Tennis Players as Works of Art

“The ‘Tennis Muse’ painting depicts the Imperial Age statue of the Torlonia Nymph with a sport-inspired detail—a hat atop her head. The juxtaposition of the classical statue with the sporty accessory creates an intriguing blend of ancient and contemporary themes, capturing the essence of dedicated athletes immersed in their mental preparation before a competition.”—Sara Lora … Read more

Note: The truth value of many of these sentences is fading quickly. “Chokerev,” “Abuserev,” Zverev abused so often on Twitter I never how to respond. Zverev bullied as a diabetic kid. Zverev accused of domestic violence. Zverev smashing his racquet close to the umpire’s legs. I should write about his backhand, the second-best backhand on … Read more

Note: Though some version of each dream below might be dreamed by anyone in America, each dream is based on the life of R. Norris Williams. He lived in a country where dreams are exchanged, where anyone might dream another’s reality. One night a dream is an acceptance letter from Harvard. One night Ben Franklin … Read more

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 … Read more

“If I’m not winning, I’m every kind of monkey, gorilla, black bitch, nigger, choke-artist, man . . .  The online abuse is constant.” (Sloane Stephens, 2021). I wanted to write about Sloane Stephens’ wings. Those wings on her feet like Mercury’s, the god of speed, messages, travel, boundaries. Laver thought one key to tennis was … Read more

January in Brisbane holding a Koala. Melbourne in a long black dress. February is Dubai’s white sands in a pink bikini and shades. Behind her in the distance, echoing her curves, is the Burj Al Arab, the most luxurious hotel on earth. Its sail shape soars upwards as Federer’s forehands and Tiger Woods’ tee shots … Read more

Angel, Madonna, Mother, Wife, Starlet, Actress: the one looking over all the dead, or the one Tony Wilding was about to marry. Child in arm. Barbed wire in the background. Troubetzkoy sculpted this angel, this monument to WWI. A decade earlier he sculpted Wilding hitting a forehand drive. “Physical Energy,” he called it. Women swooned … Read more

Death marches and concentration camps. Forced starvation and forced Islamization. Rapes and rapes and rapes and rapes and more than a million dead. Maybe that’s not the best place to start. My teenage daughter is recording Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto for the National Trumpet Competition. Gypsy lyrical. Exciting, too, with plenty of showy trumpet techniques. We … Read more

After Agassi’s Open “Please let this be over.” “I don’t want it to be over.” That’s what I whispered that day and night like thousands of times before. You told me about your posters of me in your rooms of adolescence. You kept touching your long dark hair of youth. Time to walk out into … Read more

A mashup of a female contemporary artist and tennis player from Japan. To break new ground, do what you’re told. If you’re left-handed like Kimiko, play right-handed. Nonconformity equals shame. Don’t take big swings. Go old school. Hit your forehand as flat as a pancake. Run faster and faster around the court till you reach … Read more

Kay designed her own dresses. Four inches above the knee. Is that why JFK dated her? She thought he was “spoilt by women. I think he could snap his fingers and they’d come running.” A Wimbledon finalist with a big lefty forehand in 1939, Kay was the second best player in the world till the … Read more

Her histrionics mark her as a descendant of the goddess Ishtar: women as forces of nature who create destruction when life does not go their way. Helen even mocked her opponent’s bad shots on court. “I hate losing to Kelesi,” one player said. “No one’s going to treat me like an ass,” said another. “Tennis … Read more

Wins and Losses: 14 grand slam doubles titles together in just five years. After a big loss, they might dance and wrestle and splash in the water like kids. After a big win, they might gleefully rip off their tops, reveal the first sports bra to the world. Natasha: I imagine Natasha reading Anna Karenina, … Read more

In the autumn of life, I wanted to be a tournament tennis player. The shot I wanted most was a good slice backhand “as repeatable, as simple, as breath itself.” A slice backhand that was “easy on the body, the mind.” That’s what I wrote of Ken Rosewall’s backhand. That was Larry Turville’s slice backhand, … Read more

A top Chinese tennis player makes allegations of sexual coercion against a top Communist official. “Why did you pressure me to have sex with you?” Now I feel like “a walking corpse.” A two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, Peng knows what will happen next: “like an egg cracking against a rock.” Peng disappears. Her social … Read more

