David Senra

I look at it like a prison.

No one ever asked me if I wanted to play tennis, let alone make it my life.

My father decided long before I was born that I would be a professional tennis player.

Violent by nature, my father is forever preparing for battle.

He shadow boxes constantly.

He keeps an axe handle in his car.

He leaves the house with a handful of salt and pepper in each pocket in case he's in a street fight and needs to blind someone.

And this is such a perfect line to describe somebody like this.

Of course, some of his most vicious battles are with himself.

So Andre's constantly telling the stories about the violent nature of his father, probably one of the reasons why he refused or maybe couldn't resist his father.

And even though he hated what he was doing, felt the need and the deep need to please his father.

It's obvious how confusing this is for Andre as a young boy.

He has this deep love for his father, but he's deeply, deeply scared of him, and you would be scared of him too.

Here's an example.

They're in a car.

He gets into a shouting match with another driver.

My father stops his car, steps out, orders the man out of his.

Because my father is wielding an axe, the man refuses.

My father whips the axe into the man's headlights and taillights, sending sprays of glass everywhere.

Another time, my father reaches across me and points his handgun at another driver.