July 08, 2009

federer moments

Peter Bodo of Tennis.com on the current gold-piped, perfectly coiffed branding of Roger Federer

This matters because Federer is not only a great tennis player, he’s the great tennis player, holding the game aloft on his shoulders like a modern-day Atlas. And the extent to which he’s checked off on creating a specific image undermines the degree to which he transcends image, for the sharper the image, the more likely it is put off as well as attract. We’re still different people with different tastes, values and aspirations, and the further you drift from pure performance and personal conduct (as well as the norm in your peer group), the less representative you become.

But it is about the tennis, of course. And because I’m still reading Infinite Jest (on the iPhone’s Kindle reader, no less, screen by screen by screen), here’s a recognizable sliver of DFW on RF:

Almost anyone who loves tennis and follows the men’s tour on television has, over the last few years, had what might be termed Federer Moments. These are times, as you watch the young Swiss play, when the jaw drops and eyes protrude and sounds are made that bring spouses in from other rooms to see if you’re O.K.

There were more than a few Federer Moments in the Sunday final; all of them contributed to those destroyed tears in Roddick’s eyes at the end of the match…that look on his face that said as plain as day “I am never going to make it through him, am I.”