SPURS ACE SO EAGER TO SERVE
IT’S hardly surprising that Eric Dier wants to be an England ace.
After all, the Tottenham midfielder is a tennis fanatic who travels the world watching Grand Slam tournaments.
Dier’s dad, Jeremy, has a tennis background – including playing professionally – and that inspired Eric’s interest in the sport.
England’s defensive midfielder said: “My father worked in tennis, so I grew up around it.
“I love tennis, so I’ve kept watching it – but it wasn’t a career option.
“As I grew up, though, I watched tennis everywhere really, apart from the Australian Open.
“I love it and, because of the people I’ve met, I have an understanding of it.
“I met Bjorn Borg, Henri Leconte and John McEnroe – I was extremely lucky.
“I’ve been to the US and French Opens and I’ve been to quite a few Andy Murray matches at Wimbledon.”
Dier’s general love of sport does not end with football and tennis.
He revealed: “I like golf, NBA and NFL. Harry Kane and I have an NFL fantasy league with some of the press boys at Tottenham.
“I’m in a privileged position where I can watch these things live.
“But I can’t see Harry being a kicker or a coach in the NFL because his fantasy team isn’t doing well!
“And I wouldn’t want to go anywhere near playing American Football as those guys are way too big and I’m a bit scared of them.”
Instead, Dier would settle for the type of success in football that world No.1 Murray (right) enjoys in tennis. PAUL HETHERINGTON ADAM SMITH is regarded as the the next cab off need to rank if England call up a right-back or should Kyle Walker get Nathaniel Clyne injured. The Bournemouth ace (right) has also Man caught the eye of City boss Pep Guardiola, who has been impressed with his pace.
And he admits England must not let their fans down again in the way they did against Iceland in the summer.
Tottenham’s defensive midfielder is looking at a two-year period of apology, before the World Cup in Russia gives them an opportunity to make amends.
Dier, 22, still cannot quite believe how, in France, the best moment of his career turned into the worst.
It is a year ago today since Dier made his England debut in Alicante against Spain.
And as he prepares to face the same opponents again at Wembley on Tuesday, he said: “The Spain game was a massive high for me because I made my England debut.
“The Euros, for me, were also a massive high – until the Iceland game. Then it was a bit like Tottenham’s season when it took a massive dip at the end.
“Up until that point the Euros were probably the best time of my career. I loved going and playing there.
“But the Iceland game was probably the worst time of my career. It was terrible.
“I went away the next day and just tried to forget about it as quickly as possible. “But that was quite hard, to be honest. “It was a strange feeling because, up to that point, I’d been feeling really positive about the Euros, so the Iceland game is unexplainable. We were just terrible. I came off at ha I was goin and you c “Maybe “We scor completel
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