In a backyard as big as his imagination, a young Alfredo Perez Jr. can’t resist the sweet summer smell of fresh mangoes.
His parents have told him many times to stay out of the trees, but they can hardly contain their son’s hunger for fun. In a sacred moment of privacy, Alfredo Jr. jumps into the long arms of the mango tree and climbs toward his prize. Once within reach, he snaps the fruit from its branch and lowers himself excitedly to the green grasses of his childhood, where he is free to enjoy his hard-earned fruit.
The memory of its taste will be enough to bring a blushing smile to his face over a decade later. But for now, Alfredo Jr. isn’t thinking about the future or his 300-mile journey to a foreign, but free, country. He only wants to play.
It’s the summer of 2006 and at 9 years old, Alfredo Jr. has grown accustomed to the freedom of long days playing in the street in front of his home in Artemisa, Cuba. He has many neighborhood friends, and together they fly kites against the blue sky, roll marbles and spin tops on the paved roads and play hide-and-seek in the large lawn.
When parents finally manage to herd their children indoors after dark — sometimes as late as 9 p.m. — the kids all gather at Alfredo Jr.’s house. Here, the ceiling and walls do little to curb the merriment. Alfredo Jr. plays his favorite song on a CD player given to him by his godfather. Its name will eventually be forgotten, but his parents will remember its maker: Shakira. Her signature vibrato begins to narrate the evening’s fun as the friends sing and dance playfully. Ever the jester, Alfredo Jr. throws himself to the floor as part of his choreography. He will repeat the song more than 15 times tonight and many other evenings to come.
This is the life Alfredo Jr. knows. But in less than one year, he will find himself far from home, stripped of the power of his native language and equipped with only a dream of greatness. Fortunately for Alfredo Jr., a tennis ball responds to the language of passion alone.
***
Tennis runs in Alfredo Jr.’s family.
Alfredo Perez Sr. began playing as a young child and never gave it up, ultimately making it his profession to teach the sport. So it wasn’t out of the ordinary when he first put a racket in his son’s 1-year-old hands. Alfredo Jr. — “Alfredito,” as his father calls him — played with tennis rackets and threw balls against walls before he could even walk.
When he did learn to walk, Alfredo Jr. joined his father at the tennis courts. While Alfredo Sr. played, Alfredo Jr. stood beside the court and mirrored his father’s actions: the long forehand motion, the quick movement of his feet.
Soon enough, the younger Alfredo was obsessed. He played every day — on the court after school, against the wall behind his house after practice and against the walls in his house after dark.
By the time he was 7 years old, his father recognized he had a gift. As an experienced tennis player himself, he had an eye for talent and saw that his son was special.
Once a year, Alfredo Jr. had the opportunity to travel and represent his hometown in another province for a junior-level national tournament. He remembers the tournament fondly, grateful to have had the chance to visit another part of Cuba.
“We didn’t really get to travel much,” Alfredo Jr. said. “(The tournament) was a reason I kept playing at first.”
But he had to go without his parents.
Travel was expensive, especially in the context of a broken, communist economy. An average salary wasn’t enough for Alfredo Sr. to afford many necessities. He relied on the black market to provide for his family, but still, food was a daily struggle.
“If you have a child who asks you for a candy and you do not have money for a candy, it’s very hard,” Alfredo Sr. said in Spanish. “So you start to look at other options.”
In 1994, he applied for residency in the United States. The paperwork was finally completed 13 years later.
***
On April 30, 2007, the Perez family cashed in on the spring’s promise of rebirth and left Cuba to start their lives anew. At 10 years old, Alfredo Jr. — with both his parents and his 2-year-old brother, Alejandro — arrived at their new home: Miami.
Fortunately, one of Alfredo Sr.’s brothers, who had immigrated to South Florida several years prior, agreed to house the Perezes for the next 12 months before they could afford a place of their own.
Living with family helped protect Alfredo Jr. from the growing pains associated with such a radical transition. He remembers playing with his cousins in a big backyard, where mango and avocado trees added a touch of familiarity.
During Alfredo Jr.’s first junior tennis tournament in Miami, he experienced what would ultimately be his greatest challenge in the U.S. He didn’t speak any English and found he had no means of expression without language.
“I couldn’t explain myself. I couldn’t talk,” Alfredo Jr. said. “It was not good.”
Alfredo Jr. lost handily in the tournament’s first round. A new home, a new language and a crushing defeat all thrust into the arms of a 10-year-old boy.
With the help of an Argentinian referee, Alfredo Jr. was able to communicate with other players during his next few tournaments. But the feeling of estrangement remained.
One weekend, a local coach named Robert Gomez happened to see Alfredo Jr. play at a tournament and was immediately convinced of his potential. He approached Alfredo Sr. and expressed an interest in working with Alfredo Jr. While the offer was everything the Perezes wanted for their son, they knew they couldn’t afford private lessons.
But money didn’t matter to Gomez. Whether moved by the passion that pumped through each of Alfredo Jr.’s lanky limbs or touched by the story of a boy looking for his place in a new world, Gomez just wanted to help. And so he began to teach Alfredo Jr. for free.
***
Gomez is the director of tennis at the Biltmore and Salvadore Tennis Centers in the Miami area, where he operates a youth program for a variety of levels. After agreeing to train Alfredo Jr., Gomez offered Alfredo Sr. a job as a coach for entry-level players. Thanks to the grace of Gomez, the Perezes were finding their fit in Miami.
