If one has played tennis for some time, it takes no more than 10 seconds of watching someone play to know if there is beauty and poetry in his or her game. You watch an Andy Roddick (or Leyton Hewitt, or Andre Agassi, or Rafa Nadal, so on) play...you will find gumption, chutzpah, moxie, aggression, gall, power, perseverance, heart...so on. But you won't find beauty, leave alone poetry.
And then you watch Federer. Of course, it helps to win constanty and consitently and have 10 grand slams under your belt. But there is something else that sets you in a different league. It is the ineluctable, indescribable beauty. An elusive poetic undercurrent. It's like Warren Buffet who likened liking a business to falling in love with a girl, "It is not just one aspect that you like...it's the whole thing." Such is Federer's game. Just like Pete Sampras' game. Such totality and beauty is hard to find.
Shakespearean lines "Take him for all in all...we shall not look upon his like again."
But, more importantly, I think beauty comes with two traits: calmness and fearlessness. It is, as Lawrence Sheinberg says in his book: "
"Larry-san, why you always afraid? Forty-five years old talk like a baby. Zen about quiet mind? Relaxation? No. No. No. Zen about bravery! Zen mind brave mind. Must bravery, Larry-san, must sincere."
I saw Roger Federer at the US Open in 2005...and here is a picture of him. I bow to the beauty and poetry in his game.
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And I have to agree with you. I make it a point not to miss any of his matches! He's truly as cool as a cucumber and such a smooth-operator!!
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