Some called him Count Dracula out of Gothic lore. Others called him the Brasov Bulldozer. A dual sport athlete at the highest levels: Ice Hockey Olympian and top 10 tennis player. A businessman as cunning as the Medici. He bet big on Boris Becker when he was just 15 and made him into a global … Read more

Thought Experiment: In Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral,” the narrator tries to describe a Gothic Cathedral to a blind man. Inspired by Carver’s story, I try to describe the tennis game of Carlos Alcaraz to a blind man. The US Open was on television. The commentators went on and on: “Oh, Stop it,” “Oh, No … Read more

Once upon a time, a girl was born in Moscow who dreamed of winning Wimbledon. She worked hard on her serve and groundstrokes, then knocked on doors of the rich and privileged for help. “Too tall, too slow, too clumsy,” the Russian prince said. “Good enough for us,” the Prince of Kazakhstan said. Money was … Read more

Holger Rune half-swaggers, half-limps like John Wayne shot in the leg. He’s cramping again on a tennis court; he’s wound tighter than any watch in the Nordic lands. His lean teenage legs add muscle every month. Soon they will be like tree trunks. Soon he may learn that seas and men can be calm. Holger … Read more

Father was positive and paranoid and pissed that the bomb would destroy the world, so he sold calendars of flowers and buttons of peace: Make Love, Not War. That meant, in part, that he loved many women. It was said he could charm the socks off a corpse. He wrote the mother of his children … Read more

Siddhartha eats as little as possible. Martina eats as little as possible: thirty grams of cereals each day, a piece of fruit each night. She hates her muscular, athletic body. Her father is dying from a degenerative disease. Siddhartha dying till he receives a gift of milk and rice. Avoid extremes. Not too much, and … Read more

What young Russians want now is something like Andrey Rublev’s face: his overall ginger, his abundant hair and impish smile, his sexy somewhere in between the genders when compared with the manly past. His huge forehand, too, his entire body hurled into each shot he hits. If they could throw themselves into life like that. … Read more

Revered on the tennis court like no one else. Reviled like the Sodomites in Dante’s Inferno. The first male superstar of tennis. (Gay, too, but no one would dare say it. The crowds were too great.) Ranked #1 for six straight years: 1920-1925. Bill Tilden’s got game, style, charisma. Got strategy, too, a thinking man’s … Read more

Four Amish children killed by a gunman. The Amish forgive him. That’s what they recite and teach and repeat in sacred words each day. “Hit the ball as hard as you can.” That’s what Mary’s father said. Situps, pushups, weights, running. Bruises on the arms. Verbal and physical abuse. Mary stays longer and longer in … Read more

Definition #1: In Tennis, the space between the service line and the baselineDefinition #2: In WWI, the space between the trenches of opposing armies You hurt your opponent with a deep shot into the corner. You need to move into no man’s land, anticipate the weak return, steal their time before they steal yours. No … Read more

“I was always dreaming about tattoos and I was dreaming about tigers. It happened for one week, two weeks, three weeks and then one day I woke up and said, “Okay, I’m going to do this. I’m going to get this tiger tattoo.”—Aryna Sabalenka January, 2022: A tiger blocks Sabalenka’s path. Fear, then more fear. … Read more

A Performance Piece Directions:1.  Speak the words in bold directly to another human being.2.  Imagine you are McEnroe playing the four consecutive points described below from his legendary 18-16 Wimbledon tiebreaker against Borg. Hold the racquet like a toothpick, a wand, a paint brush . . .  Mac serving at 5-6 (third championship point for … Read more

Growing up in Saudi Arabia. Why do the women walk behind? Why do they never drive cars? His mother explains. She’s a nurse from Ireland. His father nods. He’s a tennis pro from Nigeria. They had named their son after Michael Jordan. They had named him Michael Mmoh. If you’re outside the top 100 on … Read more

July 20, 1937: If it happened today, it would start like this: “Hey, Don, look at this text.” Gottfried gives Budge his cell. “Good Luck against Budge.” It’s from Adolf Hitler. Gay and no lover of Nazis, Gottfried von Cramm will need more than good luck to avoid their punishments and prisons. Budge will later … Read more

