The fifth set in the Wimbledon final. The old king, Djokovic, holding on. The hopeful new king, Alcaraz, pressing forward. Everyone’s edgy when the stakes are this high. Djokovic loses his serve, smashes his racquet on the net post.
I’ve taught Dali’s Persistence of Memory as often as I’ve watched Djokovic throw or break his racquet. It’s part of what makes him Djokovic.
Artists like Dail explore, depict the unconscious mind by painting vivid (often strange) images, often in unusual juxtapositions: melting watches, a barren landscape, a leafless tree. How would you interpret this dream?
What we know of Djokovic is what we know of his conscious mind. The way he structures and organizes time, the watches not melting but ticking away as he plans and executes each day: his practices, his stretching, his diet, his sleep. Even how he plays each shot, each point. On the tennis court he’s a master of stealing time, of hugging it tight, of knowing when to let it go. Everything organized around his goal to be the best tennis player in history.
Melting watches are another matter. They inhabit the world of the unconscious mind. They suggest, as Dali’s title has it, “The Persistence of Memory” over the persistence of time. Freud would agree that memories influence us, structure our days, more than time. Childhood memories, traumatic memories, persist forever alongside the instinctual drives of sex, violence, and death. Maybe, just maybe, that helps explain why someone, why Djokovic, might throw a racquet.
*The juxtaposition of Djokovic breaking a racquet and Dali’s “Persistence of Memory” comes from the constantly searching imagination of LJ Rader from Artbutmakeitsports. His creative juxtapositions of famous art images with contemporary sports moments has become a social media sensation. He recently appeared on the PBS News Hour to explain what he does and why. You can learn more from artbutmakeitsports and subscribe to his newsletter on his website. You can also follow his account on X (Twitter).
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