Pickleball on the Rise

The sport was hardly on any one’s radar ten years ago, but today it is growing by leaps and bounds. What is making so many people pick up the paddle?

Listen keenly. Here comes the offbeat chorus of the newest craze in racquet sports; the percussive sound waves that crackle through the air when the paddle hits the pickleball.

Still confused?

Think Toy Story meets tennis: Buzz Lightyear and Woody, played by two paddles about to fall into the hands of a pair of soon-to-be pickleball addicts in Southern Florida.

Thwack! A sound which grows on you, like the crack of a baseball bat, the pop of Rafael Nadal’s forehand echoing inside Court Philippe Chatrier, or the ping of a golf ball being driven off the tee by a PGA pro. And that’s not the only sound we now associate with pickleball. The sound of cash registers clicking, a soundtrack to a relentless expansion of market share, is also heard.

The US Open—Growing Proof of Pickleball’s Growth

2022 marks the 57th anniversary of pickleball, a sport reportedly named after the “pickle boat” in crew races, which refers to boats that were crewed haphazardly by anybody who happened to be ready and available. Pickleball has been around for a while, but nobody seemed to notice until a decade ago, when a half-century of humble beginnings finally gave birth to America’s fastest growing racquet sport craze. In the United States the sport has seen annual participation grow by over 10 percent in each of the last five years. Today nearly 5 million people regularly pick up the pickle paddle in the U.S. alone.

“There is absolutely no ceiling on this sport right now,” says Terri Graham, founder of the US Open Pickleball Championships. “This sport right now has 4.8 million but I would be shocked if there weren’t more like eight or nine million people playing right now.” Graham, who left behind a career at Wilson Sporting Goods to take the pickleball plunge, started the US Open Pickleball Championships, and the rest is history. In 2016, the tournament’s inaugural year at its home base in Naples, Florida, over 800 players made the journey to pickleball Mecca to play the tournament. Six years later, nearly 3,000 players flocked to Naples for the 2022 edition, which now offers $100,000 in prize money. There are 60 courts on site, which sits on a sprawling public park, surrounding a crown jewel center court that holds 2,000 spectators. “We’re sold out all week, we don’t have a ticket available,” Graham says. “The spectators come here in droves. This year, we were thinking we were going to have 25,000 people over the seven days, but it is going to be closer to 50,000.”

When Graham left her job at Wilson, she had grand ambitions, but she admits that she never envisioned the sport growing as exponentially as it has. “My statistics that I did on my business plan at Wilson, they were all wrong, because I never projected this many players,” she said. Pickleball isn’t just an American fad. Currently 62 nations are members of the International Federation of Pickleball. Graham sees growth accelerating in all regions, but particularly in Asia, where it is just starting to make inroads. “When this lands in Asia, then watch this sport go really, really insane,” she says. “Because it is the same size court as a badminton court, and you think of Asia and they are great badminton people and great ping pong players. When it lands there, and it gets popular, then wait and see what happens. There is no ceiling on it—it is just multiplying constantly and as soon as somebody discovers it, they don’t leave it.”

 

Tennis and Pickleball: Rivalry or Harmony? 

There is some talk of a rivalry between tennis and pickleball, with players often bickering over the fact that many tennis courts have been converted to pickleball in recent years. But in reality, many in the racquet sport community, which includes squash, padel, badminton, ping-pong, pickleball, and tennis, subscribe to the adage that more is merrier. Even the United States Tennis Association, the national governing body for tennis and owners of the US Open, has carved out space for pickleball. Calling the sport a “crafty mix of badminton, tennis, and ping-pong,” it has hired a Head Pickleball Professional, and created leagues at its national campus in Orlando, Florida.

What to make of this so-called rivalry then? Anthony Evrard, founder and CEO of Court 16 in New York City, believes that a rising tide lifts all boats. He stresses that Court 16, which is opening a third facility in Manhattan this summer, is a tennis brand first and foremost. But he believes that embracing all forms of racquet sports and remaining inclusive is the way forward.

“You talk to someone who plays squash, and they’ll tell you that the sport is booming,” he said. “Talk to someone who is in pickleball, of course it is booming. There are all these booming sub-communities for all racquet sports. 33 or 35 percent of the tennis players could become pickleball players or the other way around. Every three people that play one racquet sport could be easily converted into another, if properly introduced, in the right context, in the right setting, with the right equipment. “If you put all those pieces together it’s just increasing the general population for racquet sports.”

Families that play together grow together 

Mark Osborne and his wife Jenee had never played tennis or pickleball before 2018. Mark loves to play golf and ice hockey, Jenee wasn’t the sporting type, but when Jenee’s mother came back from a winter spent in Arizona raving about pickleball, Jenee quickly gravitated to the sport. At first reluctant, Mark eventually followed suit. “Yeah, I really didn’t want to get into it,” he said. “I play hockey, I golf, and I didn’t really want to get into another sport, then I started playing and I just got hooked.”

Fast forward four years and the whole family has entered the pickleball community in Michigan. Mark’s son, Dominic, is sponsored by Pickleball brand Selkirk and has professional aspirations. Mark plays doubles with Dominic and his wife at tournaments and their daughter Sofia, a former tennis player, also plays. “It’s not just bringing the family together,” Osborne told Courts. “The people that you meet playing pickleball, it’s almost like you grow your family because you meet so many people that you become close with.”

Another benefit of the pickleball experience? Osborne says he has seen a new side of his son. 12-year-old Dominic plays with passion, embracing his spot on the front line of the pickleball revolution. “He’s pretty darn good, I’ll say that much,” Osborne raves. “The way the kid gets pumped up out there on the court when he starts hitting some good shots—my nerves get more out of whack just watching him than they do when I’m playing myself.”

 

The pickleball channel? Yes indeed! 

If you stream it, they will come. At least that’s the hope, and with pickleball, so far so good. Rusty and Meredith Howes, the founders of the Pickleball Channel, came from the entertainment industry in Southern California and decided to take a shot on the nascent sport when they came across it while working at the Huntsman World Senior Games, which are effectively the Olympics for seniors. Rusty laughs when he tells the story of being asked to produce a piece about pickleball by an employer. “He called us, saying, ‘I have this segment I could make but I don’t know what pickleball is—what’s pickleball?’” Howe explained.

The Howes did their homework and realised two things: One, there was virtually no coverage of the sport. Two, it was growing faster than weeds in an abandoned lot! “We could see even in the first two years it was exponential,” Meredith told Courts. “It will continue to grow because the sport is addictive, once you’re in, you’re in. I don’t see people giving up.”

Howes also believes that the sport will see growth overseas and beyond.

“Certainly North America is so much bigger than everyone else, but it is blowing up in Australia, Asia and Europe,” Rusty said. “We’ve had lots of requests for Pickleball Channel to come.”

 

Easy to Learn, Easy to Play, Easier on the Body 

Evrard, whose Court 16 caters to a more recreational group of pickleballers, says that the simplicity and less technical nature of pickleball helps with children as well as seniors. “There are many reasons that the sport is growing. Less injuries, more social, easier to get into, and now a huge inventory of courts all over,” he says. Most important? The sport’s remarkable growth has everybody talking about it. Now that the bandwagon is filling up, more people want to join the party. Agents are signing pros to contracts. The media is writing about it. Pickleball is snowballing, says Evrard, and he doesn’t expect it to change anytime soon. “It’s getting exposure—even with Octagon and IMG now,” Evrard says. “I have a friend, who is on the agent side, who told me that they just signed some players a few months ago to represent. If some of those guys are starting to have representation by all of the big talent agencies, I think we can anticipate a few more years of good growth.”

 

Story published in Courts no. 3, Summer 2022.

Rick Macci

The Last of the Mohicans

“I’m one of the last of the Mohicans,” Rick Macci states matter-of-factly. “I started this in 1985. It’s still going strong, and there is no billion-dollar corporation behind me,” he says. “And I’ve had a lot of players, at a young age, you know, become real good, real quick.” At 67, there is no false modesty to the Florida-based coach, but he doesn’t brag, either. Sporting a white cap and a yellow top with his academy’s logo, he is bursting with the energy of a man 20 years younger. His amiable face, bronzed by the years spent on Californian sun-baked courts, frequently breaks into a smile. He talks with the easy self-assuredness of someone who believes in what he does, and for good reason. In the business of creating tennis players, Rick Macci is the kingmaker. The list of tennis stars Rick had a hand in creating reads like an ensemble of a tennis-themed Avengers movie: Andy Roddick, Jennifer Capriati, Mary Pierce, Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova, Sofia Kenin, and, perhaps most famously, Serena and Venus Williams.

The Rick Macci International Tennis Academy was founded in 1985, but the story of Rick’s origin dates back even earlier. “I picked up a racquet when I was 12 years old. No one taught me how to play, I taught myself,” Rick says. “I became really good, real quick. But by 21, I knew I wanted to get into teaching. I like to help others more than to help myself.” Although tennis is undoubtedly Rick’s truest love, he did flirt around in his younger days. “I played a lot of sports: football, baseball, basketball, golf, hockey,” Rick enumerates. “I was very good at golf. When I was little, my parents belonged to a country club. And they were both county champions. I had, I don’t know, a four or five handicap when I was 12 years old. I thought I was going to be a pro golfer. And then my dad passed away when I was around 12, and we couldn’t afford to go join the country club and play golf. I fell in love with the game because it was convenient,” Rick says. “I lived a half-mile from a park. And in the park, there were six tennis courts—steel net, no windscreen, the courts chipped up. I went down there, and I don’t even know if I had a racquet, and I hit the ball against the wall. And what I really liked, it came back to me. I said, ‘I kind of like this. I love this sound: bang, bang, bang. I just love the sound.’ And it was close to my house and didn’t cost anything. I would go out there for hours. This was the late 60s. What’s crazy is the full circle,” Rick points out with a smile. “As I sit here today, I live a half-mile from the park where I work. How crazy is that?”

After hours spent facing the wall and then honing his skills against local opposition, Rick entertained the idea of going professional, but, by his own admission, he wasn’t good enough. “I just didn’t have the experience in the technical part,” he says. “I was winning on mental toughness, athleticism, you know, great groundstrokes, a good serve, but you need more. I love the game of tennis. I just love to be on a tennis court. I have a gift, you know, to communicate, and I love to analyse things,” Rick explains. An impish smile creeps up on his face as he recounts, “Even as a kid, I would go to the movies with my friends, and we sit there, and five minutes into the movie, I’m telling them how it’s going to end. No one wanted to sit with me,” he laughs. “But I always wanted to figure things out. I was around Dr Jim Loehr, a pioneer in sports psychology in the early 80s,” Rick continues. “I was always intrigued by that. So I have a deep, vast knowledge of cutting-edge stuff, and I always keep improving. That’s the sign of a great coach: a smart coach is smart because he knows he’s not that smart,” Rick muses. “He keeps wanting to learn every day, you know. So yeah, I knew I wasn’t going to be that good. So early on, I dove into teaching, and it’s the best decision I ever made.”

Today, the Rick Macci International Tennis Academy is a household name in the world of tennis. Located on the lush grounds of Boca Lago Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida, the academy provides the same facilities and level of involvement for all its players—be it a 12-year-old phenom or an 80-year-old enthusiast. What sets it apart from the rest of similar establishments is Rick himself. “It’s a different model, but it’s one that works. And the fact that my name is on the door, and I’m very much involved, is a big part of the reason why,” Rick explains. “When people call, because my phone number is out there, they don’t think it’s me answering the phone. And they go, ‘Why do you answer the phone?’ Well, it rang,” he laughs.

Tennis is an immensely expensive sport to play on a serious level, and the chances of making it professionally are infinitesimal. According to a report published by the International Tennis Federation in October 2019, a total of 87 million people play tennis globally. How many make a living by plying their trade on the tour? About 200 from the ATP and WTA each. I ask Rick, why would anyone even try? “Because you never know. It’s a dream,” is his immediate answer. “You never know where this is going to end up. You work hard, and if you have the ability and good coaching, you can get a free education, which is powerful. Then, you’ll know at 17—do I go to college? Am I mature enough? Am I not? You figure it out from there, but you just never know,” Rick explains. “I knew what Venus and Serena would become when they were 9 and 10. I knew what Capriati was going to be at 10. I knew what Sharapova was at 11. If someone had told me when I had Roddick, at 12, that he was going to win the US Open at 19, I would have taken that bet. There’s no playbook,” Rick says.

