Wednesday, August 02, 2023

"Timeless rituals"

With this year's Wimbledon done, dusted and fast disappearing in the rear-view mirror, I'd better post about this Defector article by Giri Nathan sooner rather than later.

Finally granted the opportunity to witness the world's most famous tennis tournament in person rather than on screen, Nathan reflects on everything from formality and exclusivity to stringent security measures, the climatic delights of the Great British Summer, the pleasure of downing the remains of your strawberries and cream, and polite umpire requests to the crowd not to pop open bottles of champagne when players are about to serve.

Whatever your views on tennis, Nathan's turn of phrase is sparkling, whether he's writing about the wear and tear suffered by the grass courts over the course of the fortnight or the astonishing skills of French player Ons Jabeur: "She seems to do with a tennis ball what a mildly tipsy Brit can do with the English language; bending it in ways I could not anticipate, following arbitrary whims to a colorful end."

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