I've never read any David Foster Wallace and would like to.
I read his essay Shipping Out - On the (nearly lethal) comforts of a luxury cruise a few weeks ago. I think it was linked somewhere on here? I don't remember. Or spurred by this short discussion. Throwing it in as a second recommendation. It's great read.
If you'd like a sample of his writing, I'd recommend the essay "Federer as Religious Experience". His fiction has a similar style, methinks.
That was an absolutely amazing read, thank you. I have taken up tennis in the last year and although it is 30° outside, I am trying to find a game tonight. What beautiful writing. I saw some collegiate tennis players playing competitively recently. It was the first time I had seen tennis played at a higher level. It really is hard to express just how fast the game is moving, and this wasn't even professional. Television does tennis a disservice. The piece talks about how Ivan Lendl is the first to transition tennis to the power baseline game it is now. I recently watched a McEnroe Lendl match that they had to raise money for charity. It was really cool to see those two go at it again, even as older men. Lendl still has power and Mac can still volley with the best of them. Once and a while I will watch old doubles matches. I've heard it said that the best doubles team in history is John McEnroe and whoever he's playing with. From what I've watched, that seems just about right. Now that Nadal is more mature, do you think that he has the subtleties that made Fedderer so special? What do you think b_b? Thanks for posting that.
Thanks for the link; that was great. I was a big fan of watching tennis during Fed's heyday. It's amazing to have such an articulate writer describe the feeling of watching him. He really is the most unbelievable athlete I've ever seen (and I never got to experience it in person, sadly). The only other man I've ever seen that can blow my mind with his technique is Pavel Datsyuk (a professional hockey player, for the uninitiated...here is an amazing compilation, but watch it without sound). Both men have a unique blend of physical and creative impossibility that watching them is transcendent in a way that redefines sports.