There is no playbook. But, over the years, Rick does seem to have scribbled a few lines of notes on the subject. His work at the Academy has produced an undeniable collection of talent, and while they all took different paths to success, Rick’s guidance was a constant in their lives. A few years ago, a chance meeting with two tennis enthusiasts from Bahamas and Switzerland led to founding EDGE— ”a tennis agency different from any other” that provides representation and support to young tennis players hoping to join the professional tour. “I get an email from this guy named Daniel-Sacha, and he wants to come and take lessons from me. He wants to learn the ATP forehand,” Rick recalls. “And he goes, ‘I’m going to be there eight straight days, and I want, like, over 30 hours of lessons’. And he said, ‘A couple of my buddies are coming.’ So they came and I worked them out. I taught them all—great time. Great bunch of guys. They saw kids playing at the Academy, some very good kids. We started talking, and I told Daniel-Sacha that one time I had a girl, and I did something with T Management, I did something with Donald Trump for four years. We stayed in contact after they left and were discussing every other day for weeks. One morning I said, ‘I have this girl, I think she could become one of the best juniors in the world, but she would need help.’ One thing led to another, and we ended up forming a company called EDGE. But it was on the brainstorm of Rick Macci to sign players,” Rick says. “It started off with a couple of players—four or five years later, EDGE has 12 or 13 of some of the best juniors in the world. It’s been a great thing for the players,” he says. Rick pauses and shrugs as if to say it is what it is, the way one would describe one of the unpleasant but unavoidable realities of life. “It’s a very expensive sport,” he says. “You go from Florida to Australia and back—that’s like 10 grand. And you might lose in the first round. So it’s a very, very expensive sport to develop. And then, when you get on the tour, it’s brutal, it’s really tough. That’s why I love my relationship with EDGE. The agency is a game changer for a lot of young talent who need an opportunity and to have a support system.”

For all of Rick’s natural ebullience, the role he assumes in the creation of his stars is a surprisingly behind-the-scenes one. Unlike some of his fellow high-level coaches, such as Nick Bollettieri or Patrick Mouratoglou, who seem to relish the spotlight offered by the player’s box, the majority of Rick’s work is done away from the crowds. “I teach about 50 hours a week—private lessons, seven days a week,” Rick says. “People, often parents, who think they have the next Venus or Serena or the next Roddick, or Sharapova or Capriati—I get the great athlete, a kid with potential, and that’s up to me to put Humpty Dumpty together,” he explains. “But it’s really anybody, anytime, anywhere—whether it be a five-year-old, someone top-20 in the world, or Sofia Kenin—I help them all.” Rick pauses for a moment and a grin lights up his face. “Today, I had an 80-year-old who’s 10 in the nation, and he wants to get better on his forehand. He’s 80 years old!” he exclaims with a smile. “And they all come back. So I think that’s telling you that you’re doing something right.”

I ask Rick if he’s ever been tempted to travel the tour with one of his pupils. “I’ve never had the desire. I bake the cake, I put it in the oven, I put the icing on it,” he says. “You know, I did take Venus to make her debut. And I’ve had opportunities to go with people top-10 in the world,” Rick explains. “But to me, that’s never been real. Four bad losses, you get fired. I’d rather put it together, you know, build the house, make it amazing,” he continues. “The motivation, the passion, and to extract greatness out of other people has always been my gift.” Rick Macci’s self-assumed role of tennis’s éminence grise meant that, apart from a coterie of tennis zealots, his name had been, until recently, largely obscured from most fans. But the premiere of King Richard, a biopic about Serena and Venus Williams’s spirited journey into the world of professional tennis, under the guidance of their father, Richard, has put Rick squarely in the middle of the silver screen. Despite playing a significant part in the story, Rick tells me that he wasn’t involved in the making of the movie. “It surprised me,” he admits. “I was surprised because I could have told so many stories, people would laugh and cry and be on their knees. I’ve got 100 stories to tell, all positive. And only maybe a couple were in the movie. It would have made the movie even better,” he says. Rick Macci’s character, portrayed by Jon Bernthal, features prominently in the story, for the most part trying to rein in Richard Williams’s unfettered drive. “I spoke to Jon Bernthal a few times,” Rick says. “He’s got my mannerisms right, the similar profile. Other than the moustache, no one could have played me better,” he laughs. “I told him, ‘Your moustache looks like a shrubbery on your face. And mine was like a little piece of AstroTurf—it took me 30 years to grow it! But the movie blew me away because it showed how much I care,” Rick says earnestly. “It was amazing. It was about the power of family. A lot of love. That’s the way that family was. Venus and Serena are like two peas in a pod. They’re still like that. But it was the power of family love, inspiration, dedication, education, perspiration, one nation, you know… It was so powerful. And people don’t realise how hard these two girls work. We take that for granted. I mean, this doesn’t happen. I’m not throwing magic dust. It didn’t happen because of Rick Macci. That mental toughness which I saw, and that rage to get to the ball, these two little girls, when they competed, that changed it all, that was put in there from birth—I stabilised it.”

The movie seems to play up the friction between Rick and Richard, with both men unwavering in their vision for the development of the girls. While Rick assures me that the on-screen drama was exaggerated and that he remains friends with Richard, it makes me wonder about navigating difficult parents in Rick’s line of work. Does that happen often? “Every day, all year round, my whole life… How’s that for an answer?” he quips. “Stefano Capriati, Jim Pierce… I tell people, just for putting up with Richard for four years I should be in the Hall of Fame,” Rick laughs. “I not only train the kids—I train the parents. And if you’re going to challenge them on every little thing…,” Rick takes a beat before continuing. “Listen, if I had done that when I went to Compton, I would have never done what I did with Venus and Serena. I knew what I was getting into. But it wasn’t about Richard. It was about me helping the girls. I knew what I was going to have to deal with. And if you saw the movie, I’m bulletproof. At 67 years of age, with everything I’ve been through, I’m bulletproof. At the end of the day, I’m just here to help the kid.”

 

Story published in Courts no. 3, Summer 2022.

Le tennis en héritage

Son arbre généalogique est un livre d’or du tennis sur trois générations. Fort de ce bagage personnel aussi riche que, sous certains aspects, pesant, Chris Davies, lui-même professeur de tennis, a développé un regard singulier sur son sport, entremêlant volontiers l’histoire (la grande et la petite), l’enseignement (via l’observation et l’expérimentation) et l’expression artistique (par les mots et par l’image). A découvrir.

 

Nul ne guérit de son enfance, dit le poète. Celle de Chris Davies, passée au cœur d’un centre de tennis tenu par sa famille sur la Côte d’Azur, ne peut s’affranchir du cliché de ‘l’enfant de la balle’. « Je me réveillais avec le bruit des balles, et m’endormais avec. » Le grand-père, Feri Buding, a fondé et dirige le centre, très coté auprès d’une clientèle allemande au fait de la réussite familiale. C’est que le patriarche s’est aussi chargé en personne d’enseigner le tennis à ses quatre enfants, amenant trois d’entre eux à défendre les couleurs de la RFA au plus haut niveau mondial. Edda atteint les demies à Roland-Garros en 1961 et, en équipe, la finale de la Fed Cup en 1966 ; Ingo joue les quarts de finale à Paris en 1965 et est incontournable en Coupe Davis la décennie durant ; Ilse enfin gagne ‘le French’ chez les juniors mais arrête très vite la haute compétition suite à sa rencontre, à Wimbledon, avec le meilleur Britannique de l’époque, Mike Davies.

Davies (rien à voir avec Dwight – notez le ‘e’) sera à la fin de sa vie intronisé au ‘Hall of Fame’ du tennis, pas tant pour ses résultats, pourtant très honorables (finale à Wimbledon en double en 1960, puis passage chez les pros de Jack Kramer) que pour son leg en tant que dirigeant : directeur général du circuit WCT de Lamar Hunt dans les années 70, puis directeur exécutif de l’ATP dans les 80’s, et enfin directeur général de l’ITF dans les 90’s, Davies aura trois décennies durant ‘remodelé’ le tennis pour favoriser sa télégénie et, partant, son expansion. La promotion du tie-break (pour assurer une durée limite au set et ainsi ‘cadrer le produit’) ? C’est lui. La pause changement de côté tous les deux jeux (pour mieux caser des pages de pub) ? Encore lui. Les balles jaunes et le lâcher-prise sur le code vestimentaire (pour un meilleur rendu visuel à l’écran) ? Lui toujours. Jusqu’à être le papa de la coupe du Grand chelem dans les années 90… entre autres initiatives ayant contribué à asseoir le statut du joueur professionnel de tennis.

Lignes de courts, lignes de fuite

Avec une telle ascendance, le chemin de Chris Davies est tout tracé… mais n’est pas pour autant un long fleuve tranquille. Parents à un très jeune âge, Mike et Ilse se séparent bientôt. Lui part faire carrière aux États-Unis, elle refait sa vie en Allemagne. Au milieu, Chris et son frère aîné grandissent avec leurs grands-parents, oncles et tante au centre de Bandol… pour lequel le clan finira par s’entre-déchirer par avocats et coups de carabine interposés – spoiler, personne n’y gagnera : le club finira à l’abandon, la famille Buding, disloquée. « Le tennis lie la famille, mais il l’enserre. » Enfant, Chris taquine la balle, « forcément. » Mais ce qui était une évidence vu son hérédité ne vire pas à la vocation. « J’ai rêvé d’être champion, mais comme tous les enfants… et surtout plus pour échapper à l’école que par passion. J’ai été classé -2/6, ai gagné à l’échelon Promotion, juste avant la sacro-sainte Première série. Puis je me suis blessé. J’ai été opéré de l’épaule à 18 ans. Je n’ai jamais rejoué assidûment. Mon dernier tournoi remonte à il y a 10, 12 ans. Physiquement je ne pouvais plus. Mes blessures n’étaient pas toujours psychosomatiques mais… pas mal quand même. »

En parallèle d’un court qui commence à lui sembler étriqué à mesure qu’il grandit, il y a surtout, très vite, la naissance d’une passion, une vraie : l’art. « J’ai eu un véritable choc culturel avec la musique, la peinture… Je me souviens encore de ma stupeur en découvrant Arte. Les émotions que j’y découvrais étaient plus fortes que celles du tennis. Plus facilement accessibles, aussi : le tennis, c’est beaucoup de frustrations et finalement peu de matchs où on ressent cette sensation ‘d’état de grâce’. Des appareils photos traînaient à la maison, je m’y suis mis… » Ils ne le quitteront plus. Pour autant, le tennis reste son gagne-pain… et son fil rouge. Il se tourne vers l’enseignement, « sans emballement au départ, mais je me suis épanoui là-dedans, quitte à en être le premier surpris. » Au fil des ans, il tâte du haut niveau au contact de la jeune ouzbèke Iroda Tulyaganova, qui gagne Wimbledon chez les juniors en 1999. Devient ‘Head coach’ du tennis-club du Gezira, au Caire – où, famille toujours, le nom de sa tante figure au palmarès du tournoi international organisé là-bas au temps des amateurs. Entraîne à Bâle, puis en Autriche, avant de revenir se fixer en Suisse, où il arpente dorénavant les clubs en photographiant les jeunes joueurs d’écoles de tennis pour ensuite proposer les clichés aux parents.

