Team Luke: In Memory of Luke Siegel

My Boy by Jeffrey Sparr*

My Boy by Jeffrey Sparr*

Tuesday nights at the University of Arkansas I play tennis with the greatest group of players imaginable: talented juniors, male and female, former Razorback players, a bunch of other 4.5 players from the local community. One night former Razorback coach Robert Cox invited Tim Siegel and Bobby Banks. Both had played on tour and for the University of Arkansas. Bobby Banks had coached Monica Seles. Tim Siegel had just retired as the head coach at Texas Tech. He was there to talk about what no one ever wants to talk about: his son Luke’s recent traumatic brain injury. 

After we hit and played doubles for an hour, we headed upstairs to hear Tim speak. While Tim struggled to tell us his story—it was still so raw emotionally—I kept looking down at the ground, then up again into other people’s eyes. We were all either crying or stunned well beyond tears as Tim talked about the father and son stuff he did with Luke: playing catch, watching Saints games, reading his son to sleep. 

In response to this tragedy, Tim Siegel founded Team Luke, an organization dedicated to helping families whose children have suffered traumatic brain injuries. Every year Team Luke has an annual fundraiser in Northwest Arkansas to help other families whose children have suffered traumatic brain injuries.  I attended two recent annual fundraisers, one with Andre Agassi and one with Andy Roddick as the featured guests. I remember Coach Cox taking me aside and explaining what each person on every court had done in the tennis world, how so many in the tennis community were there to help Team Luke. This year’s event features Brad Gilbert and the Jensen Brothers on October 2 in Fort Smith.  I hope to see many of you there.

While I was writing this, the sad news came that Luke had died. There’s not much to say except the loss is great, the work continues.

Our prayers and thoughts are with the Siegel family.

About Team Luke: Here’s the link for the upcoming event on Oct. 2: Play for Team Luke with Brad Gilbert and the Jensen Brothers.

You can learn more about Team Luke and Luke’s story on the Team Luke website.

*About the Artist:

On a whim, and with no background or training, Sparr decided to try his hand at painting. Like discovering a superpower, he found painting dramatically subdued the symptoms of his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), providing a creative outlet and sense of control. Sparr has been crowned the "Forrest Gump" of painting, Forrest didn't stop running, Sparr hasn't stopped painting. This discovery changed the course of Jeff’s life.

Jeff paints with passion and purpose, using foam brushes, brash strokes and bold colors. He works quickly, pouring his energies onto the canvas. Brush in hand, he is in a zone, experiencing the quietude of his own mind. He is the man in the fedora: cool, strong, and self-assured. “I’m the peaceman,” he says, “it’s like a Superman thing.”

Jeff has harnessed his superpower and is on a mission to help millions of people find peace of mind through the arts. "I painted it made me feel better, I thought it would help others, that simple."

Click here to go to Jeffrey Sparr’s website

If you wish to make any comments on “Team Luke: In Memory of Luke Siegel  ” feel free to leave them below or contact me. To see more art and short writings on tennis, you can check out or follow my new weekly blog for Tennis Players as Works of Art on my website.

David Hall’s Golden Socks

This piece was co-written by David Hall and David Linebarger

David Hall.png

This party was a once off.  To win a gold medal in a Paralympics not only in my home country, but actually in the city of my birth where I lived would never happen again. –David Hall

The gold medal’s been in my sock drawer for 20 years, so whenever I get socks I relive the day, its unrelenting pressure, the over 10,000 fans waving Aussie flags, the muscle-bound arms of the American Stevie Welch, my archrival, pushing his wheelchair like a madman . . .  

I press harder and harder, litter the first set with errors and lose it in a tiebreaker. When I go down early in the second, I start sneaking into the net, totally against my nature, trying anything to change the dynamics. At 5-4 in the second, my set point, I hit a sweet backhand up the line, the American grunting trying to track it down, the crowd beginning to roar through the windy conditions that always seem to blow through the suburbs of Sydney, my birthplace, my home . . . The umpire calls out the score, but no one can hear. The crowd was all in, and so was I.  

At 5-2 up in the third, at the change of ends, the emotions start to bubble up. I have to stay calm, play a solid game. When the American hits a final forehand long, the tears start to run down my face. Tears of relief and dreams and obstacles and triumph as the Australian flag is raised and the national anthem sung, as the three medalists do a lap of the court in front of 10,000 fans, as I do another lap alone, holding aloft an Australian flag somebody in the crowd had given me. 

I tell this story to another small crowd before me with a smile on my face. I know someone wants to ask: “Why does a man without feet need socks?” My stumps get cold, I tell them. 

Socks and medals, strange bedfellows. 

About David Hall:

A member of both the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame, David Hall is quite simply one of the greatest wheelchair players in the history of the sport. Ranked #1 in the world for six different years, he has won 33 major championships. The reference to “All In” in the artwork above is to his memorable Induction Speech for the International Tennis Hall of Fame. More biographical information is available on this page as well. Check out his cool personal website and his great website called Let’s Roll: Learning Wheelchair Tennis with the Pros. You can also follow him on Twitter.

 

About the Artist:

Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Nial Smith is a designer/artist/illustrator/filmmaker. He is most famous in tennis circles for his witty spoof movie poster of Andy Murray (and other players) such as Crocodile Dunblane.

If you wish to make any comments on “David Hall’s Golden Socks,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  To see more posts for Tennis Players as Works of Art, you can follow my weekly blog which features creative collaborations and tennis art from around the world. Posts for the last month included “Maria Sakkari: Greek Goddess or Greek Olympian,” “Bobby Riggs on his Death Bed,” and “Tennis in the Year 3040.”

Hiding Inside the Baseline, The Story of Bobby Blair

Bobby Blair with Billie Jean King.png

Bobby Blair with Billie Jean King.png

Bobby Blair’s Hiding Inside the Baseline is the compelling, must-read story about a young boy from a poor family—incredibly supportive mother, alcoholic father—who begins working towards becoming one of the top tennis prospects in the country. Hard enough, right? Add to this challenge Bobby’s growing awareness, from the age of 13 years old, that he is gay. So for all its great detail about the tennis world, Hiding Inside the Baseline becomes a story primarily about the three simple words it would take Bobby Blair more than thirty years to say to the tennis community: “I am gay.” His struggle becomes whether to hide the fact that he is gay, no matter how great the emotional, the psychic costs. Should I hide the truth from my friends, including two serious girlfriends (one in college and one after college)? Should I hide the truth from my teammates, my coach, the media, etc? Given the costs, and very real risks, of coming out at the time (the 1980s and 90s), many would have chosen to live a lie in order to protect their livelihood. They would have damaged their own integrity, hurt others around them, hid the truth from everyone. This is the story of Bobby Blair.

