After several months of deep depression and, with encouragement from his aunt, tennis, which he had taken up at age six or seven at the family summer house in the Catskill Mountains, became his primary means of recovery.
Tras varios meses de depresión profunda, e axudado pola súa tía, o tenis, ao que xogara dende os seis e sete anos na casa familiar de verán de Catskill Mountains, converteuse no seu principal medio de recuperación.