What does tennis have to do with art? And art with tennis?
Quite a bit it turns out, according to the NY Times senior art critic Michael Kimmelman, who's blogging from the US Open during the tournament.
An article in today's Times prints excerpts from his blog as he comments on things that a sportswriter never would: the characters, the costumes, the stage and the drama of tennis, not as a sport, but as artistic expression.
Though he's preaching to the converted in
some sense (as he points out, tennis is an obsession with many
artists). Still, it's a nice change of pace to read about a sport from an artists eye.
Here are some of the more interesting observations from his blog.
Overtures
"Nadal looks like a Ninja Turtle on television. In the flesh, he’s shockingly enormous. You can’t begin to know, except in person, how hard and fast these guys hit, and what the ball swerving through air sounds like."
The Spotlight
"Pavel was always shown alone, as if he had nobody on his side, nobody to stir our sympathy or muddle the story line. He was a stock sacrificial character, admirable to the extent he prolonged the drama without screwing up the ending. Agassi’s fortitude was stirring, but it was hard not to feel manipulated."
Hold the Fries
"As a rule, the higher ranked the player, the larger and better-looking the rooting section. Robredo is in the stratosphere at No. 5 in the world."
"Then in the midst of a tight match (one set apiece, on serve in the third), from the far end of the court, Robredo calls out a food order. He wants a large Coke with ice and a chocolate chip cookie."
Who’s Got Sunscreen?
"The grounds, cunningly mapped out with food stalls, open-air shops and canopied tables, feel not like the rest of New York, but like the artificial, ephemeral village this is. It’s Cancun in high season...smiling fans hold up two fingers, as if at a peace rally. They’re shopping for pairs of tickets. The scene has the cheerful, otherworldly quality of an old Polaroid."
Acting Out
"But Nalbandian’s a cipher: notoriously pudgy, a little slow and, truth be told, not such a stable character himself. He can’t dominate Safin.
Tennis at this level is mental: high-ranked players have the physical ability to beat each other. The edge becomes psychological. It is as if there were a sum total to the confidence available on court, which the players split in shifting, teetering proportion."
Costume Drama
"Spadea is a self-styled rapper who wears two baseball caps at once and bright red shirts with a sparkly “S.” (Red is the new white this year.) His recent book, “Break Point,” has endeared him to no one in particular.
In the book, Spadea’s five-point plan for hooking up with women instructs men with shorter hair to use gel “to create an Elvis or Brad Pitt appearance.” Jeans are “essential.” Chewing gum “makes you look happier and more confident.”
Acts of Kindness, Random or Not
"Donald Young, the 17-year-old American who won his first set but lost the match to the talented Novak Djokovic yesterday, was asked if he had introduced himself yet to the stars on tour. No, he said. Well, had any of them come up to him, wished him well? Yes, he said.
Roger Federer.
A seasoned tennis writer later said this is Federer’s M.O. Then he wondered whether it wasn’t 90 percent genuine on Federer’s and 10 percent a smart competitor’s calculation that, when the time comes, kindness might make his opponents just that little bit less anxious to beat him."
His definition of art is especially insightful:
"To make something exceptional...to produce out-of-the-ordinary reactions."
And I can't help thinking, is this the aim of advertising? If not, should it be?
Coda
"Artists try to do or make something exceptional in life to produce out-of-the-ordinary reactions, in themselves and in other people. This is a basic definition of art. We seek it out, at the movies or in a museum or at a concert hall, to escape from our routines and be moved in ways that might refresh and enlighten us when we return to normalcy.
After all, what is beauty except the opposite of mundane? That’s not all it is, of course. But its exceptional status engenders feelings like those Mauresmo describes as her true goal. It’s also what sports fans desire: to be stirred, if only fleetingly, by an experience above and beyond the norm, which is as rare in sports as it is in art."
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