Bobby Blair with Aaron Krickstein.png

Bobby Blair with Aaron Krickstein.png

Nick Bollettieri calls you over to play some young unknown kid named Andre Agassi who kept smacking bullets for winners. You become the #6 player in the country playing for the University of Arkansas. You have the biggest win of your career when you beat Pat Cash the year before he won Wimbledon, then you begin to panic, avoiding the media at all costs, trying to hide everything about your private life. As he grew older, the only place Bobby Blair felt he could fully relax was within pockets of the largely hidden gay community. Like many other gay males back then, he came to live an intense double life. He was “Mark from Florida” at night, “Bobby Blair” the tennis player during the day. He also saw firsthand how many young gay men suffered from being outcasts in their society, often escaping by turning to alcohol, drugs, and unhealthy sexual relationships.

In his foreword to Hiding Inside the Baseline, Nick Bollettieri writes: “The timing is perfect for Bobby’s book. It might serve as a catalyst for another generation of youngsters to trust that they can reach their potential if they only remain true to themselves.” With the inclusion of almost 50 letters of support from friends and family and colleagues, many of them quite moving, Bobby Blair makes it clear that “coming out with pride and dignity would have happened for me years ago if I knew I would have been this loved and supported.” In sharing his story, then, Bobby Blair hopes to “build a bridge between two parties that hardly know each exist. The scared, closeted athlete and those among the straight, tolerant, loving, and accepting culture that surrounds their every step.”

Check out the book. Share it with others. Walk a few miles in a gay male athlete’s shoes. Let’s help Bobby Blair build that bridge.  

About Bobby Blair & Barry Buss

Bobby Blair (born October 24, 1964) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Blair was one of the top junior tennis players of his country.[1] He was an All-American at the University of Arkansas and participated in the 1986 Goodwill Games.[2] Blair is gay. In 2014, he authored of a memoir titled Hiding Inside the Baseline, about his personal journey as a gay athlete who did not come out until his late forties.  (Taken from Wikipedia)

Barry Buss is the author of a memoir titled “First in a Field of Two.” He can be reached at Barrybuss1964@yahoo.com for all sorts of future writing projects.

Listen to the podcast version of Hiding Inside the Baseline.

Hiding Inside the Baseline, by Bobby Blair and Barry Buss, is available at Amazon and elsewhere.

If you wish to make any comments on “Hiding Inside the Baseline.” feel free to leave them below or contact me. To see more art and short writings on tennis, you can check out my new weekly blog or podcast for Tennis Players as Works of Art.

Toupie’s Ghost

Toupie Lowther, Photograph Postcard, c. 1900. Copyright from the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. Used with Permission from the WLTM.

Note: I first heard of Toupie Lowther from the Wimbledon Museum Twitter Feed, which included this photograph postcard of Toupie Lowther, on Feb. 5, 2021: “We have been researching previously overlooked players in tennis and wanted to share this postcard of May ‘Toupie’ Lowther with you. Wimbledon semi-finalist in 1903 and 1906, Lowther was believed to be the first openly lesbian player in the sport.” 1/2 “Not just a successful tennis player, Lowther was also a keen fencer, motorist and jujitsu player, and held a science degree from the Sorbonne.” 2/2

In the piece below, I reimagine Toupie Lowther as Toupie’s ghost, still alive today, haunted by the possibility that the primary character in the controversial “first lesbian novel,” Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness, a girl named Stephen, was partially modeled after her. (This is most likely true, though we will never know for sure.) Toupie’s Ghost has plenty to say about Wimbledon as well.

Toupie’s Ghost

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall was an overly sentimental novel–half-Victorian/half-Freudian–by a half-talented writer of ambition. Its protagonist is a girl named Stephen based, in part, on my life as a “queer” person. Too bad Virginia Woolf did not write it. I might not be a ghost right now. “Toupie was bitter about the book because she wanted to be known as the only invert” (Una Toubridge) Right. Just what every “queer” person wants.  

We cannot touch, be touched. Not lips, but lipless. Arms without flesh. As Achilles said to Odysseus in the afterlife: “I would rather be the lowest slave in life that lord it over all the dead.” And I, Toupie Lowther, would rather be a “queer” person at the dawn of the 20th century than Toupie’s ghost.  I drove fast cars and motorbikes, fenced military men before gawking crowds. Made the semifinals at Wimbledon, too. I composed music, setting poems of Tennyson and Oscar Wilde. I helped organize and lead an all-women troupe of ambulance drivers near the front in WWI: but if “you too could pace / Behind the wagon that we flung him in, / And watch the white eyes writhing in his face” (Wilfred Owen). Not even we ghosts could contemplate all that suffering, death.
 
Hillyard wrote of my tennis: “her potentialities were greater than any other English lady who ever walked on court, but she was unfortunately saddled with a temperament which was so hopelessly unsuitable to lawn tennis.” If I could have focused more, ended the points more quickly, made it all parry and thrust, serve and volley. (Everyone said I would have won an Olympic gold medal in fencing if it had been an Olympic event.) If I had played in the 1970s or 80s before Venus and Serena came along, I might have transformed a legendary trio of Wimbledon champions into a quartet of serve and volley Amazons with multiple Wimbledon titles: Martina Navratilova (9 titles), Billie Jean King (6 titles), Toupie Lowther (4 titles), Margaret Court (3 Titles). What a dinner party that might be. I could ask Amelie “half man” (can you believe Hingis called her that?) Mauresmo to come and bring bottles of wine from her cellar. Maybe Mauresmo would be my model. Way too nervy on court, always seemed to play below her potential. Then one year she won Wimbledon.

One Wimbledon might be enough.

About The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum: This must-see stop for all tennis fans houses a collection of more than 20,000 objects, chronicling the history of lawn tennis and The Championships, Wimbledon. It boasts the largest collection of any tennis museum in the world. My thanks to Sarah Frandsen, Photo Library & Picture Coordinator, for allowing me to use this great photo of Toupie Lowther from their collection.

I am also grateful for Val Brown’s helpful biography of Toupie Lowther, which is the source for some of the information above about Toupie’s fascinating life.

If you wish to make any comments on “Toupie’s Ghost” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  To see more art and short writings on tennis, you can check out or follow my new weekly blog for Tennis Players as Works of Art on my website.