La ‘soul’étude’ du joueur de tennis

Des voyages, des photos, du tennis : tout est là. Ne reste plus qu’à lier tout ça. Le projet s’appellera ‘Soul’étude’, et sera finalisé en 2017 : 500 pages de ce qu’il nomme ‘auto-photo-biographie’, où comment relater à la fois un parcours personnel et une épopée familiale, à travers des photos (beaucoup) et des textes (un peu). Nul besoin d’être passionné de tennis pour être happé par ce récit tumultueux, captivant et émouvant. « Au départ, ces photos étaient prises sans autre but que de répondre à un besoin. Elles m’enracinaient à l’existence. Et puis à l’âge de 25 ans environ, j’ai commencé à penser à ce qui deviendrait ‘Soul’étude’. Je sentais que je devais le faire, que je n’arriverais pas à vivre en paix sans le concrétiser. J’y suis arrivé à la cinquantaine, au bout d’une longue fuite : fuir le tennis, y revenir, fuir ma famille, renouer avec, ne pas rester coincer là… C’est à la fois une thérapie, et un hommage. » L’instantané d’une époque, aussi, quand le tennis avait une empreinte sur la société – voire en était un phénomène. Au fil des pages, on y croise ainsi Noah et Sinatra, la sainte Trinité australienne Laver-Rosewall-Hoad et Bernard Tapie époque Phocéa, Nick Bollettieri et Michel Platini, Metallica et Liesel Bach, le couple Peron et un dictateur ouzbek…

Il faut reconnaître que l’homme ne craint pas les projets de longue haleine. Deux ans plus tard, en 2019, il publie un second livre en germe depuis longtemps : ‘Balles neuves’, une réflexion sur le tennis et son enseignement. Là encore, l’héritage familial n’est jamais bien loin, l’ouvrage dédié à « deux architectes du tennis ». Explication de texte : « Mon grand-père était un fou de technique. Il a même écrit un livre sur le sujet. J’ai voulu raccrocher son bagage au tennis moderne. Je m’étais aussi beaucoup rapproché, sur le tard, de mon père par ce biais. Ce livre est le résultat d’années d’enseignement et d’observation en bord de court, un manuel à l’usage des profs de tennis, un métier difficile, où les progrès des élèves se voient lentement et qui peut susciter de l’ennui et de la frustration. »

Et après ?

Au détour des chapitres, l’auteur y aborde la pédagogie (et une question centrale, et universelle, de l’enseignement : le (bon) joueur fait-il le (bon) prof ?), le matériel, parfois en levant des tabous (le mieux serait-il devenu l’ennemi du bien dans la profusion de raquettes ayant fait la fortune des équipementiers ?), la biomécanique et la technique… Sous ses allures de coup de pied dans la fourmilière, l’ouvrage a l’immense intérêt de questionner des dogmes contemporains : « Partout aujourd’hui, on compte : les licenciés, les pratiquants… Cette politique du chiffre a amené l’apprentissage du tennis à se tourner vers le plaisir immédiat, le ludique… en reléguant l’aspect technique au second plan. ‘Amuse-toi d’abord, tu apprendras les fondamentaux ensuite’. Mais non, on ne peut pas y revenir plus tard sans que ça ait laissé des traces ! Le tennis est un sport dur à apprendre, austère même ! On voit de moins en moins de techniques propres. Or le joueur finira toujours par être rattrapé, et pénalisé, par les mauvaises habitudes prises au départ. Il en sera frustré, voire il abandonnera. »

Et lui : au bout de deux projets de longue haleine achevés en trois ans, est-il prêt à abandonner, lâcher la plume ? « Ah non ! J’ai un fantasme de trilogie de ‘Soul’étude’. Le volume 1 était le passé, le bagage, la famille… Le 2 serait le poids de la société, et le 3 la vie en rose, quelqu’un qui trouve une manière de fonctionner malgré les deux premiers. » Qu’on se construise dans la continuité ou dans l’opposition, on est toujours le reflet de ses jeunes années. Et plus l’on avance en âge, plus on se retourne dessus ?

Balles perdues ? Pas pour tout le monde

« J’ai commencé à travailler sur de vieilles balles comme ça, en les ramassant au bord des courts, où on en trouve toujours plein, abandonnées parfois depuis tellement longtemps qu’elles sont enfouies dans le sol. J’ai commencé à les photographier, et leur donner des noms, leur réinventer une histoire. C’était un peu mon test de Rorschach ! » Au gré de ses obsessions donc, personnages historiques (Gagarine, Geronimo, Bob Marley, Massoud) ou mythologiques (Achille, Agamemnon) côtoient les légendes du tennis (Borg, McEnroe), tandis que grands évènements de l’humanité (Première guerre mondiale, Apollo 13) voisinent avec objets du quotidien (Mac) et références du bout du monde (poisson Fugu du Japon, têtes réduites d’Amérique du sud).

 Lacoste, Kontaveit and Leitmeritz:

The Crocodile’s razor-sharp fusionof sport

and fashion is an astute move.

Interviewing the player of the moment, Anett Kontaveit couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. After a meteoric rise, Kontaveit has risen to a career-high WTA singles ranking of world No.2 on 6 June 2022. She is also the highest ranked Estonian tennis player in history. A perfect muse, therefore, for Lacoste to launch their new Fashion Sport silhouette range via a photoshoot with world renowned fashion photographer Radka Leitmeritz. The shoot location was Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the self-named ‘Tennis Paradise’, a spectacular oasis in the Californian desert, where Kontaveit was competing. Leitmeritz and I met months later, at the 2022 French Open. 

2022 marks a creative shift for Lacoste, redesigning the feminine silhouette around fashion and sport to create the Fashion Sport range. Thanks to technical crafting, fashion pieces have been created with sports-inspired features. It is not only a lifestyle range merging the two cultures of sports and fashion, but also a collaboration between retro and modern. René Lacoste would undoubtedly be proud of his brand’s evolvement, by continuing his legacy of innovating, yet remaining true to its tennis roots.

The shoot photographs are galvanizing, even if for the colours alone. In homage to Lacoste’s ethos, they showcase high-end fashion in a setting that could be from a bygone age. Kontaveit is presented with minimal makeup—the perfect canvas to showcase this colourful, bold collection, against an exotic backdrop of bougainvillea, and an ageing private clay court. The clothes are in vogue with their androgynous, oversized cuts. A chunky cable knit V-neck sweater in the collection is a nod to the past, but with a quirky twist: both sides of the V have contrast-colour stripes. A plum-coloured jacket plays with tones and textures, and is paired with chunky fluorescent sneakers, brown knee-high socks and a bright green sun visor. Colour is big: whether playing with ombré or colour blocking, pieces can be mixed and matched. Anything and everything goes, so throw away the rule book! This range is tailored for both the fashion-savvy and athleisure buyer. Designed to make a fashion statement, yet comfortable enough to exercise in—what more could anyone want? 

Having been sponsored by Lacoste since 2019 and with her love of fashion, Kontaveit is the right choice to showcase the range. We spoke about the Lacoste launch, and life both on and off the court.

Courts: Firstly, congratulations. You are the highest ranked Estonian tennis player in history. Your ranking continues to rise above the top 10, and now you are about to shoot this very special Lacoste Fashion line with world-renowned fashion photographer Radka Leitmeritz. Life is looking very exciting for you right now. Tell us more!

Anett Kontaveit: Thank you! The end of last year was very special for me, especially making the top 10 for the first time! Shooting with Radka Leitmeritz for Lacoste is a dream come true and such an honor. To say I am excited is an understatement. 

 

C: You are about to play at the aptly named ‘Tennis Paradise’ (Indian Wells). What a perfect place to launch this range. What piece from the range do you think encapsulates these surroundings, and which is your favourite?

A.K.: It’s tough for me to pick just one item because I genuinely love them all. The collection really matches the landscape at Indian Wells, it’s a beautiful complement to the setting we are in. Tennis Paradise really takes the athletic apparel to a new level. 

 

C: Your endorsement with Lacoste began in 2019. Before that you were with Adidas. Two very different brands, with very different silhouettes. What does the Lacoste brand mean for you?

A.K.: I am definitely very happy that I joined the Lacoste team in 2019. I love the clean lines and refined styles of their tennis apparel and have always been a big fan of their ready-to-wear collections. I grew up wearing the brand, and when I first started working with them, they made me feel like I was part of the team from the first day. I am very grateful for our partnership; we’ve been having a lot of fun. 

 

C: 2022 marks a creative shift for Lacoste, with the feminine silhouette completely redesigned to make sport more fashionable. What are your thoughts on this increasing trend of fashion in sport?

A.K.: I think it’s great! It’s important that we also look good and feel confident in what we are wearing. It’s obviously not the most important part of my on-court performance, but it certainly helps. 

 

C: Rene Lacoste was a true visionary. He was the first to feature a logo on the brand’s clothing. He also patented a shock absorber for the strings on his racquet in 1960 and called himself an “inventor”. If he were here today, how do you think he would view the visionary aspect of the brand?

A.K.: I hope that he would feel very proud! I think Lacoste has done a great job staying true to the original vision and look of the brand, whilst continuing to innovate and create a product that meets the current trends that we are seeing in athletic apparel today. 

 

C: Lacoste is associated with elegance and exclusivity yet is also fashion forward. There is the classic line (e.g. the polo shirts), but there is also a line that continues to attract a younger, fashionable clientele. Lacoste often has limited edition collaborations with brands of the moment, such as Opening Ceremony, Keith Haring and Supreme. How do you feel this new range embodies the Lacoste brand?

A.K.: I love that Lacoste has been doing collaborations. It keeps the brand fresh and exciting, while also attracting a lot of younger people who may not have considered Lacoste otherwise. It’s good to push boundaries and try new things! Of course, their polos will always be elegant and a staple piece in my wardrobe. They are a classic and something that I enjoy wearing too. 

 

C: In a 2019 interview with Lacoste, you said that you were into popular music with an upbeat vibe, like the song Levels by Avicii. What is your go-to song these days to energise or relax you before walking on court?

A.K.: My music taste is honestly all over the place, I listen to different music from Avicii to RnB. Songs remind me of important people in my life and special memories that I carry with me. It all depends on what mood I am in, and what I feel like listening to that day. Before matches, I usually listen to something more upbeat. It helps to get me in the zone and pumps me up! 

 

C: I understand that you have a creative side and enjoy pottery. What other artistic talents do you have, and can you see yourself designing your own range of tennis clothing one day?

A.K.: I wouldn’t say that I am a super creative person, but I do really enjoy pottery! I like studying, reading, and learning new things. Truthfully, I do not see myself designing my own range, I will leave that up to the professionals. I am happy to wear clothing designed by others! 

C: Luxury fashion brands are beginning to incorporate tennis into their collections. I know you like to wear some of them when off-court. Chanel, Prada, and Saint Laurent, for example, have branded tennis racquets. What is your view on this—do you think there is a market for luxury end tennis racquets?

A.K.: Tennis is growing all over the world! It’s a classy sport to play, so it does not surprise me that fashion houses and customers would gravitate towards luxury, high-end tennis racquets. I like seeing how the culture of tennis is infiltrating into popular fashion! 

 

C: The Lacoste Fashion Sport range blurs the boundaries between sport and fashion, making it versatile to wear both on and off court. What is your off-court style for daytime and evening?

A.K.: Much like my music, my style changes with my mood. Sometimes I like to wear jeans and a baggy T-shirt, and sometimes I like to dress up for no reason at all. It’s really whatever I am into at the moment. 

 

C: Which player, either from the past or present has best portrayed fashion and culture in tennis?

A.K.: Maria Sharapova is a good example. 

 

C: You have a positive happy outlook, always smiling. Your best friend Heidy once said in a WTA interview that you were always “kindhearted and upbeat”. What do you think is the secret to happiness?

A.K.: I don’t have the secret to happiness, but I know that the things that make me happy or that I seek out for myself are my freedom. Having good people around you that lift you up, encourage and support you, and make me laugh always help too! 

 

C: What has surprised you most about your career?

A.K.: It has taken me time to realize how strong I can be, and how much more I am capable of. I surprise myself every day. 

 

C: Who were your style icons, growing up?

A.K.: I didn’t grow up with a style icon or a tennis icon actually! I’ve always tried to remain true to myself, doing what feels right, wearing clothes that I like and make feel good. There isn’t one person in particular that inspired me. 

 

C: If you could help yourself to someone’s wardrobe, whose would it be, and why?

A.K.: Probably Blake Lively! Her red-carpet appearances have been amazing, she has amazing style. 

 

C: Tell us one thing about you that people would be surprised to know.

A.K.: I love cooking and my favorite meal to make for myself, friends and family are fish tacos. They are really good! 

 

C: What are the upcoming tournaments in your calendar that most excite you, and why?

A.K.: I am really looking forward to tournaments in Europe, I love the summer there. I’ve always enjoyed Stuttgart and Rome is one of my most favorite cities to visit, it also has one of the most beautiful tennis venues. And, of course, the slams in Paris and London are always very special. 

 

C: Can you walk me through your typical day routine, from breakfast to bedtime.

A.K.: Routines for a tennis player look different on training, versus tournament weeks. So, on a training week at home for example, I wake up, make myself coffee and a good breakfast and then head to tennis training right after. I typically have lunch at the courts and then either go to the gym or hit again. After training, I go home and rest a little, and take some time for myself. Sometimes I go out to dinner with friends or catch up with people I haven’t seen for a while, catching a movie afterwards, if possible. I make sure to always get a good night’s sleep, so I can wake up and do it all over again the next day. 

