Wimbledon Madness

“It’s no accident, I think, that tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love, the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature.” – Andre Agassi



I’m reading “Open” an autobiography by Andre Agassi to the tune of Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova’s Wimbledon match.


There is something soothing about the noise of a tennis match playing in the background. The quiet stillness broken by occasional grunts, official’s monotone calls, shouts of elation from the crowd and announcers’ opinions on a player’s technique. Some find it boring; I find it incredibly relaxing.


I’m keen on Agassi’s writing style – one minute I’m laughing the next wiping tears from my eyes. I suppose too, it takes me back to my gymnastic days. The love/hate relationship, although I had more love than hate – a major contrast with that of Agassi and tennis.


My parents put me in gymnastics after I watched Mary Lou Retton in the 1984 Los Angels Olympics. They say I flipped around the living room and decided a gym would be safer than the furniture. I feel in love at the age of 5 and had a difficult time pulling myself out at 16 – a back injury that haunts me to this day. Something about the risk of bending my body in weird directions, the challenge of concurring a difficult skill and the, often, intense competition between gymnasts – it gripped me.


Despite the bad days, injuries and full practice schedule, I couldn’t get enough.


“Please let it be over. I don’t want it to be over.” – Andre Agassi

Comments

  1. Hahaha, I love that your, ah, self-initiative to do flips at home compelled your parents to sign you up for the gym!

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