Suzanne Lenglen and Watteau’s Pilgrimage to Cythera

Suzanne Lenglen and Watteau’s Pilgrimage to Cythera by Brooke Hunter *

Imagine Lenglen playing tennis in a hidden corner of Antoine Watteau’s Pilgrimage to Cythera. Dressed more lightly than the crowds of spectators in their rococo frills, her body is both concealed and revealed in all its ballet. A breast can be glimpsed or imagined. Lenglen’s every tennis stroke a musician’s glissando or dancer’s glissade perfectly guided and placed as if on a handkerchief on her opponent’s side of the court. (Her father trained her using real handkerchiefs.) Performance pressure? When she feels too much, she sips a little cognac on changeovers. Watteau’s lovers in attendance are thrilled, dazzled. Their lovemaking later will be enhanced and forgotten, the island’s reigning sculpture of Venus displaced by a real-life Goddess of the homely. As the other great players of the 1920s described Lenglen: “You can’t imagine a homelier face” (Helen Wills).  “Heaven knows no one could call her beautiful” (Bill Tilden). But Lenglen as Goddess, nevertheless.  Goddess as mystique, as popular song. The classic WWI song, “There’s a long, long trail a winding,” became a Lenglen trail of spectators winding more than a mile to see her at Wimbledon. Did Louis the Sun King have that? Goddess meaning she smoked and drank through six consecutive Wimbledon singles titles. Goddess meaning tennis as ballet to the music of Lully, Rameau. The absolutism of Louis XIV gives way to the rococo dreamscapes of Watteau. WW1 gives way, a memory. Suzanne Lenglen conquers France. 

About the Artist:

Originally from the Midwest, Brooke Hunter is a 23-year-old artist who just completed her BFA in drawing and painting from the Laguna College of Art and Design. Brooke and her work are part of a feature article on “21 under 31” in a recent issue of Southwest Art. While she’s not painting, Brooke teaches classical realism to children and adults at Art Steps in Laguna Hills, California.

The writing for this work originally appeared in Cagibi.

If you wish to make any comments on “Suzanne Lenglen” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  To see more art and short writings on tennis, you can check out or follow my new weekly blog for Tennis Players as Works of Art on my website. Recent and forthcoming posts feature art from the Berlin Tennis Gallery, The Wimbledon Tennis Museum, and from many artists around the world.

Guga’s Hair, 1997

Gustavo Kuerten by Cristiano Siqueira *

Novak Djokovic’s unruly wig bouncing Djoker caricaturing Gustavo Kuerten so that he looks like a bobblehead sports doll, Guga’s hair in reality so loose and free his body so loose-limbed and free dancing and bobbing to some unheard Brazilian music while he coils uncoils one-handed backhands big flat first serves sudden drop shots Guga’s body flying in so many directions he’s not stylish like Maria Bueno, the Sao Paulo Swallow, who was “incomparably balletic and flamboyant” (Bud Collins), but Guga’s style be so loose and free in its tennis player’s zone bounce in the step/jive/groove/samba/choro/bosso nova that cannot be boxed or contained in categories of words, Guga’s contagious smile enhancing it all, this joy that championship tennis at Roland Garros does not have to executed by great mighty grinders like Borg (six titles), Wilander (3 titles), Lendl (3 titles), but can be an artistic display of loose-limbed one-handers and flamboyant forehands struck with flair and panache and a stealth weapon called Luxilon, those new-fangled Luxilon polyester strings which allowed Guga to swing even more freely get even more pace and spin so that I dreamed one night Guga’s hair was all Luxilon strings thinner but as lethal as Medusa’s snakes, and all the writers of history would later confirm it, this revolution in weaponry, so that tennis would never be the same again.

* About the Artist

The Brazilian designer/illustrator Cristiano Siqueira (CrisVector) has won numerous awards for his work, including two National Society of Design awards, one for his portraits of the Kennedy Honors recipients for the Washington Post, and two Clio awards, one for his series of national team posters for the FIFA 2014 World Cup. His long list of clients include ESPN, Nike, Rolling Stone, Variety, Gillette . . .  His portrait of Gustavo Kuerten first appeared as one of 18 portraits he did for the first Brazilian ESPN publication in 2010. To see more of Cristiano Siqueira’s work, you can visit his website or follow him on Instagram.

If you wish to make any comments on “Guga's Hair, 1997,” feel free to leave them below or contact me. If you wish to see more artwork on tennis, you can follow Tennis Players as Works of Art on Instagram or on Facebook. My other innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my website.

Cliff Richey and the Belly of the Whale: Acing Depression

Beat Depression by  Jeffrey Sparr **

You’re a frigging protozoan sitting there. You’re fixing to drown.* In the catacombs of early Christian art, the Jonah story lingers, pointing to an extensive oral history of dramatic tellings and retellings. You start reaching pain levels you didn’t think were there. Heaviness descending over you. It sits on you. The whale crudely drawn on catacomb walls, Jonah allegorically seen as Christ, at first, then the Christian believer, delivered from death. Perfect for all the dead lying buried around. I put black trash bags over the windows. I sealed the edges with tape. My mind became dark; and then darker; and then darker still. The belly of the whale might also symbolize any extended period of darkness or despair. For Cliff Richey, the belly of the whale has a contemporary name: clinical depression. (I would write a hymn to Zoloft here, but Cliff Richey does it better.) To battle depression, Richey suggests we analyze all our own strengths and weaknesses and never stop fighting, never give in. Good advice for any tennis player! For Cliff and Nancy Richey, arguably the greatest brother-sister duo in the history of tennis, “winning was the be-all and the end-all. It was our life, our business, our religion.” While such a laser-like focus on winning might help one beat depression, it might also, at least for many world-class athletes, lead to some form of depression later in life. Depression, of course, is a complex topic. It is just as likely, or more likely, that this or that chemical imbalance, however it came about, is the culprit that buries so many in despair and darkness. How many might be partially cured when they share their story, as Cliff Richey has courageously done, as a kind of guidebook to help others cure themselves? How many more are cured when life becomes not so much winning and losing but helping and supporting others? Good question for any tennis player! Some might say that’s when God saves anyone from the belly of the whale.

* A three-time grand slam semifinalist in singles, Cliff Richey was a top American tennis player for many years, reaching a career high of #6 in the world in 1970. His sister, Nancy Richey, won the first French Open singles Championship in 1968 and is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The words in Italics and quotes are all from Cliff Richey’s Acing Depression: A Tennis Champion’s Toughest Match, published by New Chapter Press. Our gratitude to Cliff Richey for sharing his private struggles in such a public way. He has helped many in their own battles with depression. We will never know their numbers. 