 

C: Many tennis players are superstitious. Are you, and if so, what superstitions or rituals do you have on court?

A.K.: My biggest ritual would be a braid that I make for every one of my matches. It’s like a lucky charm, I guess. But no, I don’t think I have any on-court superstitions. 

 

C: Looking to the future, tennis has entered the metaverse. The Australian Open released NFTs for the first time, Nadal, Osaka, Svitolina and Wawrinka are also endorsing NFTs. As the metaverse continues to narrow the gap between digital and physical reality, and art and tennis start to embrace this, what are your thoughts on the metaverse, for your own career as well as future showcasing of new Lacoste launches? 

A.K.: Technology and metaverse are definitely not my strong suit. But I do think the Lacoste Minecraft collection is very cool! 

Radka Leitmeritz

A few months later, I interviewed Radka Leitmeritz at the 2022 French Open. Lacoste’s selection of photographer couldn’t be more suitable. Leitmeritz’s foray into tennis photography has presented a unique lens through which we see tennis players. Her background is in fashion photography, having impressively shot for publications such as Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar. An example from her portfolio is that of Petra Kvitova. Lying with her back to the camera, Kvitova is covered in red clay on a bench with faded, peeling paint, a vintage racquet propped up against the wall beneath. The photograph’s muted colours add to a timeless feel. Lacoste’s choice of Leitmeritz, was therefore a shrewd one. Together with her fashion and tennis credentials, Leitmeritz’s forte is to juxtapose vintage with modern. Much like Lacoste. 

Leitmeritz arrived at our meeting wearing a cap and t-shirt from her own brand Court Supremes (the name of her upcoming book, sponsored by Porsche). A stylish accessory paid reverence to her surroundings: a tennis-inspired silk scarf tied in a French knot around her neck, which she untied to show me the tennis racquet print across it. During our conversation, it became obvious that this is a woman in demand. Despite being interrupted by incoming calls and emails, the generosity of her time speaks volumes about how she does business. Leitmeritz’s openness and positive energy was infectious, even at the end of the day.

Courts: Your background is in fashion photography, with an impressive portfolio of supermodels and Hollywood A-listers as your subjects. You transitioned to tennis photography a few years ago, after taking an interest in playing tennis yourself. You have turned tennis’s superstars into magazine icons. What attracted you to tennis from fashion?

Radka Leitmeritz: I signed up for a tennis lesson in a park and got addicted, falling in love immediately. As a photographer, I see the world’s beauty through my camera. I took photos of people playing on public courts and was visually inspired. My first tennis assignment was to shoot Petra (Kvitova) for the cover of Elle Magazine. Elle knew that I had started playing tennis, so they called, saying, “we have something for you—with Petra. And you can do what you want”. I was very happy with this unique opportunity to bring a player into my world and treat it like a fashion shoot. 

Watching tennis, I noticed that nobody else was photographing the players in the way I envisioned. I see something totally different to what a sports photographer sees. Tennis players have such interesting characters, and the courts are a beautiful location. I began shooting old tennis clubs and courts, before collaborating with Racquet magazine. The WTA then approached me for a collaboration. We agreed tournament portfolios, portraits, and backstage photography—unlike anything that had been done before. But suddenly, the world was hit with Covid. My first series was when Indian Wells got cancelled, and everything was suspended for 2-3 days. The WTA and I decided to turn this into an opportunity, given the unusual situation where players had time, and nobody knew what was going on. Coming from a fashion background, I’m aware of styling shoots, so I started to bring props, like vintage racquets, or skirts, being careful not to clash with the players’ sponsor endorsements. Depending on the sponsor, I would bring some vintage Adidas or Nike, or even an unbranded item. I got great feedback!

 

C: From a fashion photographer’s perspective, what has been the main difference/challenge with shooting tennis players? Models and actors are used to being in photoshoots. But this doesn’t come naturally to a tennis player.

R.L.: It wasn’t that different. I found many similarities in these two worlds. Tennis players, like models and actors travel a lot. Many players have good fashion sense, with even better physiques than models because of their profession. But when attending my first tournament, I’ll never forget one major difference. In the players’ lounge at lunchtime, I saw female tennis players eating plates full of protein, carbs fruit, and they looked great, which was amazing. On modelling shoots I was used to seeing models snacking on carrots! There is a strong link between tennis and fashion. When I’ve styled a player for a shoot, they have appreciated that I will make them look better, as my approach is so different to the typical sports photographer’s approach. I gained their trust fairly quickly. 

Some actors are more comfortable with a moving camera, so still photography doesn’t always come naturally to them, either. So, the difference between the subjects isn’t actually that great. I just wish I could move better around the court to take my pictures. Tournament photographers have fixed allocated areas for shooting, which means that I can’t always shoot with the perspective I would love to, like lying under the tennis net! It’s hard to create something different. But it’s the ‘backstage’ access where it becomes more interesting, where I have more creativity outside of the tournament.

One-on-one moments with players are not easy to get. It took time to build trust and rapport, travelling with them for tournaments, becoming the familiar face at the breakfast buffet every morning. They understood that I was with the WTA and on their side, rather than a press photographer, so I was able to spontaneously photograph moments on a day off, or in-between matches. It makes a difference to have such unprecedented access to their life. But it wasn’t easy, the tennis world is difficult to penetrate. I had no tennis contacts, so I didn’t have immediate access. Thanks to the WTA’s support, it was made possible. They understood my vision and supported me. So, I was very lucky.

 

C: Your photos of tennis players are unique, merging tennis with art, often taken outside of the player’s normal surroundings. I love your photos of Petra Kvitova, covered in red clay, which you mentioned earlier. How did you manage to convince her to do that?

R.L.: Thank you! I guess because we were both crazy Czech girls, and we were in the oldest club in Prague, like home. And it felt like a sisterhood! I said, “hey Petra, I have a great idea. You’re going to hate me for it, but I want to roll you in the red clay”. And she’s like “alright, if you want, let’s do it!” You have to be lucky that it’s the right moment, the player’s in a good mood, open to experiment. Because not everybody is. 

 

C: Still on the subject of merging tennis with art, which players do you see as the best in portraying fashion, art, and culture in tennis and why?

R.L.: This is an interesting question because I don’t necessarily go for high-ranked players, or those who look like models. For me, every player is an interesting challenge because all have different characters. My job is to make everybody look good in front of my camera, whether it is a tennis player, or a lady working in the player’s restaurant, I’ll make my subject look good for a portrait. That beauty has to be personal, and different. It’s great if a player is open to being photographed. But I find players that are camera shy equally interesting and can often get something intimate. I had a great moment with Ons Jabeur. She had just lost a match but was happy for me to photograph her. These are precious moments because we are used to seeing smiling tennis players photographed with a trophy in their hands. But you rarely see photographs of players who have lost, and tennis is all about losing, only one person wins. For me, the challenge is to capture the losers too. I don’t just want to shoot the beautiful happiness of the tour. 

 

C: What does Lacoste mean to you, and how do you feel Kontaveit captures the brand?

R.L.: I’m truly excited about Lacoste. It’s hard to find a tennis brand with such good taste. Most brands today don’t have the same exclusivity or consideration for the physiques of all the players like Lacoste does, so we see so many players wearing the same outfits on court. Lacoste is selective about who they sponsor. Louise Trotter, Lacoste’s new designer has done an amazing job. She has really managed to turn a very conservative, posh brand with a little crocodile into a really cool brand. 

Lacoste is classic but with a modern touch. I follow fashion and love the fashion range. I was very happy when Lacoste approached me to shoot Anett, because I was able to choose looks from the fashion show and mix them with tennis. Anett looks like a model and understands fashion. Whatever I had wanted to do with her worked, but we weren’t so lucky with the weather on shoot day. There was a storm in Palm Springs which took out the light. Of the 2—3 hours we had, we only had 15 minutes of sun to utilize.

C: Looking at the photos, it’s hard to imagine those conditions that day, with the colourful bougainvillea in the background, and the muted colours of the court! Take us through the process for how you approached this shoot—can you reveal your brief?

R.L.: The muted colours were due to the storm and lack of light. We were praying for beautiful light which we had for 10 minutes when we arrived on location, until the wind and clouds appeared. Everything was flying! So, when you see the photos of Anett standing in front of a parasol, it was literally used as an umbrella and reminded me of Tim Walker’s work (British fashion photographer), as he uses big, oversized props. So, although this look was unplanned, it was cool in the end, and we did a good job. We had lots of fun running in the storm, trying to make something from the situation that we had. You often have to improvise like this and work with what you have. I wanted to do something colorful and really bring out the retro aspect, and the location helped. I did a mood board for Lacoste, putting together some ideas and we chatted a bit, but it was basically really organic.

 

C: What are your favourite outfits in this new collection? You have previously said you wanted to bring out the romantic, visual, stylish side of tennis. 

R.L.: I love the knee high socks, which remind me of vintage Prada from the late 1990’s. I love the big chunky sneakers, the oversized jackets and the crop tops with the big, high-waisted shorts. And I love the technical materials which Lacoste have used, which you would normally think wouldn’t work, but it looks amazing. I wish people would wear this collection around tennis—perhaps before or after tennis. It would work in the lifestyle of the tennis world. 

 

C: I agree – we need more creativity in today’s tennis collections, which brings me naturally to my next question. Many sports photographers like something with movement during play (like a pleated dress or skirt). What are the best types of tennis outfits that provide the most dramatic results? 

R.L.: As a photographer, I never appreciate heavy patterns or crazy prints, which can hide the player. Some brands are too creative with their cuts for tennis players on court. They don’t understand the context or court surface that the dress will be in. Plain colours and a good cut are so important. I have said this in so many interviews, but I really wish the brands would work more closely with female players to develop a more individual style suited to the player, in the same way they do with the men. Rafa and Novak have their individual styles. Serena has had her outfits made for her. Sharapova had her ‘Maria dress’. But I wish that every female player who is endorsed by a big brand can create a little personal version of that brand’s collection. There’s nothing worse than watching two players on court wearing the same thing! It takes the personality of the player away, and you really have to pay attention to who is who if watching from afar.

Psychologically, it’s important for a player to feel good with what they’re wearing during a match. Imagine playing the semi-finals of a slam wearing something that doesn’t fit well or is not to your style. There are many elements to consider when designing for extreme athletic movement. A brand should elevate the personality of the players, which is missing on the women’s tour, so players often look like an army of athletes in identical clothes.

What Lacoste has produced is classy, chic and looks great on court. The colours work with the surface. It’s important for brands to understand that not everyone is lucky enough to watch tennis live. The majority will see the outfits through broadcast cameras or photography.

 

C: You did something very resourceful during the pandemic: a lockdown series, photographing tennis players via FaceTime on your iPhone. The results are impressive. Where did you get this idea from and how did you convince your subjects?

R.L.: Thank you. Many of us tried to be creative during the Covid pandemic. I follow players on social media and remember seeing their posts from their hotel rooms in Melbourne during the Australian Open hard lockdown. They were isolated for 2 weeks, unable to leave or open their windows, yet they had to prepare for the tournament by hitting a ball against a mattress propped up against the wall or biking in their bathrooms – crazy! So, I contacted the WTA, convincing them of this one-time opportunity in sports history. They liked my idea and contacted a few players who were happy to oblige, as they had nothing else to do. It was very special to be allowed into the intimacy of a player’s room, even remotely. Because not everyone that I had shot had met me before, until we FaceTimed. 

The WTA were initially concerned that the photographs would be a depressing depiction of isolation and loneliness, but the outcome was much more fun. I posted videos on my social media showing how we set up the shoots. We were laughing so much. Sometimes the players were alone, having to tape their phone using an overgrip against foam rollers if they didn’t have a tripod, with me directing them according to the light. When they had somebody with them in the room, I would direct that person like a DP!

 

C: From what you’ve just said, it’s clear that your job is as much about soft skills as it is about the technicalities. In an interview for Porsche Bucharest, you discussed bonding with Maria Sakkari over the Porsche design. How do you get the best out of people and what do you do to make a player you have never worked with feel comfortable?