Thought Experiment: Push the thesis that Medvedev is an Octopus. Medvedev the Octopus because he’s 6 feet 6 inches of pretzel boneless arms and legs moving in every direction, swirling out deep and deeper behind the baseline. His greatest skill is defense. You cannot hit through him. You cannot hit around him. You have to … Read more

“George Bush once famously described Newcombe as a ‘black-belt beer drinker,’ his son George W. had one too many with Newk on the night he was arrested for drunk-driving.” On back cover of Newk: Life on and off the court 2020: At Chrystal Bridges Museum, I study President Bush’s strikingly good paintings of veterans who … Read more

2. In the ambition of 19th century America, Hazel’s grandparents travel west as part of a wagon train. They settle in Healdsburg, California, begin to work the land. 3. In the crazy of 20th century America: Hazel’s father starts a canning company that grows and grows until it becomes the Del Monte Corporation. Then business … Read more

After four matches in two days, I asked Greg about his knee. “Getting there,” he said. Then he added: “that could be country song.” “We could end it in heaven,” I said. “We could write it right now in the kitchen.” We were already in Surprise, Arizona. We had qualified for the Sunday semifinals. Getting … Read more

Midsummer, 2022. Though many other players have recommended it, no way I’m playing the Jack Dorsey Memorial Tournament in Wheeling, West Virginia. It’s too far away, a 15 hour drive from home. “Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass. And the eyes of those two Indian ponies / Darken with kindness.”* Across the river from … Read more

Received this email from former Razorbacks Tennis Coach, Robert Cox, on November 28, 2022: “Please reply if you are coming to hit with the Hogs tomorrow, Tuesday night!!  6-8pm…..Coach Jay Udwadia welcomes you to come meet and hit with the Hogs at the indoor courts..” I showed up, of course, with more than 40 other adult … Read more

2022. I’m in a bar in Vancouver with Jack. Jack married Emily a year ago. Emily’s lucky. Jack’s chill, works at Space X, and loves the outdoors. Jack’s luckier: Emily’s my daughter. Jack’s studying for his final flight for his pilot’s license. Since I lost my wife, Jacque, a year ago, I, too, dream of … Read more

If you want a wide range of compelling art about tennis, Jeffrey Sparr is an artist you need to know. As a four year starter on Ohio State’s tennis team, Jeff turned to art as therapy in response to mental health challenges. He then Co-founded PeaceLove Foundation, an organization that equips human service workers with … Read more

PRELUDE Fashionista or Anti-Fashionista? Tennis Traditionalist or Anti-Traditionalist? For many years now, BMS has pushed and pulled and rocked and rolled the world of tennis fashion: her iconic long socks, her various hats and head gear, her endless variety of dresses: leopard skin, zebra stripe, toga, metallica . . . anything imaginable or unimaginable by … Read more

The day after Christmas, my two daughters and I scattered Jacque’s ashes on the small beach in the picture above. Then we watched the waves come in and carry them out to sea. I told Anne and Emily to scatter my ashes here in the very same way. Below is the eulogy I read at … Read more

The Painting: Red, white, and blue. Gold splattered everywhere. The American flag not a Jasper John flag of ironic contemplation, but the rippling backdrop for a full-throated patriotic moment at the 2012 Olympic games. The Bryan Brothers, at 34, have just won their first (and only) gold medal, the greatest moment of their career. Their celebration … Read more

For two summers in the late 1970s, I played tennis every week with a much older player named Van Nguyen–a refugee from Vietnam who played with his shirt off and had the exact same body as the man in the picture above. He was a devilishly good tennis player who never missed and moved the … Read more

I’ve read lots of dry prose about Suzanne Lenglen. Words words words words . . . It’s stuffy inside and I open a window. The breeze coming in feels like turning the pages of Tom Humberstone’s new graphic novel: Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis.  Suzanne’s not a fixed portrait, but a river, a … Read more

What’s the most impressive thing about the Egyptian Pyramids, the Terracotta Warriors? More widely known today than in their infancy, they have endured over 4 millennia. The pyramids and the contents within—the pharoah’s chair, his portrait hewed out of hardest stone, are built to last not only as monuments to the dead but as memorial … Read more

Day 1: Driving all day to Dothan, Alabama. 12 hours in the car with Doug and Bill. We talk tennis, theology, politics. BS, too. Remnants of Hurricane Nicole greet us with wind and rain an hour outside Dothan. Right next to our hotel is a Waffle House. Bill says let’s eat there. It feels like … Read more