Artist, Jeffrey Sparr

** About the Artist (taken from JeffreySparr.com)

A mental health advocate and self-taught artist, Jeffrey Sparr was a four-year starter and team captain on the Ohio State University tennis team. When he graduated in 1985, he was the 3rd winningest player in Ohio State History. Diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in college, Jeff battled with this disease for many years before discovering, on a whim, that painting dramatically subdued the symptoms of his OCD, providing a creative outlet and sense of control. Sparr has been crowned the "Forrest Gump" of painting: Forrest didn't stop running, Sparr hasn't stopped painting. This discovery changed the course of Jeff’s life. Ever since then, Jeff has been on a mission to help others through the arts, founding, along with his cousin, the nonprofit organization PeaceLove. You can learn more about Jeff Sparr’s art and work as a mental health advocate on his website.

About PeaceLove (from the PeaceLove website)

PeaceLove helps create peace of mind. Through expressive arts programs and storytelling, they empower individuals and communities to share their mental health stories and discover new tools for mental wellness. Their CREATORS Program equips frontline professionals to deliver ongoing expressive arts workshops to their diverse communities. CREATORS work directly with individuals, families and groups to help them achieve improved mental health through creativity. You can learn more about the great work PeaceLove does with its many partners on their website.

If you wish to make any comments on “Cliff Richey and the Belly of the Whale,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  If you wish to see more artwork on tennis, you can follow Tennis Players as Works of Art on Instagram or on Facebook. My other innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my website.

Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova, by Tom Lohner *

Sharapova painted as a relentless puppet machine in a femme fatale nightmare. “Surreal but Real” is how Tom Lohner describes his art. Sharapova painted the moment before she cracks a serve, the background paint dripping upward in anticipatory dread: each one of Sharapova’s cool assassin’s bullets accompanied by 100 decibel shrieks and screams. Some fans complain, but they all come out to watch this tall-leggy-Russian-American-six-page-spread in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.  

Year after year, more endorsement money than any female athlete on earth. But not easy being blonde, a bombshell. Not easy getting spanked by Serena Williams 18 straight times for 12 straight years ouch! ouch! ouch! ouch! after Sharapova beat her at Wimbledon and the WTA finals in 2004.

Her game’s built on two great strengths. 1) Sharapova’s one of the purest ball strikers ever, rifling fearless, powerful groundstrokes repeatedly close to the lines. 2) Sharapova’s one of the toughest, grittiest competitors tennis has ever known. In hundreds of matches big and small, I have rarely seen her lose focus or choke. “During games of special importance, you can increase your Mildronate [the trade name for Meldonium] dose to 3-4 pills (1hr before the match).” 

How to win matches, how to look good, all the while selling products, the female self. “I shop therefore I am,” writes the feminist artist Barbara Kruger. Female identity, how it’s constructed . . . 

* About the Artist

The wildly inventive and popular Austrian artist, Tom Lohner, has the following credo: “Where passion pulls – follow. Never question this – it may be the only chance in your life to be truly alive.” Celebrated for paintings that combine a traditional medium of acrylic colors and futurist aesthetics, Tom Lohner is perhaps most famous for his Art of Hard Rock series, where he transformed 13 iconic rock stars into animals, a show that toured throughout Europe in various Hard Rock Cafes. As a classical music lover, my favorite painting of his is Vivaldi. Check it out! You can learn more about him and his work on Tom Lohner’s website.

If you wish to make any comments on “Maria Sharapova,” feel free to leave them below or contact me. More original artworks and innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my website. To see more of Tennis Players as Works of Art, you can also follow me on Instagram.

Jana Novotna and Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

Jana Novotna and the Duchess by Stephen Gulbis*

Leading 4-1, 40-30 in the final set for the Wimbledon title, Novotna’s second serve sails halfway to the baseline. Double fault. Deuce. Tension. Novotna pokes a sitter forehand volley way over the baseline. Ad-out. Jana’s legs imperceptibly heavier move back on a lob, her shoulder metamorphosing tightening up slowing down as it strikes the ball meekly into the bottom of the net. “It was no dream.” 4-1, 4-2, 4-3. Double fault.  Double fault.  Double fault. Audible groans in the cathedral of tennis. Difficult to watch, difficult to worship.  4-4.  Move your feet. Do not overthink. Swing freely. 4-4.  4-5.  Just go for your shots.  Relax. Just get the ball in. A tentative backhand slice hits the tape. “Gregor’s numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to rest of his bulk, waved helpless before his eyes.” Jana cries on the Duchess’ shoulder. The cameras click. The writers write. The whole world reads what is written. “I love it,” Novotna would later say. “I think about it all the time.”

Footnote: Novotna won Wimbledon, her one grand slam singles title, five years after one of the greatest chokes in the history of sport.

* About the Artist

Portrait of Jana Novotna and the Duchess of Kent by Stephen Gulbis. This work is part of “The Ace Heroes Series” commissioned by the Lawn Tennis Association. Steve studied Graphic Design at Bath Academy of Art. He has been a freelance illustrator since 1981, working in publishing and advertising, before writing and illustrating children's picture books. Currently working as a sports illustrator, Steve lives with his wife in Dunbar, Scotland. 

If you wish to make any comments on “Jana Novotna and Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  If you want so see additional images of Jana Novotna by the artist or download an audio file, you can visit “Jana Novotna” on my website. 

Justine Henin’s Backhand: Music of the Spheres

Justine Henin’s Backhand by Brooke Hunter *

I watch Justine in slow motion, the transfer of weight from back to front foot, the coiling uncoiling of the legs the hips the shoulders the core. (Is it true she did a thousand sit ups a day?) Justine’s one-handed backhand, “the most beautiful shot in tennis” (John McEnroe). If all life could be as anticipated yet unexpected. If all life could be so powerful yet loose, free-flowing. If we could somehow record all the spectator’s sighs in the world’s stadiums the moment after. If we could record all these sighs, apply the Zen of John Cage, the minimalism of Steve Reich, the ensuing music would be as sacred as Palestrina’s a cappella masses, as mysterious as the sound of whales. 

Discarded lines, Detritus:

1. When a woman slaps a man, she does not slap him with the back of her hand. The backhanded swing lacks power, is unnatural to the human form.

2. “Pound for pound, Justine the best player of her generation” (Billie Jean King).

3.  I never saw Justine’s backhand live, but I remember sighs from 2,000 spectators after every Gasquet one-hander waved its baton to an orchestra of fans on an intimate US Open court.

* About the Artist

Originally from the Midwest, Brooke Hunter is a 23-year-old artist who just completed her BFA in drawing and painting from the Laguna College of Art and Design. Brooke and her work are part of a feature article on “21 under 31” in the current issue of Southwest Art. While she’s not painting, Brooke

If you wish to make any comments on “Justine Henin’s Backhand,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  My other innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my Instagram.