Alfredo Jr. quickly advanced to the top of Gomez’s program and became his primary project. The two began traveling together to give Alfredo Jr. the opportunity to play competitive tennis. In the five years that Alfredo Jr. trained under Gomez, he played in over 100 United States Tennis Association (USTA) junior tournaments.
At the age of 15, Alfredo Jr. secured the seventh seed in the 16-under division of the Bobby Curtis State Championships in Orlando. He made the trip with Gomez, an assistant coach and his training partner Mirko Radosevic, who competed in the same age division as Alfredo Jr.
After unchallenged victories in the first two rounds, Alfredo Jr. experienced what Gomez refers to as “a mental lapse.”
He lost the first set of his round of 16 match 6-4 and faced his first deficit of the tournament. But before his rising temper lost him the match, he reversed his apparent fate and won 12 consecutive games to advance in dominating fashion.
The victory wasn’t enough to save Alfredo Jr. from the wrath of his assistant coach. Immediately after the match, Alfredo Jr. was forced to run a mile as punishment for his slow start. He ran his mile through the deep, green forestry surrounding Sanlando Park and then ran through his remaining three opponents, including Mirko in the final round. Alfredo Jr. was a state champion.
“That was a pretty cool moment,” Gomez said.
Alfredo Jr. defended his title the following year, a feat rarely accomplished by a junior tennis player, according to Gomez.
But the winning never surprised Gomez. He had always known who Alfredo Jr., the tennis player, could be. In their five years together, however, Gomez spent much less time in the presence of Alfredo Jr., the young man.
But on a trip to Kalamazoo, Michigan, for a national tournament, 16-year-old Alfredo Jr. shed himself of the competitive gusto that earned him his many trophies and revealed a piece of his heart.
***
Alfredo Jr. and Gomez were being housed by a family associated with the club hosting the tournament. They lived on an expansive property with a backyard of healthy grass set against a wall of trees. An 11-year-old girl from the host family took an immediate liking to Alfredo Jr.
Throughout their stay, Alfredo Jr. spent a lot of his free time befriending the young girl — playing games and sharing smiles. Gomez remembers sitting on the deck of the house with a warm cup of coffee while watching Alfredo Jr. and the girl bounce on a trampoline together. On the stage of the green grasses, Alfredo Jr. displayed his softer side.
“It was unrehearsed,” Gomez said. “I didn’t coach him to do it. He just did that on his own. It showed a side of him that I really hadn’t seen.”
Before his 17th birthday, Alfredo Jr. had grown out of Gomez’s program. In order to pursue dreams of professional tennis, he sought coaching from a number of organizations before settling at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, for his final year of high school.
In November 2014, Alfredo Jr. signed a letter of intent to join the Florida men’s tennis team, something his father never could’ve dreamed of for his son. And without Gomez, none of it would’ve been possible.
“Thanks to Robert Gomez, Alfredo Jr. is what he is today,” Alfredo Sr. said. “He lent us a hand.”
***
Alfredo Jr. impressed immediately in the orange and blue.
“He jumped right into the fire,” coach Bryan Shelton said of Alfredo’s freshman season. “He was a pretty big point for us most of the time.”
In his first year, he won a team-high 36 singles matches, mostly at the No. 3 spot in the lineup. He also helped the Gators win their fifth SEC championship in program history. At the end of the 2016 season, he was crowned SEC Freshman of the Year.
By the start of the 2017 season, he had secured his status as Florida’s best player.
Alfredo Jr. is now in the final weeks of his junior year. He is a leader and a model of excellence on the court. His competitive nature defines his play, but unlike his younger self, he doesn’t allow his emotions to contribute negatively to his game. He has lost the curse and kept the blessing of his fiery passion.
However, his newfound maturity on the court hasn’t killed the boy in Alfredo Jr.
Today, Alfredo Jr. won’t lock his eyes on a pink mango hanging six or seven feet in the air. He won’t let loose a kite to the Cuban clouds. He won’t dance the night away with his childhood friends in his childhood home. But still, he only wants to play.
As he prepares for this week’s SEC Tournament — which begins for UF on Friday afternoon against either Vanderbilt or LSU — Alfredo Jr. will spend time on the court with his teammates, who he considers family. Together, they will sweat under the heat of a sun intent on burning memories of youth into their hearts.
At night, video games will close the 300-mile gap between Alfredo Jr. and his younger brother, Alejandro. Alejandro will tease Alfredo Jr.. Alfredo Jr. will beat Alejandro.
“I’m insane,” Alfredo Jr. said of his skills in Fortnite, a third-person shooter game. “(Alejandro) talks trash and I shut him down.”
The boy whose family couldn’t afford to travel has now played tennis across the United States — from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The 10-year-old boy who couldn’t speak a word of English now attends an elite public university, and this past semester, was one of the top-performing students on the tennis team.
He lives his dream on a daily basis and keeps his family close.
“Alfredo Jr. is my son,” Alfredo Sr. said in Spanish. “And my sons are the best thing I’ve ever had.”
Benjamin Brandt is a sports writer for The Alligator. Follow him on Twitter @bhb1227 and contact him at bbrandt@alligator.org. Alligator staff writer Jimena Tavel contributed to this report.
Florida men's tennis player Alfredo Perez emigrated from his hometown of Artemisa, Cuba, to live in Miami when he was 10-years-old.