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I cry when I see that picture of me as a little girl. Helpless and alone after the surgery, she must lie on her stomach for a week. No one told mom or dad she might need a wheelchair. Alone in the bathroom after another gold medal, I must produce for the mandatory doping test. … Read more

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Note: When I played high school tennis in the 1970s, I heard many say tennis was a “sissy” sport. Not sure I even knew what that meant: effeminate, gay . . . (not sure I even knew what “gay” meant at 15 years old). Those days are gone. Intriguing, though, that Gupta’s gay figure carries a … Read more

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“God gave me two hands. I might as well use them both.” –Randy Sontheimer In the finals of the Colorado State Open, I hit a sharply angled crosscourt backhand. No way my opponent, Randy Sontheimer, could reach the shot. Suddenly he went lefty on me and punched a topspin forehand down the line for a … Read more

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Miscegenation. I first read that word in a Faulkner novel. Métisse (mixed race). I first heard that word in one of Noah’s hit songs.* Half man whispered in the women’s locker room after Mauresmo came out as a lesbian. A mere decade later, a muscular body such as hers was accepted by everyone, desired by many. … Read more

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Mike Roberson and I shake hands after the final match. We both lost our wives this year. I am the lucky one. At 65 years old, two decades older than Mike, I can already check the box called a long, happy life: a blissful marriage of forty years with two beautiful daughters of intelligence and … Read more

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The Sixth Annual Play for Team Luke Tennis and Pickleball Event takes place on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Hardscrabble Country Club in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Click here for more info. Special guests are Jimmy Arias and Luke Jensen. Jimmy Arias: So good so young so slight so overpowering he scared everyone. Hit the forehand so … Read more

Is there a greater story in American history than how Louis Armstrong developed the improvised jazz solo before white and black audiences in the 1920s? Playing before white audiences, Armstrong would rarely stray too far from the tune. Give them something familiar, easy on the mind. Don’t what those white people to have to work … Read more

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Tatjana Maria’s grand slam record before reaching the Wimbledon semifinals in 2022: 13 losses in qualifying rounds, 23 losses in the first round; 10 losses in the second round, 1 loss in the third round. In other words, her greatest success by far comes at age 34 a year after giving birth to her second … Read more

Greek Tragedy #1: That something within everyone like Achilles’ heel is fated and waiting to fail. For Lew Hoad it was his back. Greek Tragedy #2:  What being born a decade too soon might mean: his homeland (Australia) would exile him, history forget him.* (slightly overstated but not much) In Medias Res: Pills swallowed, shots taken, … Read more

The gift he was given was tennis. Segregation was the law in this lawless land, so the color of his skin meant many things: 1) he was not able to play tournaments and compete against his peers 2) he would change the world through the gift of tennis one player at a time. Thousands and … Read more

Solve this problem: Your daughter’s playing with a doll, a gift she just received from a friend.  The doll is white.  1968: John Carlos’ black power salute Arthur Ashe wins the first US Open. 1970: Toni Morrison The Bluest Eye the problem of “whiteness” as a standard of beauty Arthur Ashe wins The Australian Open. … Read more

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Innocence and hats and quiet revolutions. That was before the war. Max Decugis won a record 8 French Championships ending in 1914. Francois Flameng painted Max’s crisply parted black hair and elegant white pants on a tennis court teeming with prewar pastoral: “the men leaving the gardens tidy, The thousands of marriages, / Lasting a … Read more

A woman hits an overhead smash, her racquet a guitar in a cubist painting by Braque or Picasso. Her larger than life limbs travel across countries and centuries of time: ancient, modern, eastern, western. My tennis friends tell me she’s not hitting an overhead. She is hitting the ultimate trick shot, swinging and purposefully missing … Read more

Smells of two worlds mix in the kitchen: one of boiling beans and noodle soup and chile rellenos, the other of black olives and goat cheese and figs. Each day is a clock with its two hands tossing tortillas as a child appears and then another and another till Rafael is born on Sept. 15, … Read more

I double faulted on an important point in a doubles match last weekend. Usually a moment of some agony (few tennis players are intentionally charitable), I smiled at my opponents instead. “Mulligan,” I cried out. (I had purchased 5 mulligans before the match.) So happy to have another serve, I barely thought of all the … Read more