Jimmy Connors

Jimmy Connors by Leonardo Luque **

Note: Like a monk copying manuscripts in the dark ages, I have faithfully copied the following sentences from a source with the strangest of titles: Jimmy Connors Saved My Life, by Joel Drucker.* As I rearranged each sentence into separate chapters of my own making, I contemplated each sentence for a moment, a minute, a lifetime.

Chapter 1: “Kill or be killed.”
Chapter 2: “Raised by Women to Conquer Men.”
Chapter 3: “Belleville was Sparta, a warrior’s boot camp. Beverly Hills was Athens, a hedonist’s delight.”
Chapter 4: “I’m not Mr. Connors. That was my father. Mister this, sir that. All that formal crap.”
Chapter 5: “Shove their country clubs and rich daddies right up their Protestant butts.”
Chapter 6: “His game tilted toward the edge. His temperament was anti-Establishment.”
Chapter 7: “Connor’s unprecedented skill at hating his opponents was the rocket fuel of his career.”
Chapter 8: “Connors had the guns. His biggest gun was his crosscourt backhand.”
Chapter 9: “No one had ever thrown himself at every ball with such intensity.”

 “Now the metal was about to come alive in ways no one could imagine. It was time for Connors and tennis to go electric.”

Chapter 10: “To get a stadium rocking like that is a kick you can’t believe.”
Chapter 11: “By the end of the decade, Connors played 15 of the 16 highest rated TV matches in tennis history.”
Chapter 12: “For the eighth and final time (more than any tennis player), Connors was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Chapter 13: “While Connors floated into myth, I walked in history.” 
Chapter 14: “When you think of Connors, cherish the fight. Cherish the struggle for survival.”

* About Joel Drucker

One of the most knowledgeable and talented writers on any sport, Joel Drucker has written superbly and widely on tennis since 1982. As part of Tennis Channel's team since the network stared airing in 2003, he has produced an endless stream of work as a writer, story-editor and producer on all things tennis. His writing has also appeared in many other venues, including the New York Times, Tin House, Huffington Post, Salon, Tennis Magazine, Racquet Magazine . . .  In 2016, he was named historian-at-large by the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Published in 2004, his Jimmy Connors Saved My Life is quite simply one of the best books on tennis ever written. To learn more about Joel Drucker and his many accomplishments as a writer and producer, you can visit his website.

Just so readers know Joel Drucker approves of me copying all these sentences from his book, he wrote me after seeing this writing on “Jimmy Connors”: “I'm honored that you've found my work a source of inspiration and creation.”

** About the Artist

A retired Colombian naval officer, Leonardo Luque earned his fine arts degree in 2012 from Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogota, Colombia. A high-ranking senior tennis player in men’s 60 singles, Leo has drawn all his life and is especially interested in the beauty and motion of the human body. Over the past year, Leonardo Luque has created original portraits of numerous players in action for “Tennis Players as Works of Art,” including Ken Rosewall, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, and John McEnroe. He currently resides with his family in Boca Raton, Florida.

If you wish to make any comments on “Jimmy Connors,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  My other innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my website. To see more of Tennis Players as Works of Art, you can also follow me on Instagram.

Andy Murray: The Pressure of Wimbledon

Andy Murray by Bam*
First appeared as cover art for Open Tennis Mag
Reprinted with permission from the artist

Pressure: “the exertion of a force on one body by another body, fluid, etc.” Item: Mouth ulcers every year when Wimbledon comes around. Cliché: Andy carries the weight of an entire nation, 76 years since the last male champion.  Item: Murray got tight, choked for long stretches in his first grand slam final (2008 US Open) (2-6, 5-7, 2-6).  Item: Murray got tight, choked for long stretches in his second grand slam final (2010 Australian Open) (3-6, 4-6, 6-7).  Item:  Murray got tight in his third grand slam final (2011 Australian Open), choked for long stretches (4-6, 2-6, 3-6).  Each time a little better, but each time the pressure messed with his head/body/game. Up until this point, Murray has arguably choked in more grand slam finals than anyone. The commentator’s words as Murray serves for the 2013 Wimbledon championships: “I wonder how many times he’s thought about this.” Murray wins the first three points. 40-love. Cliché: Everyone’s on the edge of their seat. Djokovic, the best player in the world, wins the next three points to get back to deuce. Cliché:  anything can happen. Item: Murray played well--did not choke--but lost his fourth grand slam final at Wimbledon in 2012. Cliché: He cried like a baby for days. Cliché: Before he serves, you can hear a pin drop. Cliché: Murray looks down, his left arm shaking. Cliché: Everyone waits to breathe a sigh of relief. Murray saves three break points, deuce a fourth time. Cliché: Ten minutes can seem a lifetime. A running forehand by Murray, championship point. Djokovic misses a backhand. It’s over. Headline, cliché: “Heaviest of burdens is finally lifted to an entire nation’s relief.”

* About the Artist (taken from Bam’s webpage on Behance)

Born and raised in Taichung, Bam is a Taipei based illustrator/designer. As a sports maniac and an enthusiast on street style fashion trends and lifestyle, the majority of his work includes athletes, sneakers, street style fashion trends, movies, and even political events, with a tendency to zombify some of the figures in his work. The name Bam originated from the Chinese character “竹”,(“bamboo” in English,) which is part of his Chinese name. The word BAM is also an exclamation used to express extreme excitement or happiness, resulting from some sort of accomplishments. Hopefully, each of his works can bring out a big BAM! You can follow Bam and his exciting work on Instagram.

If you wish to make any comments on “Andy Murray: The Pressure of Wimbledon,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  My other innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my website. To see more of Tennis Players as Works of Art, you can also follow me on Instagram.

Arthur Ashe

Arthur Ashe by Justin Bua **

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. 1972: Bettye Saar The Liberation of Aunt Jemima. 1975: Ashe slowballs Connors to win Wimbledon “no matter what I do, or where or when I do it, I feel the eyes of others watching me, judging me.” Arthur avoids tennis clubs where he is not allowed, skips tournaments he cannot enter, turning and turning as contemplative as inward as Rembrandt, his favorite artist. In Rembrandt’s “Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer,” Ashe sees the “close kinship between admiration and envy” he must feel when contemplating John Carlos or Muhammad Ali—black athletes who could protest in ways Ashe’s personality and patriotism would not allow. Ashe always soft-spoken and behind the scenes. “The problem with you, Arthur, is that you are not arrogant enough” (Jesse Jackson). White racists told Ashe how to live.  Black activists told Ashe how to live. Should he take the white doll away from his daughter during a nationally televised benefit for the Arthur Ashe Foundation of Aids the year before his death? Does the the burden of race weighs more than the burden of AIDS? Nelson Mandela in prison reads “A Hard Road to Glory,” Ashe’s three volume history of the black athlete. Ashe cannot abide any sacrifice of dignity, any sacrifice of morality, the question always always how can a black person live a life of freedom and dignity. In his excursions to South Africa to play tennis, Ashe did as much as anyone to challenge the system of apartheid. Mandela in America smiling that smile when someone whispers Ashe’s name in his ear: “Ah, Arthur is here.”

