Daniil Medvedev: A Gemlike Flame, Photography by Ray Giubilo

This work an excerpt from my latest book, Tennis Players as Works of Art, now available on Amazon. Called “madly ambitious” and named one its 5 featured books of 2024 in the category of Art/Imagination/Creativity by Publisher’s Weekly Booklife, Tennis Players as Works of Art has also been named “One of the Best Books we Read in 2024” (Independent Book Review) and “Book of the Year” (Inside Tennis Magazine.)

Sport as religion, community ritual. Turin, Italy, 2023. Medvedev so fast he’s a blur, a blue-green flame in the dark.

We are not honed machines like Medvedev is, his ungodly speed at 6’6” under complete control. His nickname’s the octopus. He covers the court like he has eight arms, eight legs. His blue-green sleek shirt leaves traces of where it’s been, one moment vanishing into the next. Ray Giubilo creates in his photograph a heightened realism we can never quite see with our limited human vision. These passing visual sensations delight and astonish while blending with our appreciation of Medvedev’s skill: blood pulsing, head and mind still, focus on the ball. Athlete and artist and spectator as one. The racquet moves even faster, an extension of the body, technology’s wand of wands. Look, look, he’s about to slash another hard, flat backhand a foot from each line. To burn always with this hard, gemlike flame.*

*The famous phrase from Walter Pater’s The Renaissance.

Ray Giubilo’s Bio (from website and elsewhere): In 2022 I had an exhibition in Torino during the ATP finals called LET IT BOUNCE ! with the Italian artist Federica Ramani. The project was quite original because Federica Ramani got inspiration from 9 of my photos and gave her interpretation on canvas.

I started my career as a tennis photographer at the 1989 Australian Open and since then I covered more than 100 Grand Slam tournaments and more than 150 other tennis events including Davis and Fed Cup ties and ATP/WTA tournaments. I also covered 3 Summer Olympics for the ITF (Sydney 2000,London 2012,Rio 2016) and 1 Winter Olympic in Torino 2006.

In 2005 my tennis work has been selected for two exhibitions: “WTA: The History of Women’s Tennis” at Proud Galleries in London and “Passing Shots, Photographers’ Perspectives on Tennis” at the US Open Gallery, Flushing, New York.

In 2008 I designed my first photographic book on tennis, “TENNIS MATCH”,published in Italy by HOEPLI and EDISPORT EDITORIALE and in 2010 with the cooperation of Enzo Anderloni, two more photographic books, a book dedicated to Roger Federer“ROGER FEDERER, il N.1 di sempre” and one dedicated to the women in tennis “LE RAGAZZE DEL TENNIS”.

In 2011 I published my fourth book “IL RE DELLA TERRA” , a book dedicated to the career of RAFA NADAL, and in 2017 a new updated version of “ROGER FEDERER, il N.1 di sempre”, with new material, a new cover and 65 more pages.

My work has been published in many editorial publications around the world and I am the staff photographer for IL TENNIS ITALIANO, the world’s oldest tennis magazine. I regularly shoot features with athletes for editorials and advertising campaigns.

Visit www.tennisphotographer.com to view my Image Bank with all the galleries from the tennis events.

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