If you could see the moment after in the painting above: Monfils hitting the ground running to cover the next shot, which his opponent misses. If you watch the first two shots in the video below from Tennis TV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWMQJEf3pL8 First Shot: The long sprint forward sudden scissors kick leap high in the air while … Read more

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Her headband draws any softness of hair back away from her fierce, focused eyes. Powerful arms hips legs all work together to crush another backhand winner at the Olympic Games in Rio. No-nonsense, aggressive play. That’s how you take what might be yours. Murals of Monica dot the island. “Siempre va a ser mi recuerdo … Read more

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I softly cried my way through Chapter 25: “Thirty Days in Tuscon.” Maybe I cried because my youngest brother worked through a hidden bottle of Vodka each morning. Maybe I cried because we never knew.  Barry’s parents never knew that, as Barry himself puts it, he was “a suicidal alcoholic bent on destruction.”  In “Thirty … Read more

Tracy Austin “hit the hell out of the ball and never missed and never choked and had braces and pigtails that swung wildly around as she handed pros their asses” (David Foster Wallace). Tracy, in other words, made the big girls cry. She even made the goddesses, the legends of the sport–Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova–cry their … Read more

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January 15, 1941, a light rain descending on Stalag VIII-A: Jean le Boulaire on violin, Henri Akoka on clarinet, Etienne Pasquier on cello. The composer, Oliver Messiaen, plays piano. How to express the mystical truths of Catholicism in the rhythm of musical movement: bird song, Hindu talas, numerical formulas, ancient Greek meters, Gregorian chant. All … Read more

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Pauline works all day at an LA Department Store, then leaps into the back seat of her mother’s car. Her mother negotiates LA traffic while Pauline changes into tennis clothes. Together they will scrimp 17 dollars to travel east. Swing music on the radio drowns out the war. The next year they take out a … Read more

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From left to right in the picture above: Tommy Paul, Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka.  French Open Junior Champion, US Open Junior Champion, Wimbledon Junior Champion. Great mover, Big serve and groundies, Bunyanesque serve. Teenage Trouble Maker, Video Games Guru, Contemporary Art Collector. When I saw this fantastic photo from @zootennis on twitter, I immediately thought … Read more

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Why “le croc?” “The machine” is a better nickname. That’s what Tilden called me because I sent every ball back like the ball machine I would invent in 1947. Invented the steel racquet, too, much later. From wood to steel. Another machine like those human beings in modernist paintings of Fernand Leger. I was called … Read more

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Vitas practiced his weaknesses for hours on end: the second serve, cocaine. This week’s writing challenge: describe his hair. The result, a failure: lion locks Lithuanian in its riding of the rolling level underneath it within it surfers girls waves omg dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon* I want to touch it see it live again please live please … Read more

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On the court before us, Doug Stursma (above) is playing Keith Richardson (once #63 in the ATP World Rankings) at #2 singles. We call it getting Stursmad when you lose to Doug, who at 68 years old hits every shot with heavy slice all over the court without missing while running down every shot you … Read more

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A few days before he was shockingly diagnosed with brain cancer, David Lewerenz called me on the phone to talk tennis. His granddaughter had just been a ball girl at a tournament for one of Iga Swiatek’s (now the world’s #1 player) matches. They shared a Polish heritage, and his granddaughter and Iga spoke briefly … Read more

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All the lines below are from 60-85 year old senior tennis players and their significant others. “Bone on bone.” “Both hips replaced.” “Bet this is the healthiest group of seniors in the country.” “We drive our RV together to tournaments, listen to books on Audible.” “I play for Chile at the Worlds this year.” “I … Read more

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“When the apple is ripe, you eat it.”               (Jennifer’s father, Stefano).  1989:  Five million in endorsements before turning pro.  “And she’s only 13!” (Sports Illustrated Cover).  1991: Capriati’s US Open semifinal vs. Monica Seles–the birth of power tennis in the women’s game–“a slugfest conducted by a pair of teenagers whose strokes defied age, gender and … Read more

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The picture above is of Steve Stagg, who just built a clay court not far from my house in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It’s our favorite place to be. He is holding a copy of Paul McNamee’s book: Welcome to the Dance: Master Clay to Master Tennis. (I describe below a few of this book’s key ideas about … Read more

