so
much,
but
there
was
only
one
thing
in
his
life:
tennis.

At
24
years
old
he
had
seen
all
of
the
world,
and
yet
none
of
it.
Airports,
hotel
rooms
and
tennis
courts
­
these
are
the
only
things
that
filled
up
his
days.

Not
only
had
he
come
so
close
to
losing
his
life,
but
his
father,
he
learned,
was
battling
to
stay
alive.
He
had
been
diagnosed
with
cancer.
Wilander’s
wife,
who
had
also
escaped
the

bombing,
was
thinking
of
leaving
him.

Two
years
after
that
fateful
night,
Wilander
would
be
81
in
the
world.
A
year
after
that,
he
was
232.

When
he
reached
the
age
that
Novak
Djokovic
is
now,
he
was
575.
At
age
24,
Djokovic
was
also
world
number
one
with
several
Slams
to
his
name.

Two
similar
careers,
albeit
at
different
times,
with
two
men
at
the
very
top
of
their
game
at
24.

Can
anyone
today
imagine
Djokovic
at
number
575
in
the
ATP
rankings?
No,
because
he
was
not
supposed
to
be
on
a
flight
that
killed
hundreds
of
people.
He
did
not
stare
death
in
the
face
and
receive
a
shock
that
shook
him
to
the
core.