As someone who won Wimbledon three times – along with three other majors, two Davis Cups and an Olympic gold medal – it may be hard to believe that it was a real act of faith for my parents to allow me to even aspire to be a professional tennis player. There was a seven-month battle between my parents and me that started in November 1983 and just about finished in June 1984, and even then it took another year for the battle to be completely won. Obviously Wimbledon played a part in convincing my family, but Wimbledon very nearly lost me the battle too.

In my family, sport wasn’t a job. My father was an architect, his children were well educated, so the idea was that we would go to university or some course of study and get a proper job. Sport was for fun and good health, but not a serious profession. The problem for my parents was that they had a son who was good at sports, and they weren’t quite sure what to do about it. So they supported me but didn’t take my tennis too seriously, hoping I wouldn’t succeed. Yet the more they hoped for that, the more I succeeded.

By 15, I was the hottest potential property in the tennis world, so the likes of Mark McCormack (the founder and head of the International Management Group, the first large-scale player management agency) and Donald Dell (the head of IMG’s rival ProServ) both came to Leimen. McCormack turned up first, bringing an interpreter, and spoke to my father about signing me. But he made a big mistake – he asked my father how much money he wanted for my signature. My father bristled and replied, ‘My son is not for sale, here is the door Mr McCormack.’ And something similar happened with Dell a few days later.