*much of the material here is taken from Ashe’s Days of Grace

** About the Artist (From BUA’s Justin BUA)

 Justin BUA is an award-winning artist, author, speaker, and entrepreneur. Groundbreaking in his field, BUA is internationally known for his best-selling collection of fine art posters—the DJ being one of the most popular prints of all time. BUA exhibits throughout the United States and internationally—with recent shows at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Pop International Gallery, New York. His energetic and vocal worldwide fan bases ranges from former presidents, actors, musicians, professional athletes and dancers, to street kids and art connoisseurs.

I recently finished reading BUA’s second art book, The Legends of Hip Hop, which is aptly described as the definitive word on hip hop from its leading artist. Highly recommended! Check out, for example, this fantastic group portrait of A Tribe Called Quest. If you’re a fan of music or sports or just great painting, I also recommend joining Justin Bua’s legions of followers on Instagram.  His live “Rage Against the Brush” shows are, for me, one of best ways of staying informed about what’s happening out there.

Justin Bua on Arthur Ashe (taken from BUA’s Instagram Post on Ashe)

Arthur Ashe was an African-American social and civil rights activist. He was also the first African-American notable male tennis player. The only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. If we delve into the life of Ashe we see an extraordinary influential social and civil rights activist. Certainly, there would be no Colin Kaepernick without the greatness of figures like Arthur Ashe in sports history.

“Arthur Ashe” was originally published in Another Chicago Magazine.

If you wish to make any comments on “Boris Becker,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  My other innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my website. To see more of Tennis Players as Works of Art, you can also follow me on Instagram.

Boris Becker

Boris Becker by Miki de Goodaboom **

A thought experiment: let’s push nationalism too far. The television stations in Germany would shift other sporting events to different times so the entire nation could watch Becker’s matches.  A Becker match meant drama: Sturm und Drang. The rocking motion before the serve, then boom. (Only Sampras had a better big serve under pressure.) The dramatic, diving volleys on grass. The Becker fist. The Becker shuffle. Becker himself said his performances on court were a type of lovemaking between he and the spectators: electric, erotic, power and lust, body and soul. The pre 20th-century heroes of Germany—Luther, Beethoven, Marx, Nietzsche—moved societies, thought. Becker was just a tennis player who happened to win Wimbledon in 1985 at seventeen years old, then repeated this feat the next year. Did a German century of defeat and shame help forge Becker into an even greater hero? * Nie Wieder. Never again. I saw these words everywhere when I lived in Germany for a year just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In East Germany the rise of the Neo-Nazis. In West Germany they insisted I tour the camps. I watched Becker all the time on TV.

*A question, I realize, that is unfair to Becker. All celebrity is gloriously unfair. To what extent any great athlete—or any less important person, say you or me--should be linked to their country’s culture and history is a thorny question. To what extent any country’s reaction to a great athlete can be linked to that country’s culture and history is perhaps, perhaps not, a less thorny question.

** About the Artist:
Born in the French Pyrenees, Miki de Goodaboom moved to Goettingen, Germany at age 19 to study mathematics and physics. After graduating, she worked for many years in German industry as a mathematician and consultant until she moved to Spain, Andalucia, where she lives now. A self-taught artist, Miki kept creating more and more art until it finally became her full-time profession. She most enjoys painting sport themes since she loves movement and the challenge of reducing it to 2 dimensions on paper or canvas. If you check out her countless “Sport Art” paintings and posters on her website, you will see almost 300 images from the entire world of sport. But as you can see from her website, she loves to paint almost anything she encounters in the world.

About the Painting:  
Miki de Goodaboom writes: “In Germany I followed Boris Becker’s career from the very beginning, with as much enthusiasm as all of the German people. It was of course a must to make his portrait!”

If you wish to make any comments on “Boris Becker,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  My other innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my website. To see more of Tennis Players as Works of Art, you can also follow me on Instagram.

Andy Roddick’s Serve

Andy Roddick - BOOM by Jeffrey Sparr *

Once upon a time, some lucky prophet found a boy named Andy on a Nebraska farm. So the story might have gone in baseball lore. No one had a live arm, a fastball like Roddick. Fastest serve at the time in all the grand slams: Wimbledon (143 mph), French Open (144 mph), Australian Open (148 mph), US Open (152 mph).  Roddick could control it, too. He served consistently at about 70% on first serves while serving between 130-150 mph. Impossible for someone who was 6’2. Impossible, but mythology happens. Roddick as American a product as Walt Whitman. Not a graceful European dancer but “one of the roughs,” Roddick’s feet plowed the ground with firm, heavy steps while Roger Federer seemed to float just above the earth. What Whitman aspired to be—“no stander above men or woman or apart from them”--Roddick somehow realized in a career largely defined by his losses to Federer on the biggest stages (0-8 in grand slam matches: four finals, three semis, one quarter). How did it feel?  “It was miserable. It sucked. It was terrible. . . . Except for that, it was fine.”  Except for that serve, that blazing live arm, Roddick was one of us.

* About the Artist (taken from JeffreySparr.com):
A mental health advocate and self-taught artist, Jeffrey Sparr was a four-year starter and team captain on the Ohio State University tennis team. When he graduated in 1985, he was the 3rd winningest player in Ohio State History. Diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in college, Jeff battled with this disease for many years before discovering, on a whim, that painting dramatically subdued the symptoms of his OCD, providing a creative outlet and sense of control. Sparr has been crowned the "Forrest Gump" of painting: Forrest didn't stop running, Sparr hasn't stopped painting. This discovery changed the course of Jeff’s life. Ever since then, Jeff has been on a mission to help others through the arts, founding, along with his cousin, the nonprofit organization PeaceLove. You can learn more about Jeff Sparr’s art and work as a mental health advocate on his website.

On Painting Andy Roddick:
Jeffrey Sparr writes: “In this painting I tried to use a sense of movement to capture the power that defined not only his serve but personality.”