R.L.: It’s an interesting question. I have the same approach for all my subjects. I try not to familiarise myself, so as to know as little as possible about the people so that I can make my own vision and picture. When you research too much, it can influence how you see them. I just go with my instincts and feeling, but I’m also very adaptable and open to work collaboratively. The player has to like what I do and feel comfortable because it’s about them. The clothes are a little touch to make the photograph visually organic. But I don’t want to change their personality or make them into creatures of my own vision. So, it’s important for me to try to help dress them in the way that suits their personality and what they’re comfortable with. I am honest, natural, and open with them in the same the way I’d be with a friend. 

Maria and I connected because she is a Porsche ambassador. Porsche is one of my project sponsors, so we both had an amazing experience together with the cars. Sometimes you connect with some people more than others. If you do portraits, you just have to find a connection. The subject doesn’t have to love you. But I do like to find something within my subjects that inspires me and helps me connect with them. 

C: I understand you are very particular about certain colours like the Porsche red, or Neptune blue for example. What colours do you like in this collection?

R.L.: I like the browns, Bordeaux, dark greens, yellows, and the weird, unexpected combinations. This is a very photogenic colour palette. It works with my colour treatment, which has been the same for many years because I come from the analogue photo generation. So colours for me are very important.

 

C: You often mix vintage with modern in your photographs. I’ve seen today’s players pose with vintage wooden racquets, or outfits. Is that why you think Lacoste chose you for this shoot, as the brand manages to retain its classic lines but also be fashionably progressive?

R.L.: I don’t know. I don’t think so, but I don’t think it’s about the vintage. I just think that certain things were just more beautiful in the past. Or maybe it’s the nostalgia of it. A white or wooden racket in certain contexts works better as a prop than a new racket from a modern brand, sprayed with weird colours. But a wooden racket can also be a cliché: sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Looking at the locations that I use and all the backdrops from an aesthetic point of view, sometimes old things just look better on camera than the modern stuff. Vintage props often tell more of a story. I’m attracted to retro in general. But we are living in 2022, so I don’t want to be stuck in retro and shoot people with vintage racquets. It’s important to bring modern aspects to it.

 

C: Your approach and style is very different to regular tennis photography, capturing the emotion rather than the action. How challenging is it to capture the right emotions and expressions on tour?

R.L.: Very challenging! It depends on many things. I’m not looking to shoot a player’s backhand, but I’m looking to have a moment with the player. Those moments can be during the changeover when the player grabs a towel, or on the bench deep in thoughts, for example. So, you have to be patient because maybe the moment never happens, or the light or positioning is poor. At the French Open, the location of the photographer’s pit on court is great because you are so close to the players. But you have to be lucky because the emotion has to come from a moment you’re trying to capture, which doesn’t happen on command.

 

C: You’ve previously said that your work is inspired by movies. Which film, book or artist has inspired you the most?

R.L.: The 1960’s film Blow Up has an inspiring pantomime scene in a park full of tennis courts. There is something fascinating about abundant tennis courts. I love clay courts, as they look like a battlefield: a ‘before’ and ‘after’ battle scene, which has a very specific energy. The film Belle de Jour, has a beautiful scene with Catherine Deneuve, wearing tennis whites, with a headband, in the 1960’s in a posh tennis club, it’s a great look.

The fashion photographer (and tennis lover) William Klein is also an inspiration. In the 80’s, he created a documentary about tennis’s golden age called The French. It’s beautiful because it was made with all those iconic players and beautiful tennis looks of the 80’s, and shot in 35mm film, so everything has a cinematic quality. The camera angle access he had would be unachievable in today’s broadcast tennis, which has specifically allocated camera angles. Klein was able to film wherever he could on court, so the sound is unbelievable. Back then, you could interview or photograph players in their locker rooms, with their coaches smoking cigarettes whilst speaking to the player and journalist!

 

C: What is your best court surface to photograph, and which tournaments are you looking forward to shooting at this year?

R.L.: The French Open has been my dream court surface to photograph for two years, so it’s exciting to be here! The next one will be Wimbledon which I’m also excited about, because we need some green also and some tennis white!

 

C: How do you think the metaverse will affect tennis and fashion photography? The Australian Open and Roland Garros have released NFTs for the first time, Nadal, Osaka, Svitolina and Wawrinka are also endorsing NFTs. As the metaverse continues to narrow the gap between digital and physical reality, and art and tennis start to embrace this, do you see yourself branching into this new world?

R.L.: It’s a very interesting question because this is a topic that I’m thinking about a lot. My Court Supremes book project will incorporate NFTs in some form, but I don’t want to speak about this just yet, other than to say that it gives sense to everything digital, especially for art collectors. As for the metaverse, it is far away from the reality, so I still don’t know how to approach it. I have mixed feelings about it because I still want to be in the real world. 

 

C: Finally, tell us about your soon to be published tennis photography book, Court Supremes?

R.L.: Court Supremes is a book sponsored by Porsche, which we are hoping to publish in 2023. It will be the first book dedicated to the beauty of women’s tennis, including tennis courts and player portraits. I’m hoping that it will be a beautiful coffee table book. It will focus on women’s tennis, because I feel that the men’s tour has enough attention, and that equality between men’s and women’s tennis is still to be achieved. Women still have less tournaments than men, some tournaments still don’t pay equal prize money, so I want to support women’s tennis. The book is a gift to women’s tennis and its beauty. 

There are still very few female tennis photographers on tour. Right now, we’re in the Media Centre at Roland Garros. How many women do you see here? Very few as it’s a male-dominated profession. I wish there’d be more women. Photographs and editing would look different taken from a female point of view, with a little more sensitivity around some of the angles and expressions that women would not want to show. I’m not trying to change the world of tennis sports photography. I appreciate that I am stepping into somebody else’s world, so I’m just trying to bring my own angle to it. It’s a sports journalism versus fashion art world—two worlds that cannot be compared.

As we wrap up, and before Leitmeritz leaves, she says something unprompted that leaves me on a positive high, staying with me for the rest of the day: 

“Since I was 19, I’ve learned that I got into photography intuitively because I attracted to it with all my heart and loved it. It was not calculated. I really believe that whatever you choose to do in your life, no matter where you come from, you can do it if you are inspired. I had the same approach when I went from fashion to tennis photography, and doors opened for me. Everything is possible. What you choose, wherever you come from, whatever you do, it doesn’t matter. When I started in tennis, many people questioned my choice. My answer was always the same: I felt inspired. Do whatever inspires you, whether it be photography, writing a book about tennis, flowers, dogs, or animals. Follow your inspiration with your heart and doors will naturally open for you because people feel that positivity. I’m saying this right now because I’m reminding myself about it!” 

Tennis Beautiful

Tennis, more than most other pastimes, brings together the worlds of sport, travel, fashion, and romance. It has an enduring style which outlasts the functional fads of contemporary equipment and clothing, and the classic modes of the Victorian and Art Deco periods are often revisited by artists and designers wishing to connect with the masses who love the game today. Tennis, as we know it today, was launched in 1874 and for the first century was known as “Lawn Tennis”. Its history is well documented and well known, the principal allure of the game being its aspirational nature, making tennis appealing both to athletes and the “in-crowd”. It has long been fashionable to wear tennis-style clothing in everyday life, and since the mid-20th century, many an envious eye has been cast in the direction of a person carrying a tennis racquet.

What is less well known is the appeal of tennis to artists, designers, and companies wishing to promote their products and services, all attracted by the same aspirational qualities that have made the game so popular with players and spectators. When tournament tennis first began in the 1870s, newspapers and magazines commissioned artists to go along and capture the scene. Paintings, such as Sir John Lavery’s The Tennis Party (1885), further legitimised tennis as a subject worthy of the serious artist’s attention. It was only in the early years of the twentieth century, however, that tennis imagery became “public art”, seen and appreciated by millions everyday, on hoardings and in advertisements in magazines, newspapers, buses, and trains. Sometimes, as in Roger Broders’s Monte Carlo (1930), a poster commissioned by the Paris-Lyon-Méditerrannée Railway to advertise its famous “Blue Train” service, tennis was the main subject of the painting. Another good example is Leslie Ellis’s undated advertisement for tennis shoes made and sold by the Leicester-based British firm of Freeman, Hardy and Willis. In Broders’s work, the train is not even in the picture, which is all about the destination, the aspiration. In the FHW advert it is the scene that is appealing, making the shoes seem de rigueur. More often than not, however, sporty types wearing tennis clothing and carrying racquets were included in more general scenes to add glamour and sophistication, as in Delamere Francis’s 1922 poster for the Belgian seaside resort of Blankenberge, famous for its sandy beach and long Art Deco pier. The cover of the 1952 Kleber-Colombes motor tyres calendar by Geo Ham and the 1950s BSA Bantam motorcycle advert both use the now-outdated symbolism of the pretty girl attracted by the handsome man in control of a fast, powerful machine. A crossover between the two styles can be found in Ferdinand Lunel’s 1896 Chemins de Fer de L’Ouest railway poster for Etretat. The poster, which extols the virtues of this French resort, which is just “4 Heures de Paris” using the company’s services, shows a modern young lady riding a bicycle and carrying a tennis racquet, the words “Tennis Club” exceeded in size only by the name of the resort itself. When the All England Lawn Tennis Club moved from Worple Road to Church Road in 1922, the London Underground Railway’s Managing Director Frank Pick was quick to commission a series of stunning Art Deco posters advertising travel to the Wimbledon Championships and Davis Cup ties via the District Railway to Southfields station. Unfortunately, these posters cannot be reproduced here for copyright reasons, but they are amongst the most striking and familiar tennis art ever produced. Probably the biggest tennis artwork ever was David Larks’s 60 x 100 feet mural showing John McEnroe wearing the Nike tennis shoes he made famous, with the Manhattan skyline in the background. The mural was painted in oil on an office block on Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, and stared down over the city for nearly four years until it was replaced by another giant Nike image in 1988.

However, not all tennis art is produced for advertising purposes. Italian artist Luigi Castiglioni’s striking 1976 study of Bjorn Borg has an almost ethereal quality. In the early years of the 21st century, multiple grand slam winner Martina Navratilova hit paint-soaked tennis balls onto works created by artist Juraj Kralik. Their creative partnership was the subject of a special exhibition in the Tenniseum at Roland Garros in 2007. 

Story published in Courts no. 3, Summer 2022.

Life in plastic, it’s fantastic…

and feminist!

Translated by Muriel Trives

This little plastic effigy, with an adolescent face and an incredibly feminine silhouette, is now in her sixties. A true pop culture reference with fascinating symbolism, she is more than a simple toy. Indeed, Barbie embodies the evolution of American society since the fifties, but also, despite all the stereotypes she can project and with which she is associated, a certain progressive idea of women. The first Barbie was created by Ruth Handler, who was at that time vice-president of Mattel, for her daughter Barbara, nicknamed “Barbie”, when she returned from a trip to Germany. There, the ingenious mother discovered “Bild Lilli”, an adult wasp-waisted doll with a generous bosom and seemingly endless leg length. She was a doll straight out of a successful comic book series that was featured daily in the Bild Zeitung. She now represents the “ultimate Warholian motif” and the values of American society: eternal youth and opulence. The success of its dazzling commercialisation is a stroke of marketing genius, and its story is in a way a lesson in economic globalisation.

 

Feminism according to Barbie

If the immense commercial success cannot be denied over the years, it is because Barbie, with her “expression cast in plastic”, has nonetheless been able to adapt to trends and evolutions, and in particular to the inevitable political inflexibility. Thus, she was transformed into an astronaut when it was necessary to calm down the feminist admonitions about the image of passivity that was given to her. “We girls can do whatever we want,” she proclaimed in the 1980s. But, when we look closer, we realise that Barbie has always been free and independent, she “does not confine girls to a nurturing, caring function. Barbie is a woman of power who does not give in to Ken’s advances”, said the writer Marie-Françoise Hanquez-Maincent in her essay Barbie, Doll Totem. As Elisabeth Moet, marketing director of Mattel France and Belgium, explains: “Barbie was a failure at first. At the time, in the American society of the 1950s, the priority for mothers was to find a husband for their little girl, rather than for her to project herself into the world of tomorrow with a job.

“From the very beginning of the Barbie project, the idea was that, through this toy, the little girl would imagine herself becoming a woman with a certain amount of freedom and choice. Hence the multiple occupations she has. Today there is a Barbie judge, for example.” Actually, before Barbie, the doll was used to teach the little girl how to become a good mother. But with the baby, the little girl learns to  be a mother… and with the dollhouse, she trains to do the housework or the cooking. With Barbie, no way! She has an emancipating role, and if she has to train somewhere, it is only on the tennis courts! In 1962, only three years after her birth, Mattel decided to coordinate Barbie and Ken with the creation of two tennis- themed collections: “Tennis for Anyone?” for Barbie and “Time for Tennis” for Ken.

