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The linked piece is excellent. I had not read it before. Thank you sharing it!

by srib 7y ago

frereubu 7y ago
I just love this bit: 'And there’s that familiar little second of shocked silence from the New York crowd before it erupts, and John McEnroe with his color man’s headset on TV says (mostly to himself, it sounds like), "How do you hit a winner from that position?" And he’s right: given Agassi’s position and world-class quickness, Federer had to send that ball down a two-inch pipe of space in order to pass him, which he did, moving backwards, with no setup time and none of his weight behind the shot. It was impossible. It was like something out of "The Matrix." I don’t know what-all sounds were involved, but my spouse says she hurried in and there was popcorn all over the couch and I was down on one knee and my eyeballs looked like novelty-shop eyeballs. Anyway, that’s one example of a Federer Moment, and that was merely on TV — and the truth is that TV tennis is to live tennis pretty much as video porn is to the felt reality of human love.'
- brandnewlow 7y ago
  It's a tremendous piece of writing I've enjoyed many times over over the years but a troubling one. As best I can tell, this is the actual shot described in the excerpt you quoted. It's great but perhaps DFW embellished a bit in the retelling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwG5rJVtdc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwG5rJVtdc One writer reconsiders the piece: https://theoutline.com/post/7424/david-foster-wallace-roger-federer-moment https://theoutline.com/post/7424/david-foster-wallace-roger-...
  - frereubu 7y ago
    Yeah, I'd tracked that down as well, but one reason to be lenient perhaps is that he was writing before everything was available on YouTube, and was probably just going on memory, which is easy to unintentionally embellish over the years. Thanks for the link to the article of responses - looks interesting.
ctchocula 7y ago
If you liked that piece, you will like David Foster Wallace's other piece on tennis as well [1]. It discusses how difficult it is to make it as a tennis pro. [1] https://www.esquire.com/sports/a5151/the-string-theory-david-foster-wallace/ https://www.esquire.com/sports/a5151/the-string-theory-david...
- srib 7y ago
  This is a terrific piece as well. Thank you!

The linked piece is excellent. I had not read it before. Thank you sharing it!

by srib 7y ago

The linked piece is excellent. I had not read it before. Thank you sharing it!

I just love this bit: 'And there’s that familiar little second of shocked silence from the New York crowd before it erupts, and John McEnroe with his color man’s headset on TV says (mostly to himself, it sounds like), "How do you hit a winner from that position?" And he’s right: given Agassi’s position and world-class quickness, Federer had to send that ball down a two-inch pipe of space in order to pass him, which he did, moving backwards, with no setup time and none of his weight behind the shot. It was impossible. It was like something out of "The Matrix." I don’t know what-all sounds were involved, but my spouse says she hurried in and there was popcorn all over the couch and I was down on one knee and my eyeballs looked like novelty-shop eyeballs. Anyway, that’s one example of a Federer Moment, and that was merely on TV — and the truth is that TV tennis is to live tennis pretty much as video porn is to the felt reality of human love.'

brandnewlow 7y ago
It's a tremendous piece of writing I've enjoyed many times over over the years but a troubling one. As best I can tell, this is the actual shot described in the excerpt you quoted. It's great but perhaps DFW embellished a bit in the retelling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwG5rJVtdc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwG5rJVtdc One writer reconsiders the piece: https://theoutline.com/post/7424/david-foster-wallace-roger-federer-moment https://theoutline.com/post/7424/david-foster-wallace-roger-...
- frereubu 7y ago
  Yeah, I'd tracked that down as well, but one reason to be lenient perhaps is that he was writing before everything was available on YouTube, and was probably just going on memory, which is easy to unintentionally embellish over the years. Thanks for the link to the article of responses - looks interesting.

ctchocula 7y ago

If you liked that piece, you will like David Foster Wallace's other piece on tennis as well [1]. It discusses how difficult it is to make it as a tennis pro. [1] https://www.esquire.com/sports/a5151/the-string-theory-david-foster-wallace/ https://www.esquire.com/sports/a5151/the-string-theory-david...

srib 7y ago
This is a terrific piece as well. Thank you!