The Beauty of Tennis
September 01, 2006
About my second-favorite sport
I used to follow lots of sports, not just baseball. I was a football fan for many years, and I was a particularly avid pro basketball fan during the Bird/Magic years. Those were probably the most enjoyable years I’ve ever had as a sports fan in general.
As time has passed, I’ve given up most of those sports to concentrate on baseball, with one exception: tennis. I played recreational tennis for many years before hurting my back, and I’ve loved to watch tennis as long as I can remember. In my eyes, the most thrilling tennis player ever was John McEnroe in his prime.
Which brings me to last night’s US Open match between Andre Agassi and Marcos Baghdatis. Baghdatis is a really good young player. He played tremendous tennis in the Australian Open, making it to the finals against Roger Federer, and he has a real presence and joy of playing. But last night’s Agassi-loving crowd seemed to psych him out early and Agassi was on, winning the first two sets. It was a great display of tennis by an old guy with a bad back (hey, sounds familiar!). Baghdatis showed that he is also a true champion, however, winning the next two sets (the second after being down 4-0) and forcing a fifth set.
What a fifth set it was. The two traded serve games, with Agassi looking older and older with each game (his back was obviously bothering him). I thought Baghdatis had the momentum. But then he started experiencing severe leg cramps and in one of the last games of the set, could barely stand. Because the rules didn’t permit medical treatment during the game, he continued to bravely play a dramatic game with about eight different deuce points (or ties) before finally losing the game. Agassi seemed to find a second wind at this point, Baghdatis was still bothered by the cramps, and Andre took the last set. After the match was over, Agassi was in such pain that he couldn’t make it off the court.
Why do I mention all this on my baseball blog? I dunno, except to say that it was one of the most thrilling sports events I have watched, particularly considering that it was only the second round of the Open. And if you haven’t read David Foster Wallace’s article about tennis and Roger Federer from the August 20 New York Times magazine, well, you really should. It’s one of the best pieces about a sport and a player I have read.
Here’s a great quote from the article:
Beauty is not the goal of competitive sports, but high-level sports are a prime venue for the expression of human beauty. The relation is roughly that of courage to war.
So, here’s a baseball question for you: what are the best examples of beauty you can think of in major league baseball?
The first thing that pops into my head is the ground ball double play (particularly the 4-6-3 or 6-4-3 varities).
The ideal double play has 6 elements:
1. The shortstop makes an amazing play to get a ball he shouldn’t have gotten.
2. Despite the second baseman not being anywhere near the bag, the shortstop tosses in that direction because he trusts his keystone partner to be there.
3. The ball, second baseman, and base runner all reach the base in a split second.
4. The base runner aims to slide directly into the second basemen.
5. The second basemen contorts his body to avoid the runner, tag the base, and deliver the ball to first.
6. The first basemen stretches to get the out on a bang-bang play.
I suppose that a good knuckleball is beautiful too.
Posted by Trev on 09/06 at 04:01 AM
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