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Click here to see all 30 years of anecdotes from the Open 13 Provence in Comics: Note: I wrote the piece below after reading through all 30 of Arnaud Brosset’s great comic strips in French (with a dictionary, of course). The links below for each player will take you to the corresponding comic strip. Thirty Years … Read more

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On Painting Li Na: Some comments below taken from Debra Di Blasi’s emails to me: “It’s a bit socialist-art style, which I kind of like. (We have quite a bit of Vietnam and China socialist-style posters, prints and statues, so it was not a big leap.)” “The paper, by the way, is unbleached mulberry, which … Read more

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Rickets. Poor. Ecuador. Dirt. His two small hands sweeping, picking up balls at the Guayaquil tennis club while cruise liners sailed the ocean nearby. This bow-legged kid loved to watch them. Maricon, they called him. “Fairy.” Too small, too weak, so two hands on the forehand. He played and played until everyone wanted to hit with him. … Read more

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I picture her alone before a late Rothko painting, his darkening palette. Steffi’s favorite color was black. Rothko’s floating color field, “a universe for viewers they do not have in the real world.”  Black a type of protection, a barrier against stalkers, reporters, celebrity, noise. Black a tunnel, a cave, a hole, a portal.  The … Read more

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Margaret Court, the Aussie Amazon, did sprints in the sand and lifted weights when workouts for “ladies” were a dirty word. On first encountering her, Martina Navratilova said what so many women felt: “Margaret amazed me with her size and strength.” Nicknamed “The Arm” for her power overhead (the serve, the smash) and incredible reach … Read more

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Shots 11-15 Rafa hits a topspin forehand crosscourt to Fed’s backhand. Scar tissue scar tissue in Federer’s brain, Federer’s backhand. Fed loops a solid backhand back crosscourt. A losing pattern. A losing pattern. Rafa hits a sharper, stronger topspin forehand to Fed’s backhand. Fed covers it in a flash and from way off court surprises … Read more

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With Soviet Union Forever! the propoganda posters shout. Propaganda Posters = Truth, the truth of propaganda posters. Jan Kodes the “son of an independent businessman—reject application to Secondary education!” Eventually the Czechs soften their communist principles. Kodes witnessed the result outside his window in August, 1968: a parking lot full of Russian tanks. Kodes one of … Read more

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Challenge: Combine the two portraits below of Helen Wills as classic beauty and Helen Wills as tennis player into a single portrait. Recommendation: Skip this challenge. Helen Wills as Classic Beauty: Four Male Perspectives Charlie Chaplin on the most beautiful thing in the world: “the movement of Helen Wills playing tennis: it had grace and … Read more

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Shadow Puppets Our doors kicked in to see what’s there. Sometimes bread,sometimes vodka,their rifles bobbingin makeshift chairs. Sometimes a sheeton the basement wall,our fingers dancing,shadow puppetsto a soldier’s flashlight. I did not have words,but I understoodwhen women leftfor another room. Mother refused.She held us closein her iron arms.I begged her to goand save us. She … Read more

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“Everything gets on you fast,” said Aggie Radwanska of Muguruza’s aggressive all-court game: big whopping ground strokes, aggressive returns taken early, big serves and swinging volleys, her lengthy six feet of grace and power always looking to move in closer, smother her opponents with big shot after big shot. Covid came fast, too. Put a … Read more

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On the day Russia–or Putin–invaded Ukraine, the Russian tennis star, Daniil Medvedev, became the #1 player in the world. At his match that night in Acapulco, his wife, Daria Medvedeva, was seen subtly wearing the colors of Ukraine. In Dubai at another tournament, Medvedev’s compatriot, Andrey Rublev, the 7th ranked tennis players in the world, … Read more

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I watched Kerber brood for years on tour. Did not remember her smile till she won the Aussie Open. This portrait painted soon after: big blue eyes, sparkling white teeth. Exaggerate a feature to express a truth. Caricature 101.   Angie’s smile like the lotus flower of Buddhist thought, a moment of beauty arising before … Read more

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Headline: Ons Jabeur Becomes the First Arab Woman to Break into the World’s Top Ten Young Arab women in 22 countries practice Ons Jabeur drop shots of outrageous height and spin. It’s about having the right feel. It’s about having soft hands. Girls in Tunisia and Algeria practice tweeners and trick shots like the one … Read more