About PeaceLove (from the PeaceLove website):
PeaceLove helps create peace of mind. Through expressive arts programs and storytelling, they empower individuals and communities to share their mental health stories and discover new tools for mental wellness. Their CREATORS Program equips frontline professionals to deliver ongoing expressive arts workshops to their diverse communities. CREATORS work directly with individuals, families and groups to help them achieve improved mental health through creativity. You can learn more about the great work PeaceLove does with its many partners on their website.

If you wish to make any comments on “Andy Roddick’s Serve,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  If you wish to see more artwork on tennis, you can follow me on Instagram. My other innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my website.

Venus Williams

Venus Shine, by Brian Estill*
Acrylic on Board, 24x24 inches

“Venus Williams Is Straight Outta Compton!” Venus Williams is Duke Ellington at the piano. Keep your solos understated, perfect. Let others in the orchestra stand out: the saxophone, the trumpet, Serena. Yet for the first half of her career, it was Venus’s tennis that screamed lead trumpet. All the other women over 6 feet tall who won Wimbledon--Davenport, Sharapova, Kvitova—moved in the freeway’s slow lane while Venus gobbled up turf as if on a German Autobahn. Great speed, great height, great power. Those are the scary athletes. And that most outrageous of all shots for the old-school folks: the fierce swinging volley of both forehand and backhand wings. But what happens as you age, as health problems emerge such as Sjogren’s syndrome. What will happen to those millions of young girls, especially girls of color, who see themselves, their possibilities, in the way you carry yourself? What is grace? What is beauty? When arguing for equal pay at Wimbledon, keep your solos understated, perfect: The message I like to convey to women and girls across the globe is that there is no glass ceiling.

*About the Artist
Based in San Francisco, Brian Estill has a BA in Art from San Jose State University. Often working in the area of sports portraiture, he has painted numerous tennis players such as Gael Monfils, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andre Agassi, and others. His work emphasizes a very colorful and direct approach to his subjects. An emerging artist, Brian exhibited his paintings at his first public show in February of this year. You can learn more about him and see more of his work on his website.    

If you wish to make any comments on “Venus Williams,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  If you want to see written excerpts and fuller images of the paintings of various tennis players from “Tennis Players as Works of Art,” you can also follow me on Instagram.  

In Memoriam

Vitas Gerulaitis by Joan LeMay **
First appeared in Racquet magazine, Issue 11
Reprinted with permission from Joan LeMay

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 Epitaph: Generous. Always picked up the tab, always there for others. “Vitas the first one I recall who gave free racquets to children” (Billie Jean King). Epitaph: Sui Generis. When he finally beat Jimmy Connors, he deadpanned: “No one beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.” Epitaph: Tennis Player. Vitas trained as hard as anyone, hitting balls with the ultra-patient Borg for hours. For those who saw it, their Wimbledon five-set semifinal was a classic of shot making, court coverage, drama, sportsmanship. And that halo of tennis balls in Joan LeMay’s painting? A divine aura? A dizziness or dazedness from partying too much? A constellation of stars--read celebrities who flocked around Vitas as the life of the party? Sainthood? Vitas was a saint; Vitas was no saint. Tennis Sainthood? Let’s canonize him here. Epitaph: Beloved. Everyone, I mean everyone, loved Vitas, including champions as different as Borg, Connors, Evert, McEnroe, Sampras . . .  After a brutal loss, Pete Sampras remembers being spent and alone in the locker room when someone unexpectedly walked in: “Vitas unlaces my shoes, puts a dry shirt on me, puts my racquets away.” A faulty pool heater, carbon monoxide, 40 years old.

*the lines in italics, with slight changes, are from Gerard Manly Hopkins’ poem, “The Windhover’’

**About the Artist (from her website at joanlemay.com)
Joan LeMay (American, b. 1979 in Houston, Texas) is a portraitist and illustrator who is interested in pattern, gesture, Byzantine halos, and capturing the true soul of the subject she’s painting. She loves painting people, animals, plants and things (a kind of anthropomorphic approach to portraiture) in equal measure, and packs referential objects, color-based symbolism and other subject-specific elements into the often busy backgrounds of her work in order to reflect the life of the person or creature depicted. She is currently focusing on work that celebrates who and what soothes us and brings us joy--portraiture of dear friends, over-the-top portraits of beloved TV and pop culture personalities and public role models, food, fellow artists, and portraits of medications.

Much in demand as a portrait artist, Joan LeMay’s work has been exhibited internationally for over a decade. To learn more about her extensive list of clients, the many publications where her art has appeared, and, most importantly, to see more of her work—and thus feel a little better about being alive—you can visit her website.

If you wish to make any comments on “In Memoriam,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  My other innovative writings on tennis, along with audio recordings, are available on my website.

Li Na

Amid the thick bamboo hides a butterfly with strong wings by Debra Di Blasi*
Chinese brush, sumi ink and watercolor on raw mulberry paper, 10.25" x 18.5"

A Chinese tennis coach to Li Na: “If I were teaching a pig, it would have learned by now.” The Chinese say: “A strict teacher makes for an excellent student.” In the rigid Chinese sports system, no one asked if she wanted to play tennis. Train and train, internalize the joyless, harsh voice within.  After Li Na has some success, she complains: “If I have no freedom, I am going to quit.”  Then Danfei, flying solo.  After winning grand slam championships, she does not thank China. To the youth who adore her, she is Big Sister Na.  A personality, a presence, not a communist tool for the greater good. She makes fun of her husband’s snoring, his weight, his luck in finding a wealthy woman like her.  In China Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese party:  Li Na’s “insolence” goes against “social customs and traditions.”  As the most marketable athlete in China’s history, more people watched her win the French Open than watched the Super Bowl.  Andre Agassi her favorite player: long hair, freedom, earring, rebel. The Chinese middle class booms. Millions more play tennis, the most individual of sports.  A rose tattoo’s hidden on Li Na’s chest. Who does not want to rebel?

This article was originally published in Another Chicago Magazine.

* About the Artist:
Known for her innovative prose, Debra Di Blasi has received numerous awards and is the author of eight books. Her most recent work, Selling the Farm, just won the 2019 Nonfiction Award (C&R Press) and will be published in September, 2020. In the world of the visual arts, Debra Di Blasi took a BFA in painting and later worked as art critic and contributing writer for The Pitch, SOMA San Francisco arts magazine, and The New Art Examiner. Her visual and multimedia art has been exhibited at museums and galleries in the U.S. and online. Nostos Journal of Poetry, Fiction and Art published a portfolio of her Chinese brush painting in Volume III 2019, including cover art. You can learn more about Debra Di Blasi and her wide-ranging work on her website.

