failed to qualify for any of the big four majors.
The next year he won threeâAcapulco, Calgary and Helsinkiâbut failed to get to Wimbledon and lost handily in the first round in Australia. He did, however, make it into the second round in both the French and US Opens.
The year after that, he won four tournaments around the worldâSalt Lake City, Quito, Mumbai and Johannesburg for the second timeâbut still couldnât progress past the second rounds of any of the big four.
But by now, traveling fifty weeks a year was taking its toll.
When he was beaten in the first round at Wimbledon in 2004 by Roger Federerâ6â3, 6â3, 6â0âhe shook the Swiss starâs hand at the net and said, âI think Iâve had enough.â
In the locker room, Federer asked what he meant by that.
âIâm tired,â Carson said. âNot of playing tennis, but of the circuit. Iâm tired of bad hotel rooms, Iâm tired of bad food, Iâm tired of airports, Iâm tired of bimbos looking to score their first black guy, Iâm tired of promising my girlfriendthat I will make it big someday and that when I do, weâll have a great life together . . . because itâs just not going to happen.â
âYou going to quit?â Federer asked it as if he couldnât imagine having any other life. âWhat are you going to do?â
âIâve made enough money and still have most of it, so I can live okay. But I donât think I want this.â
âWhat do you want?â
âNot what, who,â he answered. âThe girl back home.â
Federer stared at him, as if the answer was obvious. âSo what are you waiting for?â
Carson stared at him, âYouâre right,â patted Federer on the arm, âHave a good life, mon ami ,â reached for his cell phone and dialed Miami.
As soon as Alicia answered he said, âWarm up the coffee, mama, Iâm coming home.â
She said sympathetically, âYou lost already?â
âI did but you didnât.â
âYou did but I didnât . . . what?â
âI lost, you won.â
âWhat did I win?â
âMe.â
He flew back to Miami the next morning, and the two of them were married a week later in a small church in Little Havana.
The wedding made the front page of the Miami Herald .
Alicia had cohosted the biggest local morning show in Miami, Today in South Florida , on the NBC station since 2000.
Born and raised thereâher father was a lawyer and her mother was a doctorâthere wasnât anybody in Little Havana she didnât know, and there wasnât any Cuban in the entire state who she couldnât get to.
In 2000 she led the country on the coverage of the immigration and custody battle for the young Cuban refugee Elián González. Two years later she made headlines around the world covering the hunt for and capture of Miamiâs most powerful crack cocaine dealer, Ernesto âMachitoâ Faz.
Tipped off that the DEA was going to raid his heavily fortified house at the end of a dead-end street off West Flagler, Alicia had talked her way inside his house, with a camera crew, before the DEA arrived with a SWAT team from Miami-Dade Police. Sheâd wound up trapped there with Machito during a two-day standoff, all the time broadcasting regular reports that made it onto the network. The standoff had ended when Alicia convinced Machito to surrender. She walked him out and handed him over to the DEA.
She was a star.
But being Mr. Alicia Melendez was not what Carson wanted. And just twomonths into their marriage he confessed to her, âI really donât know what I want to do when I grow up.â
Thatâs when, out of the blue, Warring phoned. âI saw you play once in Palm Springs.â
Carson told him, âI lost.â
âAnd I saw you play in Vegas.â
âI lost there, too.â
âI saw