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At dawn I sighed to see my hairs fall;At dusk I sighed to see my hairs fall . . . Did Agassi lose his first French Open final because he worried his wig might fall off? “Image is everything.” Vegas, entertainment, the flashy shot. When the going got tough, his beautiful zen-like-deer-in-the-headlight eyes. How to … Read more

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Note: Took a week off from tennis posts to feature this artwork by Tim Huhn. Will return to tennis posts next week with upcoming posts on Agassi, Ons Jabeur, and Helen Wills Moody. Fanfare for the Common Man One man moving industry’s gears. The rising of cities. The coming of war. One man multiplied by … Read more

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After Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament* I have been hopelessly afflicted, from year to year deceived with hopes of improvement, finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady. . . . Four wrist surgeries. One on the right, three on the left. The pain most often returns when I hit a two-handed backhand. I have changed … Read more

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Weimar Berlin’s transvestite balls. Crossdressing women dance with crossdressing men. “What sex are you?” a famous line goes. “What sex do you want me to be?” The painter, George Grosz, saw one of Weimar Germany’s truths before anyone: “this gaily colored froth on top that many people mistook for the true.” Grosz’s art gives us … Read more

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Brian writes me that the inspiration for this piece comes from Donald Barthelme’s story, “The Palace.” In this story, the author is in line at a bank in New York City when he notices the yellow check for $84.06 that a Puerto Rican woman holds. Then he notices that there are many other black and … Read more

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A young girl asks her mother: “How do you know if you are going to die?” The mother answers: “When you can no longer make a fist.”* Ash Barty’s advice to self: have fun be nice if no fun no tennis if not nice no purpose no spiritual . . . ask Evonne G. if … Read more

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“Light blue is like a flute, dark blue like a cello, and when still darker, it becomes a wonderful double bass.” Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Kandinksy saw color in musical/spiritual terms: “Color is a means of exercising direct influence upon the soul. Color is the keyboard. The eye is the hammer, while the soul is a … Read more

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My wife passed away sudddenly in November of last year. Two months earlier, in September, we attended our daughter’s wedding. The above wedding picture includes from left to right: my wife, Jacque; my daughter, Emily; her new husband, Jack Nelson; our younger daughter, Anne; and me. I am so grateful for the 40 rich years … Read more

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September 12, 2021 Dear Emma: Sorry I missed the US Open final today. Incredible that you won it, becoming the first qualifier in the history of tennis to win a major championship.  I am in Seattle celebrating my oldest daughter’s wedding. Emily is 27 years old and much like you, an incredibly hard worker who … Read more

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Happy to share this publication, which just appeared in MasticadoresIndia. My thanks to the editor, Terveen Gill, who is doing terrific work editing this new journal. The link to this publication (the full post) and to MasticadoresIndia is below.   Pete Sampras and Nirvana Remember your first funeral? Pete put his first Wimbledon trophy in … Read more

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March, 2020. Bolivia closes its borders. Paraguay closes its borders. New words are heard: Pandemic, Covid. The cruelest month is April when an everyday miracle occurs. A birth, a baby named “Mila.” “Mila,” a Milagro. In Paraguay the mother is all alone. In Bolivia the father is bereft. The mother’s name is Camila Giangreco Campiz. She … Read more

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Tennis invented so that women and men could play together. Conversation, competition . . . The development of women’s fashion, the body freed from Victorian hoop skirts so it might chase down more balls. Legs for running or for showing off? Feminist or feminine? Traditional or Daring? Married or single? Beautiful or plain? The woman … Read more

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I was 20 and holed up in a hotel room in Frankfurt, Germany contemplating my future. I was torn between two really good career options: to continue being a pro-tennis player (I was beating guys top 100 in the world) or give everything I had to my art. The week involved a tremendous amount of self-assessment, a … Read more

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They come to Little Rock from all over the world: Australia, Ecuador, The Bahamas, Canada, Portugal, Argentina, Colombia, Japan, India, Barbados, Chile, the Dominican Republic. They come to fight for points. Ryan Harrison, recovering from elbow surgery, must arrive five days early and win a Wild Card tournament of 32 players just to get into … Read more

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