Playing with the iconic tones of the brand and the white emblem of tennis at the time, a dozen pieces skillfully mix the universe of the mythical doll with that of the yellow ball. The complete list of their clothing and accessories:

White tennis dress

White cardigan with orange trim

Blue sunglasses

White cardigan with navy and red trim 

White short sleeve cotton t-shirt

Green sunglasses

White socks

White tennis shoes

Tennis rules booklet

White tennis balls

Yellowish tennis racquets with black handles

Real “Sheroes”

In the early 1960s, a large part of the United States still suffered greatly from racial segregation. However, society was changing thanks to the pressure exerted by the civil rights movement. An important and new legislation extending the rights of blacks was passed, and in 1967 the Supreme Court ruled that laws prohibiting intermarriage between people of different colours were unconstitutional. Unfortunately, Martin Luther King was assassinated the following year. To honour him and show support for the African-American community, Mattel created the first black Barbie. The company has always shown a certain activism, and today it still continues. In 2018, it decided to follow the feminist movement of the Me Too era, and engaged in the fight against gender stereotypes by funding a chair at New York University, around the Dream Gap program, raising awareness of the factors that prevent little girls from reaching their full potential. The same educational objective applies to her YouTube channel where Barbie gives advice to girls and addresses the subjects of depression and bullying at school.

That same year, to celebrate International Women’s Day, the company produced a collection paying tribute to women who have made history in their respective fields. The collection includes American aviator Amelia Earhart, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and an African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson who participated in the successful Apollo 11 mission. Added to the list is the iconic Billie Jean King, whose doll in a two-tone blue and turquoise dress is an explicit reference to her legendary exhibition match against Bobby Riggs in 1973. This is significant. Beyond being a simple tennis match, it was also a real ideological battle. That year, King had just won three Slam titles, but the bonuses given to women were still much lower than those given to men. Outraged by the inequalities between the sexes, King shared her frustration with the world, and demanded new financial conditions. Riggs, in his ultra macho agitator outfit, more attracted by the money and the idea of betting than actually proving his theory, was challenged by King to win a match against her, and thus demonstrate who is stronger—man or woman. He was beaten in three short sets and two hours of play. This symbolic victory—and media—marked a turning point in the history of women’s tennis. In the same year equal pay came into effect at the US Open—a decision strongly influenced, it should be noted, by the creation of the union of players, the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association), created by Billie Jean King herself.

Naomi Osaka joins the group of inspiring women who are part of Barbie’s “Sheroes” initiative—which includes gymnast Laurie Hernandez, fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad and model Ashley Graham. The player will collaborate for a second time on a new edition called “Role Model”, in which Barbie wears a Nike outfit similar to the one Osaka wore at the Australian Open in 2020.

“It’s such an honour to be a part of the Barbie Role Model series, and remind young girls that they can make a difference in the world. I want young girls around the world to feel empowered to dream big and know that, if they believe in themselves, anything is possible,” she explained in a press release. “It’s a powerful thing, because as a child I played a lot with Barbie dolls.” Born to a Japanese mother and a Haitian father, the player said she was proud to “represent people who think they are not [represented].

“It’s really an important goal for me,” she insisted.

Like Billie Jean King, it is not only on the tennis court that Osaka engages in the exchange and imposes her style. This is illustrated by her strong act during the Cincinnati tournament in 2020, when she refused to play her semi-final in protest against police violence in the United States after the death of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake. She managed, for one day, to put the tennis world on pause, and forced the organisers to follow the movement by finally postponing the match to the next day. That same year, at the US Open, she was also seen entering the court wearing masks commemorating African-American victims of police violence. In 2021, she reopened the debate around mental health when she withdrew from the French Open following psychological distress caused by compulsory media duties. 

Barbie has never stopped evolving with the years. In the beginning, her activities were similar to those of teenagers: she babysat, went to discos, etc. Then she went to college in the 1970s, and had a career in the following decade. She has always practised sports and followed the clothing style of her time, fashion being one of the major threads of her evolution. Today, she is a reflection of the world that children—and adults—see around them, a world of diversity, and in which you can become whoever you want. In other words, Barbie is much more complex and useful than her simple image of a bimbo would suggest, so maybe it’s time to take her seriously, and talk about things other than her body measurements. 

 

Story published in Courts no. 3, Summer 2022.

Virgil Abloh

the reinventor, Quote Unquote, Remembered

Trailblazer, visionary, polymath, genius.

These are just some of the words that have been used to describe the late, brilliant fashion designer and entrepreneur Virgil Abloh. His passing on 28 November 2021, after battling a rare form of cancer at the tender age of 41 has created an inextinguishable void in the art and fashion world. But the void is also felt in the tennis world, particularly through a short but impactful collaboration which produced some of the most iconic and dramatic tennis outfits to grace today’s professional tour. 

Fast forward to March 2022, when Abloh’s final collection from his luxury label Off-White was unveiled posthumously at Paris Fashion Week to emotional applause. Showcasing his final designs on the catwalk were names from fashion’s aristocracy: Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Kendall Jenner, and Karlie Kloss. Amongst them, walked none other than tennis’s aristocracy, Abloh’s dear friend and muse—Serena Williams. On her Instagram account, Serena shared a clip, commenting that “it was truly an honor being part of my good friend Virgil’s last Off-White show”.

Abloh and Serena had become close friends since their first Nike collaboration for the 2018 US Open. Just 4 months earlier, Serena had worn a black Nike catsuit at the French Open to much controversy debating whether it was suitable tennis attire. The outfit choice was based on her health. After a history of blood clots and experiencing life-threatening complications during childbirth, the catsuit provided body compression. However, it was later banned, as announced by the French Tennis Federation president. Serena’s stylish response to the criticism materialized 4 months later, thanks to Abloh. The collection was aptly named “The Queen collection”, which was unveiled (of course), in Queens, New York. The collaboration had been much hyped throughout the fashion press. Abloh was the man of the moment. 2018 was his year: the year that he was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. It was also the year that Abloh became Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton menswear. His stock was rapidly rising.

 

This marked the beginning of Serena’s revolutionary and emblematic look, breaking the boundaries of what defined tennis wear. These on-court outfits became a metaphor for the way she felt at the time. As she walked out onto Arthur Ashe Stadium, Serena sensationally emerged from the tunnel to rapturous applause. She wore a dress, the skirt of which had—of all things: a tulle tutu. This was an outfit unlike anything previously seen on tour. Unlike the other outfits that year at Flushing Meadows, this did not look like tennis wear. Was it fashion, or was it sport? It was both: a fashion-sport hybrid.

The dress was a homage to Serena’s love of dancing and ballet. It was about having fun, whilst showcasing her personality, passion, and strength. Cut asymmetrically on the body, the outfit had Abloh’s recognisable nuance: quoted words. The Nike swoosh logo on the chest had the words “logo” printed above it. “Serena” was embellished on a single sleeve. Fishnet compression tights completed the ensemble. Abloh had designed two colourways: lilac for daytime matches, and black for night. As with many of Abloh’s creations, this was a tennis dress reimagined, as he explained: “I was trying to embody her spirit and bring something compelling and fresh to tennis…So the dress is feminine but combines her aggression. It’s partially revealing. It’s asymmetrical. It has a sort of ballerina-esque silhouette to symbolize her grace. It’s not about bells and whistles and tricks. It’s just about it living on the body and expressing Serena’s spirit with each swing of the racket.”¹ That tutu was the embodiment of Serena Williams. It represented grace, power, and determination. Its beauty lay in its silhouette whilst in motion. Nobody else could have carried it off as perfectly as her. The photographs of a balletic Serena in action wearing that dress are breathtakingly dramatic. Only Serena could do it. Only Abloh could do it for her. And together, like some of the world’s best artist/muse collaborations, they did. 

Their second collaboration happened the following year, for the 2019 French Open. In true Abloh style, this outfit also seemed inconceivable on a tennis court. The black and white press preview photographs showed Serena and Abloh together; Abloh in ripped jeans and a Nike hoodie, Serena in a black and white zebra print ensemble including a floor length skirt with a high side split. It had a matching crop top and jacket. When she walked onto the French red clay that May, the floor length skirt was replaced by a short skirt, paired with the crop top and jacket. Mesh netting showcased her impressively toned abs. Once again, Abloh had embellished the outfit with his signature quoted words. Serena’s superhero style caped jacket shouted female empowerment, with “mother, champion, queen and goddess” in French. This was a direct response to her previous year’s critics. The point was made, stylishly and clearly. When Jon Wertheim asked Serena post-match what she thought of the outfit, she said “it’s all positive reinforcement for me. And I kind of love that”.² This, she said, made her feel like a warrior. She later commented that “it talks about me being a mom and me being a queen, as all women are. A champion”.³

In tennis, there was no better partnership. Both had much in common: unorthodox, breaking boundaries, and successful upon their own merits. Abloh considered Serena a leader for future generations. He wanted to work with people like him who saw no limits, who could help lift and inspire others. He once said, “What I’ve learned … with design is that there is an inherent style and focus that exists amongst athletes and designers alike: What propels them to be the best comes from deep within.”⁴ Like Abloh, Serena has always been a moderniser. Her unconventional fashion sense goes back years. Think back to the short micro jumpsuit from US Open 2002, or the denim skirt and knee-high (yes, knee-high!) biker style boots in 2004. Nobody had quite dressed like this before on court. Their collaboration was destiny. 

But Abloh’s foray into the tennis world didn’t start with Serena. He had always wanted to work with Nike. So, in 2016, he collaborated with Nike to design ‘The Ten’: a range of Nike’s classic sneaker styles. But rebuilt and ‘remixed’ by Abloh. They were an outstanding success, quadrupling the retail price in the secondary market, making them highly collectable. The following year, Abloh redesigned an Off-White x Nike Air Jordan 1 pair, in a classic red and white colourway for Roger Federer. They had Abloh’s trademark flourish. Right there, unmistakably on the midsole, was a hand scribbled “Federer”, quoted and in permanent marker. Federer wore the sneakers at the 2017 US Open’s Arthur Ashe Kids Day. Last summer, Abloh designed wedding outfits for the lavender-themed wedding of Elina Svitolina with Gael Monfils, in custom Off-White. Svitolina wore a cream gown with lavender tulle. Monfils wore a 3-piece lavender suit to match. Upon the news of Abloh’s death, Monfils paid a touching tribute on Instagram: “I am so devastated by the news and still can’t believe it. I had the privilege to talk with you during those years and you were a true inspiration for me. Only a few months ago you gave us the honor to design Elina wedding dress. I’m forever grateful for our connection. My prayers go to your family”.

On 8 April, Nike released a posthumous collaboration sneaker with Off-White, “in accordance with Abloh’s wishes”.⁵ Unsurprisingly, it sold out immediately. Only a month later, on 21 May, another posthumous sneaker was unveiled at an exhibition at the Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse in Brooklyn, USA. Abloh had masterminded one of his most ambitious projects just before his death: a collaboration between Nike and Louis Vuitton. The product of that marriage is the “Air Force 1”, with 47 editions released for Spring/Summer 2022. The pieces are museum collection worthy, showpieces in their own right. We can certainly expect these investables to be traded and re-traded for years to come in the grey market. Described as “a heritage Nike design, tweaked with Louis Vuitton iconography, and manufactured in the Louis Vuitton atelier in Venice⁶”, this sneaker is pure Abloh: a juxtaposition of streetwear and luxury. 9 of the 47 editions will be on sale from June.

 This July marks another milestone in Abloh’s chronology. Coinciding with Wimbledon, 1 July 2022 will also be the opening day of the exhibition that Abloh will sadly never see. Before his death, Abloh had been meticulously planning every detail of his retrospective exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum entitled “Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech”. What began as a travelling exhibition, was scheduled to culminate in its final iteration at the museum. And to appreciate the concept of this exhibition is to understand the man behind it. 

