So this is a very impulsive idea, fuelled by my tennis (read: Federer) fandom and a little help from a friend, who gave me the idea. Since everyone is a tennis fan today, here’s something to keep you occupied as you wait for the Federer Nadal match.
- Roger Federer as Religious Experience - What tennis literature list is complete without David Foster Wallace’s poetic and beautiful piece on how good Federer is? Definitely not this one. By the way, this is not something limited to Federer fans, or even fans of tennis. Everyone should read this. This is A Brief History of Time, tennis edition.
Roger Federer is showing that the speed and strength of today’s pro game are merely its skeleton, not its flesh. He has, figuratively and literally, re-embodied men’s tennis, and for the first time in years the game’s future is unpredictable. You should have seen, on the grounds’ outside courts, the variegated ballet that was this year’s Junior Wimbledon. Drop volleys and mixed spins, off-speed serves, gambits planned three shots ahead — all as well as the standard-issue grunts and booming balls. Whether anything like a nascent Federer was here among these juniors can’t be known, of course. Genius is not replicable. Inspiration, though, is contagious, and multiform — and even just to see, close up, power and aggression made vulnerable to beauty is to feel inspired and (in a fleeting, mortal way) reconciled. - It’s the match everyone wanted – god of tennis meets Prometheus - Today’s match.
With Federer and Nadal, and the Williams sisters, reaching the men’s and women’s finals, respectively, this Open is truly a story of age and time
- The Secret Language of Tennis Champions - Okay, enough of Federer fandom. This is a Nautilus piece about the communication that goes on between tennis players when on court. Bryan Brothers!
Over the past four decades psychologists, linguists, and neuroscientists have developed a better understanding of the ways that twins like the Bryans communicate with each other. They have come up with the term “cryptophasia” to describe a secret language that twins share as kids. While scientists question whether cryptophasia constitutes a discrete language, they agree it offers a provocative look into the birth and development of language itself. Who knows? It might even offer a key into the secret of the best doubles players in tennis history. - For Deaf Tennis Player, Sound Is No Barrier - If you haven’t played tennis, you may not know what a central role sound plays. Players are irritated (rightly so) by their opponents’ loud grunts because that obscures and obfuscates the true sound the ball makes off the racquet. From that sound, a seasoned player or observer can know how much spin is on the shot, how well it was hit, whether it was a mishit or not etc. Lee Duck-hee, an 18 year-old from South Korea is deaf but ranked at 143 in the world. This is his story (so far).
- Great Tennis Writing from the Magazine - It turns out that The New York Times has some wonderful essays on tennis, with the pinnacle obviously being #1 on this list too. I haven’t read everything on this list, but I will soon (probably during set breaks during the match today, hehe.
- Australian Open: tennis greats divided on Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal - Some (eminent) people’s views on who’s going to win today. Whichever way today is going to go, it is going to be a wonderful match.
Federer isn’t going anywhere. In 2013, somebody wrote Roger Federer Can Still Get His Game Face On. In 2016, Even Roger Federer Gets Old. What will they write tomorrow?