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 I love. Slightly thicker and tougher than Yuanshu bamboo paper, with wood particles visible.” 
“The ‘chops’ (carved jade stamps with Xiling Red Seal Ink Paste] are: (smaller) "debra di blasi" carved vertically, and (larger) a phonetic translation of "debra di blasi" into Chinese characters, which was a gift from my husband purchased during one of his trips to China.  I had a Hong Kong chop-maker create the small one for me when we lived there.”
“I slept on the request for relevant text and here's what I dreamed: ‘Amid the thick bamboo hides a butterfly with strong wings.’ I'm going with my subconscious.”  Debra and I both thought these words might be a good title for the work.

If you wish to make any comments on “Li Na,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  My other innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my website.

The John McEnroe Challenge

Original Drawing by Leonardo Luque**

A Performance Piece*

1.  Imagine playing every shot described below from McEnroe’s famous 18-16 Wimbledon tiebreaker against Borg.
2.  Speak McEnroe’s own words to umpires in bold directly to another human being.  

0-0 Mac gets back quickly on a lob smashes an inside out overhead for a winner “You are pathetic”  1-2 Borg’s return at his feet, Mac hits a perfect angled cross court drop shot volley for a winner “You will never work as an umpire again” 5-6 (third match point) Mac’s second serve spins Borg out wide Borg runs around his backhand hits an inside out forehand Mac stretches way out and hits a forehand volley into the open court “Go fuck yourself”  6-7 Mac hits a well-struck backhand passing shot down the line Borg barely gets a racquet on it  7-7 after a long exchange Mac hits a brilliant running crosscourt backhand pass “Answer my question.  The question, jerk”  11-12 (7th match point) Mac serves out wide Borg hits a strong return down the line but too high Mac reaches out pokes a high backhand volley into the open court “You’re a disgrace to mankind” 12-12 Mac coming in behind his serve reaches out to a high forehand volley punches it down the line instead of crosscourt wrong footing Borg for a winner “You cannot be serious”  13-13 perfect backhand low chip return at Borg’s feet produces a volley error  14-14 a sudden forehand drop volley for a winner  What did I say? Please tell me” 15-15 after an all-out sprint from way off the court Mac hits a running forehand winner down the line “You completely fucked that whole thing up” 16-17 Mac hits a topspin backhand return at Borg’s feet Borg nets the volley “Get your fucking head out of your fucking ass” speak this line sotto voce so that only the person you address can hear. 

* During these difficult times of enforced isolation when the COVID-19 virus has shut down the tennis tour, I invite anyone to record their own unique performance of this piece. If you wish, you can send it my way at linebarg14@gmail.com. If you want a few laughs, here is my own attempt at an abbreviated  performance on You Tube where I bleeped out some of the curse words and made no real attempt to play the shots, opting for reading the script instead of imitating McEnroe: “The John McEnroe Challenge.” Important note: feel free to depart from the script above in any way you see fit that might enhance or simplify your performance. You might, as Renaissance artists emphasized, hold a mirror up to nature and imitate McEnroe as fully as possible. Or like a good jazz musician, you can use the script above as a rough outline to play your own changes on, make it your own, express how you feel.  You could emphasize artistry, comedy, tragedy, cardio . . . You could even show off your foreign language skills. How do you say “You’re a disgrace to mankind” in Russian?

David’s abbreviated performance of The John McEnroe Challenge

** About the Artist:
Leonardo Luque, a retired Columbian naval officer, earned his fine arts degree in 2012 from Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogota, Columbia. Currently the third-ranked Columbian player in the ITF world rankings for men’s 60 singles, Leo has drawn all his life and is especially interested in the beauty and motion of the human body. After traveling through China and Panama, he settled down with his family in 2014 in Boca Raton, Florida where he continues his portrait studies at the Art School at the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

If you wish to make any comments on “The John McEnroe Challenge,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  My other innovative short writings on tennis, along with free audio recordings to download, are available on my website.

Roger Federer and Myron’s Discus Thrower

Roger Federer at Wimbledon by Hazel Soan *

When the ancient Greeks sculpted the victors of an Olympic event, the goal was to produce not the athlete itself but the perfect, idealized image of the athlete, the discus throw imagined as god-like, eternal. In Myron’s Discus Thrower, the key to all this potential power is in the core, the legs. How they twist and turn in perfect balance, the entire musculoskeletal system a flexible chain. As in Myron’s Discus Thrower, so Roger Federer on every shot. Tennis not how it’s played, but how we imagine the gods might play it. The serve, the forehand, the one-handed backhand drive. Grace, beauty, fluidity, perfection. Statistics can be boring: Most grand slams singles titles, most weeks at #1, etc., etc., etc. . . .   How about that shot in the heat of a point that set Federer apart from all the others: the mid-court ball which he attacks with his forehand, the footwork almost invisible light tiny dancer quick floating sudden whip of the forehand into one of the opponent’s corners to dramatically change the point.  I could go on and on. Watch his second serve in slow motion. How high he gets off the ground, the perfect balance of the legs, the racquet slicing across the ball at an extreme but elegant angle. Let’s just put up a sculpture in the public square. Better yet, maybe a series of ten sculptures for ten different shots:  the flick backhand pass, the scissors kick overhead, the short slice backhand crosscourt . . . . Might even include a tweener—no one hit it better. Is there a sculptor alive who could do Federer justice? Could Myron?

“Roger Federer and Myron’s Discus Thrower” was first published in Cagibi

* About the Artist
The British artist Hazel Soan is widely recognized for her expertise in the art of watercolor. Her work is represented in private and public collections worldwide and she has held numerous solo exhibitions, primarily in the UK and Africa, her two studio bases. Popular for her television role as an art expert on Channel 4’s Watercolour Challenge, Hazel Sloan is also the author of more than 15 books and is a regular contributor to The Artist magazine. You can see her work and learn more about Hazel on her website. You can also follow her work on Instagram.

On Painting Roger Federer (From Hazel Soan’s Facebook Post: July 14 2019, London)
Watching Wimbledon today - breathtaking tennis. Last year I was lucky enough to see Roger Federer play at Wimbledon early in the tournament. This week I couldn’t do anything else but paint this watercolour of him from one of my photos of the match last year. To get his likeness I finished it during the Semifinal against Nadal on Friday, holding it up against the TV until I recognised the figure in the screen had materialised on my paper. Love that moment of recognition in portrait painting.

If you wish to make any comments on “Roger Federer and Myron’s Discus Thrower,” feel free to leave them below or contact me.  My other innovative writings on tennis, along with audio recordings, are available on my website.