Abloh named his successful label Off-White, because it is “the gray area between black and white as the color Off-White.”⁷ Perhaps also reflective of himself, who wanted no compartmentalisation. He was much more than a fashion designer. In a sense, a jack of all trades. Trained as an architect, Abloh had an unconventional start in the fashion world. He didn’t go to fashion school, but worked in street fashion, with young creatives, graffiti artists and hip-hop DJs. Through an internship at Fendi, Abloh met and eventually collaborated with rapper Kanye West before setting up his own labels, including Off-White and becoming the groundbreaking artistic director of Louis Vuitton, where he wanted to “define the title of artistic director for a new and different era”.⁸ His very first collection made an impact, blurring the lines between fashion, art, music, politics. His collaborations through the years have showcased his diversity, from Ikea furniture to Rimowa luggage to music. Abloh once collaborated and DJ’d for Pioneer, designing transparent DJ consoles, which were then exhibited at the Chicago Museum for the Figures of Speech exhibition. 

Arguably, the quoted words in his creations are amongst the most recognisable characteristics. They were to provide irony, make people think, and to strip things back to their basic function. He labelled some of the most prosaic things, like shoelaces (with the label “shoelaces” in quotes), plastic zip ties, furniture and even bottles of Evian water! Rihanna once wore a pair of $1,000 stiletto over-the-knee white leather boots embellished with “For Walking” up the back of the boots. She wore them on stage, but they were for anything but walking. To Abloh, these ordinary objects were sculptures or pieces of art⁹. 

And art was everything to Abloh. In some respects, he was today’s Andy Warhol. Like Warhol, he brought a fresh new look and value to everyday objects by reworking them into new pieces of art. Much like Warhol’s soup cans, this reworking caused controversy throughout his career but also brought great success. Like resampling an old song in hip-hop, Abloh was the DJ of his creations, remixing images of old masterpieces, and showing them in a fresh modern light. He loved 17^th century baroque paintings as much as he loved graffiti art. Each season became a lesson in art history, as he focused on a single artist, from Édouard Manet to Leonardo da Vinci to Jean-Michel Basquiat. (Naomi Osaka has been spotted wearing one of the Mona Lisa Off-White hoodies when off court)! But the most referenced artist in Abloh’s collections was the Italian master of chiaroscuro, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. 

Abloh printed Caravaggio’s The Entombment of Christ, Madonna of the Rosary, Annunciation, Narcissus, Saint Jerome Writing and The Seven Works of Mercy across his collections—on t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies. Perhaps one reason why Abloh liked Caravaggio so much was because, like himself, Caravaggio was controversial. Michael Darling, of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago wrote in the Forward of the “Figures of Speech” exhibition book, that “Abloh was “blown away” by Caravaggio’s innovative use of the painting technique known as chiaroscuro and how it changed history … Abloh says that studying the Renaissance “rewired” his brain and that chiaroscuro made him realize that art wasn’t just for rich people”¹⁰. Intriguingly, there is a tennis connection. Allegedly, Caravaggio was so passionate about tennis, that shortly before his death he was on the run from killing a man over a tennis match!

The July exhibition is about much more than just design or fashion. The pandemic and 2020 racial protests in the US made Abloh rethink the plan to make it more political. Consequently, the museum’s centrepiece will be a black house. The house has been constructed with unmatched doors/windows. Although everything works, nothing fits. The construction is symbolic of “negritude architecture… Or the way Black people make things, houses or magazine stands in Harlem, for instance”.¹¹ Things are deconstructed, and re-designed, like converting a tutu into a tennis skirt. This transformative approach was applied at Louis Vuitton. He once repurposed a classic Louis Vuitton trunk into a boombox. Louis Vuitton’s origins were as a trunk maker. Abloh’s reinvention attracted a new demographic. This exhibition is certain to make a lasting impact.

 

Both collections that Abloh designed for Serena show his profound understanding and respect for one of the greatest athletes of our time. Only an artist who knows their muse well can bring out the best in them, and vice versa. Art history has shown us the best examples: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar or Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick amongst others. Likewise in fashion, collaborations between Ines de la Fressange and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Hubert de Givenchy, and Audrey Hepburn, Azzedine Alaïa and Grace Jones have produced the most iconic looks still admired today.

Amongst the most notable tennis muse collaborations from the past were the creations of fashion designer Ted Tinling, throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Like Abloh, Tinling created tennis dresses that were considered daring and ahead of their time. He too had deep rapport with his muses, who were champions: Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert. Over 50 years later, the tennis world was treated albeit briefly, to Abloh-Serena. There could have been many more outfits to come. 

Virgil Abloh had so much more to give to the world. Whether we hear of an imminent posthumous tennis collection or not, one thing is certain: Serena and Abloh had only just begun.

 

Story published in Courts no. 3, Summer 2022.

¹ www.nylon.com/articles/nike-the-queen-collection-virgil-abloh-for-serena-williams

² www.highsnobiety.com/p/serena-williams-french-open-outfit-off-white/

³ https://fashionista.com/2019/05/serena-williams-french-open-2019-off-white-outfit

⁴ https://news.nike.com/news/virgil-abloh-nike-the-10

⁵ www.complex.com/sneakers/off-white-nike-blazer-low-first-posthumous-virgil-abloh-collab

⁶ Caramanica, Jon. “Louis Vuitton Meets Nike in Virgil Abloh’s Dream Sneaker”. New York Times. 20/05/22 URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/style/louis-vuitton-nike-virgil-abloh.html

⁷ http://web.pdx.edu/~allstott/hypebeasthistory/offwhite.html

⁸ http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/jun/21/virgil-abloh-louis-vuitton-debut-show-paris-menswear-spring-summer-2019

⁹ www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/in-search-of-virgil-abloh

¹⁰ www.complex.com/style/virgil-abloh-off-white-best-art-references

¹¹ www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/in-search-of-virgil-abloh

Between Monaco and Manacor

French artist Brett Gradel owes his passion for tennis—and art—to his family and his native Côte d’Azur, but when it comes to marquetry he is carving a brave new path that takes him back to the sport he learned from his father. 

 

Imagine a place where art touches tennis and tennis touches art. The result, a dance through shadows and light, a blissful moment in time when the athlete and his artistry coalesce to create one stunning visual. The confluence of those overlapping, limitless circles, is where the artist Brett Gradel spends his time creating divine pieces of art, many of them tennis-themed.

Moon Ball was his first. The stunning homage to the tennis of yesteryear is a stool-“tabouret” in French—but it looks and feels like something more. It is an homage to a time when the giants of tennis were like rock gods; an era when icons like Borg, McEnroe, and Noah were fire, ice, and ecstasy for legions of fans who connected with the sport. Gradel recently handed it off to Marin Čilić at Monte-Carlo, where he volunteers as a driver each year, shuttling the players to and from the pristine club. “I wanted to draw an image a bit classic, like old-style tennis, like vintage, but with a little bit of modern touch,” Gradel tells Courts of his first foray into a marriage of tennis and art, which depicts Čilić on clay, preparing to serve. “Somebody wanted to buy it, somebody sent me a message on Instagram, but I refused. I really wanted to give him the stool in person.”

On his website, www.brettg-design.com, users can see this one-of-a-kind “tabouret” photographed on the vibrant terre battue that is prevalent near Gradel’s hometown of Roquebrune Cap-Martin, just a 10-minute drive from the fabled Monte-Carlo Country Club, home of one of the most breathtaking venues in tennis. They can also see his latest work—a tribute to the King of Clay Rafael Nadal, described on Gradel’s Instagram page as follows: “Made especially for Rafael Nadal, whom I admire for his tennis prowess and his immense humility. The beauty of tennis is timeless. It is for me a warm game. The exchanges and ball percussions make the shadows dance on the warm colors of the courts.”

It is called “Manacor:” Look closely at the piece and find a veritable cornucopia of woods, all seamlessly assimilated. Marquetry, the ancient art form, is work that utilises various types of wood as well as other materials, such as the bronze Gradel used to outline the circumference of this sleek stool. “My idea was to zoom in on Rafa, like a photographer would,” Gradel tells courts. “Nadal is so charismatic that I wanted something really close to him, and something a bit cubist in style.” The tabouret is composed of precious woods—no painting whatsoever: Sycamore burl for the sky behind Nadal, oak for Nadal’s skin, speckled maple (tinted) for Rafa’s baby blue T-shirt, Sycamore (tinted) for Nadal’s vintage headband, teak for the shadows around his bicep and wrist, pear and maple for his racquet. The legs, true to the real-life legend’s form, are made of solid oak. “Despite the power and strength of Rafael Nadal’s game, I wanted this portrait to be soft and luminous in the image of his personality and of this sport,” Gradel says.

The luminosity that Gradel speaks of is the sophistication that makes this piece of art a revelation. He has captured the endless summer, discovered a way to make the King of Clay ageless. Here is Rafa, winning Roland-Garros perpetually, the sun baking the clay, the lines of his face in sync with the lines of nature. “I blend precious wood together,” Gradel explains when I ask him about the piece. He chose to combine the sycamore of the sky with tinted speckled maple of Nadal’s shirt in order to heighten the effect of the Spaniard’s aura. “I love pastels. And also Nadal likes to wear different colors. I also chose something very bright, with a lot of light.” A close-up photo allows the viewer to see the detailed work that Gradel has produced.

The best tennis players need ample time to hone their craft, and the same is true of Gradel and his art. He spent 10 days just to make the drawing for the piece, then almost another month to complete the stool. Gradel first fell in love with art in his youth, thanks to his family. His grandfather was a painter and a craftsman, his grandmother was a dressmaker. Gradel enjoyed tagging along and watching his grandfather work with his hands. “I think I spent almost as much time with them as my parents, I really grew up with them, I was always behind my grandfather, watching what he was doing. He was really good at anything manual, for me he was like a model, since always.” Inspired, and influenced, by the creativity of his progenitors, Gradel’s artistic origins begin with sketches and paintings that he created as a child. Eventually he found himself on his own path, gravitating to woodwork.

“When I was a kid I used to draw a lot and paint as well, and then in time I entered into woodworking,” he says. “I started by myself six years ago, doing a lot of experience with wood and different materials, like leather and some metals and resin and many different things, and I gained a lot of experience. And with all of this experience, I am now into marquetry.” Gradel’s love for tennis is owed to his father. He told Courts that his father plays almost every day, and is in attendance every April, when the ATP Tour comes to Monte-Carlo for the first Masters 1000 event of the clay-court season. His father’s passion for the beautiful game has rubbed off on him. “I really like the atmosphere in tennis,” he says, explaining how he connects with the sport on a visceral level. “For me it is something like vintage or retro, maybe because I started playing tennis when I was a kid, so sometimes I have flashbacks of scenes and the aesthetics of all that you can find in tennis, the color of the clay, I love it. The smell that you can have there. The clothes, the fashion, and the spirit of the sport also.”

Gradel’s art is inspired by his life, and his life has been rich. “I can’t complain,” he tells Courts, modestly. He doesn’t need to. He has lived in Russia and Spain; he is a linguist who speaks five languages, and he’s also a musician and a sportsman. Also an avid surfer, Gradel has spent time surfing in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Tahiti and Mexico, but he always ends up back in the irresistible French Riviera, and who could blame him? “It’s difficult to find another place where I feel home like this,” he says. “We are between the sea and the mountains and next to Italy, so I live about ten minutes’ drive from Italy. In one day I can go to Monaco, eat a pizza in Italy by night and come back for the evening in France, it’s pretty fun. You can do a lot of things without driving too much. Some days I surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon, or the opposite, just driving one hour and a half.”

At Monte-Carlo, Gradel has driven the greats of the game to and from their hotels, out for dinners, and nights on the town, and he has many stories to tell, like how he used Rafael Nadal’s physiotherapist when he injured his knee while living in Mallorca. “I really love Nadal, we had funny talks because he lives and was born in Mallorca and I lived there for two years, so we talk about Mallorca,” he said, adding: “A funny story is that I had a knee problem there and I went to his physiotherapist, and I kept the card of the physiotherapist, who was also the physiotherapist of Nadal. I showed Rafa the card and he couldn’t believe it, that a guy in Monaco showed him the card of his personal physio. It was pretty funny for him.” Now the episode comes full circle. Gradel hopes to have the King of Clay’s signature placed on the stool before it goes to auction, the proceeds ideally going to Nadal’s foundation. There is no other piece like it in the world, now it is up to Nadal to put the finishing touches on another impressive, highly stylised piece of work.

 

Story published in Courts no. 3, Summer 2022.

Murray and Lendl Reunited:

No Phoney Beatlemania Here

Two legends push for former glory as Andy Murray and Ivan Lendl look to write a definitive summer anthem at SW19. Can they reproduce the magic of yesteryear?

