David Foster Wallace takes a look at Roger Federer's game in "Federer as Religious Experience", published in today's New York Times. Wallace is awed:
"...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."
The author wonders about the source of Federer's talent. Is it the way the racquets are built - "lightweight frames made of space-age materials..." that favor "powerful hitters who rely on heavy topspin", as the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum would have it? If this were true, he reasons, then someone of Federer's "consummate finesse" wouldn't be dominating the game, Wallace says. Wallace even explores metaphysical explanations, that to a top player like Federer the ball just seems to move slower, be more within reach of his racquet, as well as the star's kinesthetic sense -- the neurological coordination of the body's movement in space, details that sportswriter's so often brush over.
Acknowledging the comedic sport sometimes taken with Wallace's writing -- there are of course footnotes in the printed edition -- the article is a fine tribute both to Roger Federer's talent as well as the fantastic grace with which humans can occupy space. Best to read the original essay in all its detail here.
