It’s not on daily basis that you just get to see an MMA fighter that idolizes a tennis star however David Forster proudly stands out as a consultant of this uncommon anomaly.
The 26-year-old Slovenian will return to motion at BRAVE CF 81 when he takes on Chad Griffiths in a Tremendous Light-weight battle. Whereas Forster is now thought of as probably the most promising fighters in Europe, rising up, he had dreamt of changing into a tennis participant.
Forster’s first actual encounter with tennis got here earlier than he turned 10-years-old. He stumbled upon the 2005 French Open Semi-Last matchup between Tennis superstars Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and this put a seed in an already pushed Forster to decide on tennis as his profession.
“I turned an instantaneous fan of Rafael Nadal, due to his work ethics, at all times preventing until the very finish, by no means breaking a racket and at all times very respectful to everybody. I appreciated his character on the court docket and off the court docket,” Forster recollects.
Forster developed goals of changing into a tennis star similar to his idol Rafael Nadal and even educated himself via conditioning periods. Curiously, Forster was already concerned in one other sport throughout this time: soccer.
He was an achieved goalkeeper in soccer as a teen and gained a number of trophies for finest goalkeeper as effectively. Regardless of this success in soccer, his have to grow to be extra unbiased, pushed him in direction of tennis.
Sadly, destiny hit a smash at him when his dad and mom divorced and monetary difficulties compelled him to cease the costly sport of tennis. The divorce of his dad and mom derailed his sporting profession fully and he began gaining weight.
“It was tough for me; I don’t actually bear in mind 2-3 years of my life, I used to be fats. These years are simply type of a blur. I believe I obtained over it in high-school, I simply type of accepted it and moved on with my life,” Forster mentioned.
It was at highschool that Forster first tried out MMA. Whereas he was not absolutely dedicated to the game initially, he ultimately got here again after having fun with success in weightlifting. And after this, there was no wanting again for Forster.
He’s now getting ready for his return to probably the most international MMA promotion on the planet and one factor that he has realized from his rollercoaster sporting profession is that tough work beats every thing.
“I really feel like anybody can obtain something with onerous work, you simply have to put every thing you have got into it and you may achieve success in something. I selected Combined Martial Arts, however I’m certain if I attempted one thing else and labored onerous as I’m working at this, I could possibly be profitable in different issues as effectively,” he concluded.
Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Government Author, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a ardour for Fight Sports activities and likewise a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s additionally a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.
