"My dad wants me to get to a better stage of tennis so I can be number one in the world," Tommy said, matter-of-factly, in August, 2004, standing in the family's South End Winnipeg apartment.
Sasha Mylinkov immigrated here with his Jewish wife, Marina, their Israeli-born son, Tommy, and their Russian-born son, Aleksy, four years ago, after moving to Israel from Russia with Marina and Aleksy in 1991.
Two years ago, Sasha Mylinkov arranged for Tommy, a student at Brock-Corydon School, to start learning tennis here.
"He has a coach - a friend of mine, who's a pro," Mylinkov said.
That coaching, and Tommy's obvious ability have already paid off at several local tennis touraments.
"He's actually number one in his age category, 10 and under," Mylinkov said, citing competitions Tommy took part in this year at Glendale Golf and Country Club, the Taylor Tennis Club and the Tuxedo Tennis Club. Tommy, who doesn't show as much interest in other sports, "likes" playing tennis, Mylinkov added. "Hešs a competitive kid."
Tommy offered a brief display of his prowess for a visiting reporter last week at the Sir John Franklin Road Community Tennis Courts, a few blocks from their apartment.
He and Aleksy, 14, zapped the ball back and forth. Tommy easily managed to serve and return fastpaced volleys from all parts of the court. Aleksy, who's been playing for three years with the same coach as Tommy, was no slouch, either, sending one volley low, over the net, that Tommy failed to return.
Three weeks ago, the Mylinkovs travelled to Florida, where Sasha arranged for Tommy to get an hour's worth of evaluation and coaching from Pavel Stoza, a highly acclaimed instructor at a tennis academy in Naples, Florida.
"We warmed up, and then he trained me on forehand and backstrokes," Tommy recalled. "He said I played good."
Tommy got more extensive evaluation and coaching from Jairo Aldano, an instructor at the Bolletieri Tennis Academy in Brendenton, Florida. Jairo was surprised by Tommy's performance, Mylinkov said. "He said he has a very powerful serve and is big for his age."
Mylinkov and his wife both work - at different times of day - to care for Tommy and Aleksy.
But they can't afford to pay Tommy's tuition for nine months of training in Florida on their own.
Anyone interested in helping out can send donations to Mylinkov, whose family lives at 105-500 Centennial Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3N 1P7.
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