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The first Aussie to do everything in tennis: Wimbledon and Davis Cup champ, #1 player in the world. A cunning, nasty lefty with a cunning, nasty lefty serve. A long-serving, powerful administrator of all things Aussie tennis. Every year it takes 800 hours to shape a sheet of sterling silver into the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup. Fire it to a cherry red. Bend the metal before it bends you till it’s ready for the embosser’s patience: her many small tools, her hours of careful indentations. Embossers much rarer today than when Agamemnon’s gold mask was hammered into eternity. Polish it for hours till it becomes a mirror. Djokovic has ten of these cups somewhere. Does he ever look at them, see how big his eyes become whenever he returns a serve?
For a video of how the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup is made each year, click here.
For more on Norman Brookes, see his page at the International Hall of Fame.
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5 replies on “The Norman Brookes Challenge Cup”
David, great video on how the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup is made each year. A lot of hours go into this.
Agree! I really liked the video. Thanks for your comment!
What a brilliant photograph of Norman Brookes.
Gwen.
Agree, Gwen. That is a great photo of NB. Thanks for your comment.
This photo was amazing in NB .Anita