Tennis

[Jonathan]

Anyone been staying up until ungodly hours to watch the Australian Open?

I can't help but believe there's a great metaphor for writing embedded somewhere in the game of tennis. I'm not about to try to extract it right now, but I feel it's there.

[propadanda]

Haha, I'm Australian and I've even been staying up until ungodly hours to watch. I'm watching Nadal v Murray at the moment, great match so far. I think Federer is unstoppable though. I thought he looked shaky early on in the tournament but he absolutely crushed Hewitt and played the most remarkable tennis which makes me think he's a class above. His match against Davydenko should be a cracker though, Davydenko's beaten him the last two times they've played.

I'm hoping Murray can beat Nadal and win the Open.

[Jonathan]

I feel about Federer the way I feel about Tiger Woods (and the way I felt about Sampras, to talk more tennis, even though I was pretty young when he was in his prime). He is a class above, and when someone so clearly is a class above, I root for them to be as dominant as possible for as long as possible. Not to be invincible, and not to ever be eclipsed by someone younger, but to be the best for as long as possible. Like when Sampras won his final grand slam, after it seemed like he didn't have it in him. I loved it. Federer's time will pass, but I can't help but root for it to last as long as possible, because it seems so unlikely that anyone so good will come along right away.

That said, I hope he has to sweat blood for five sets to get it done.

[Jeff Messerman]

Televised tennis is wholly underrated. People tend to think it's dull viewing but the few times I've been sucked in, I found it utterly mesmerizing.

The game has made it into the cinema only a few times that I can recollect... MATCH POINT and, to a lesser extent, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS.

Any others???

[darrenm]

Jeff - there was Balls Out: Gary The Tennis Coach starring Sean William Scott a couple of years ago, but I never saw it. It won a screenwriting competition somewhere and ended up actually getting made, which is a neat story, but the trailer I saw didn't really hook me.

[zampana]

Tennis is in my opinion the purest form of protagonist/antagonist battle in sport. Maybe chess but chess is no fun to watch. Boxing too I guess.

The battle that two tennis players go through in the their 3 hour war is amazing, particularly as they fight with themselves at the same time as each other.

Beautiful.

j