 

Whether it be rock-n-roll or tennis, there is a certain undeniable charm to the reunion tour. Granted, some are nothing but money plays—the over-the-hill artist hits the road, hoping to pay off a bloated second mortgage—but others can stir our souls and rekindle magical emotions. In other words, it all depends on the band, and the connection that has been cultivated with fans over time. This summer, on the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon’s All England Club, tennis fans will re-experience a dynamic duo that rocked their world not so long ago. A two-man outfit that churned out chart-topping hits in the 2010s, featuring edgy Czech Ivan Lendl as the stoic provider of backbeats and Andy Murray, a hair-raising vocalist with the panache of the Who’s Roger Daltrey and Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant all rolled into one.

Heavy metal thunder on Wimbledon’s Centre Court. How could it not be amazing?

This summer we will find out, for better or worse, what Andy Murray has left in the tank, and whether or not Lendl’s influence can be the talisman for the Scot’s stagnant game. Early signs point to a renaissance. The three-time Slam champion surprised everyone by taking a late wild card into Madrid in early May, where he defeated Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov in succession. It wasn’t the world-beating 2016 version of Andy Murray (he left the tournament after retiring due to a stomach bug), nevertheless it was a step in the right direction. The man with the metal hip has been steadily rising up the rankings of late, albeit at a snail’s pace. In February, the Scot returned to the top 100 of the ATP rankings for the first time since 2018. This summer, as he threatens to re-enter the top 50, we wonder: how high can the 35-year-old climb?

“It still ultimately is going to come down to Andy making some adjustments and changes, and being willing to be flexible,” former coach Brad Gilbert tells Courts. “He is still at the mercy of the draw, where he is ranked. He has to be more efficient in his matches.” Gilbert, a former World No 4 who also coached Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi, has a point. It often looks like Murray is trying to play the tennis of a 25-year-old, while his 35-year-old body has other ideas. Perhaps it is out of habit. Murray, being the consummate fighter, willing to grind, and priding himself on maintaining an elevated level of consistency, wants to show off the miracle that is his body, surgically repaired and metallically enhanced.

Many think he leans on his body too much, however. “I look at the rally length on the ATP spreadsheets that I get, and he’s consistently playing some of the longest rallies on tour,” says Craig O’Shannessy, an analytical guru who has worked with Novak Djokovic and many other current tennis stars. “Just for his age, he should not be doing that, and for his age with a metal hip he should definitely not be doing it. He needs a greater hunger to throw the first punch during points.” Gilbert takes the same view: “If he was moving the same as he was at 25, then I could say that he would be able to play the same way, but if you are a basketball player and you can’t leap out of the building anymore then you have to figure out other ways to be successful,” he said. “He definitely is not moving like he once was. He hasn’t all of a sudden dropped off a cliff, but I think that he has to figure out some different ways how he can be more successful with his game.

“I think he’s skilled enough, but sometimes it takes somebody to tell you what you need to do, which maybe Ivan can do.” Lendl has convinced Murray to play a more bruising brand of tennis before, so why shouldn’t the 62-year-old be able to do it again? The Czech, an eight-time Slam champion who held the No 1 ranking for 270 weeks, has always had the magical ability to reach Murray in a way that nobody else could. If he can convince Murray to trust his shotmaking once again, the pair could produce a throwback performance for the ages at Wimbledon. “The one big thing with Ivan is that there is a massive element of trust with the two, I think that’s the one crucial aspect to what he and Ivan have going together,” Nick Lester, former ATP pro and current tennis commentator, tells Courts. “Andy believes and trusts in what Lendl has to say, there’s a huge amount of respect between the two. You look at Ivan’s career, the way that he went about his business, the incredibly strong mind that Lendl had back in the day, the absolute iron will. And there’s so much of that in Murray isn’t there? The willingness to just constantly prove people wrong, to constantly strive for more.”

Lester also liked what he saw from Murray in his first event since officially beginning training with Lendl. He says Murray already looks more proactive. “I think I’ve seen that this week, I thought when the opportunity was there to take it on, he was doing so,” he said of the performance in Madrid, adding that Murray was returning more aggressively and serving better as well. If he’s playing that well on clay, it seems a no-brainer that the former world No 1 will be able to translate those improvements to grass, where he owns a career record of 110-23, including two Wimbledon titles and an Olympic gold medal with Lendl by his side.

“Let’s be honest, there are a lot of players that come into the grass season unprepared,” Lester says, adding: “I always say this about the grass court season: there are a select group of players that really prioritise it, and I think Murray is going to benefit from being one of those for sure.” Of course, there is no guarantee that the duo will hit all the high notes during their reunion tour. Murray is 35 now, and the step he lost to age gets exacerbated by the step he lost from multiple hip surgeries. But fans can be certain of the important item: Murray will play with passion and will continue to inspire, regardless of the result.

Rock-n-roll doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect. It just has to have that energy.

The Murray-Lendl duo certainly has the energy—and the talent to continue rising up the rankings. “He can keep rising,” O’Shannessy says. “Things have got to go right, he has to play the right way, he has to remain injury free. He has to get some momentum, to build confidence. Get the crowds behind him. But a renaissance of Andy Murray is possible.” Maybe—just maybe—the renaissance will end in a deep run at Wimbledon.

“I think he has a better chance in a major than in some of these tournaments where he has to play three or four days in a row,” Gilbert says. “He needs a good draw, more than anything he just needs to get through that first week of Wimbledon. And if he does, maybe he can make a deep run.”

 

Story published in Courts no. 3, Summer 2022.

It Runs in the Family

Picture this. Sometime in the 2010s, on a private court in Thailand, under the unbearable weight of tropical heat and heavy, soul-sapping humidity, a kid is trading forehands with his coach. He’s darting back and forth, hitting one precise shot after another—his movements by now already a work of muscle memory and instinct rather than conscious decisions. The kid seems tireless. Coated with a thick layer of glossy sweat, and a shirt permanently stuck to his back, he looks like he’d just been swimming. He hits a booming forehand, the sound echoing into the night, he recovers, split steps, and hits another. Then one more. After a seemingly endless series of shots, each one a mirror image of the other, he puts one into the net. He groans quietly, checks the strings of his racquet, and picks up the mischievous ball with the weary professionalism of been-there-done-that-a-thousand-times. And then a few thousand times over. Although only 10-years-old, the likelihood is that he has already spent more time on court than you ever will. 

The child’s name could be Ulises, or it could be Dali or Darwin. With a quick change of the pronoun, it could also be Krystal—all siblings of the Blanch family grew up to be tennis players. Their respective stories brim with parallels and recurrent motifs, and although the four kids have since diverged into their own paths, the blue court of their childhood will always remain a constant memory.

The first thing to understand when taking stock of the Blanch family is that there is no Plan B. In a calculated and methodical way, Ulises, Dali, Krystal, and Darwin were shown a road to professional tennis at an early age, and they followed it with enthusiasm. “From a very early age, they were very clear that they wanted to be professionals [tennis players], and they didn’t really want to talk much about going to college,” says Ernesto Blanch, the father. At the time, Ernesto was working for Coca-Cola. Posted to Thailand, he cleared the palm trees in his backyard and built a tennis court for his eldest son, Ulises, to play on. In many ways, Ulises became the manifestation of the blueprint followed later by his siblings, Dali, Krystal, and Darwin. In the sunbaked space behind the house, Ulises would learn the ins and outs of the game by logging in endless hours of court time. 

“Thailand is really hot, but I loved it,” Ulises says. “I lived there for nine years while growing up, from four to 13. That’s where I started going to school, that’s when I started making friends, where I started playing tennis. When I left, and started going through different parts of the world, all that made me realise how much I actually enjoyed being there. It was great.” As it would be with the other kids, from the start, everything was geared towards giving Ulises the best chance at accomplishing his dreams. “It’s very important to know that, as a father, I have to rely on the people that know,” says Ernesto. “You are not going to tell the doctor how to do your surgery, you have to rely on somebody that has done the surgery many times. You have to be in the hands of people that have developed kids at very early ages to reach professional levels—the ones who have seen this for decades, and know what they do right and what they do wrong,” he explains. “So, we got that one right from very early on. Because even if you think you may know, you don’t.”

Staying true to his own advice, Ernesto employed a full-time coach from Argentina to look after the development of Ulises and his siblings. With professional help at home, the starlets would also regularly fly out to Florida, the home of legendary coach Rick Macci. “Rick put the technique,” says Ernesto. “The biomechanics, which are really important to build before the age of 12. So, first the biomechanics, and then they learn how to actually play the game.” Rick Macci has a proven record of creating tennis superstars. The American coach has had a hand in shaping such luminaries of the game as Serena and Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, and Sofia Kenin. The Rick Macci Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Florida, has long been a proving ground for hopeful tennis talents. “When they’re in Florida, they come by and I take the temperature and check them out,” Macci says of his relationship with the Blanch family. 

“All the kids are very coachable—they don’t get too high, and they don’t get too low. They’re very even keel. The father, Ernesto, has done an amazing job with all the kids,” he continues. “It’s not easy when they’re different ages. He’s done a great job of motivating them and giving them an opportunity to be the best they can be.” As Ulises grew older, and started showing signs of the formidable tennis player he would later become, the family decided to send him to Argentina, the Mecca of clay-court tennis. It was a path all kids would eventually follow. In the meantime, as Ulises was learning the arcana of the red clay under the vigilant eye of veteran coaches with permanently orange-tinted socks, his two brothers and sister continued their development in Thailand. By then, their coach was spending up to ten hours a day training the remaining kids while they rotated between school, on-court training, and fitness conditioning.

There exists a telling photograph that encapsulates the experience. Darwin, wearing blue shorts, no shirt, and a pair of red tennis shoes, smiles into the camera at a small wooden desk, taking a break from his schoolwork. Behind him, Krystal warms up while waiting for Dali to finish his turn with the coach. “I spoke Spanish already because of my dad,” Ulises says of his experience in Argentina. “In terms of language it was fine. Culture-wise, it wasn’t too different, because my dad’s from Spain. I think the idea that I was moving there for tennis, and that it was something that I wanted to do kind of took away how tough it was at the beginning.” 

Although it is probably the most divisive of surfaces, red clay is also the most educational one—the ability to move on the ‘dirt’ and grind out long and brutal points is invaluable in the development of any tennis player. “I think the fact that the father exposed them to red clay and developing patience, getting out of Thailand, which is not really a hotbed [of clay court tennis], and coming to Florida on a regular basis, has really helped their development,” Rick Macci says. The four siblings quickly moved up in the tennis hierarchy, and they soon became regulars at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, the home of USTA’s performance programme. “After the age 14,15, they have all spent quite a bit of time there which was very good. The USTA really went out of their way to help because the kids were obviously some of the best in the country,” says Ernesto. 

By then, the concoction of level-headed decisions, experienced counsel, and the kids’ own combustible talent fermented into tangible results. “Ulises was the first one,” Macci says. “The father brought him to me when he was six-years-old. And he’s worked his butt off to get where he’s gotten to.” 

Ulises, 24-years-old, and with a career-high ranking of 236, sees himself as a very attacking player. “My best shots are my serve and my forehand,” he describes his game. “I try to use them as much as I can to make damage. All the time, I’m trying to instil my game in the match so that I can feel as comfortable as possible, and my opponent obviously be a little more vulnerable to what I’m doing.” In his junior days, Ulises competed against some of the biggest names in today’s tennis, such as Stefanos Tsitsipas and Denis Shapovalov, eventually becoming world’s second-highest ranked junior in the ITF rankings in June 2016.

“He’s a firecracker,” says Sofia Sewing, Ulises’s long-time girlfriend and an EDGE International player, herself world number 9 in the ITF Junior rankings. “He has a very strong personality and is very determined. When it comes to tennis, he is a very serious person.” With one Futures and two Challenger titles to his name, Ulises entered the big time when he received a wild card into the main draw of the 2020 US Open. Although he ended up losing to Cristian Garín in the first round in gruelling five sets, the experience served as a confidence boost, and further enhanced his credentials.

Ulises’s younger brother is Dali. With a powerful forehand (a characteristic shared by all four of the kids, and a mark of the work Rick Macci has done), Macci describes him as “a great athlete, and a great competitor mentally.” At 19, Dali ranks 717 in the world, having previously reached number 4 in the ITF Junior rankings, and plays under the banner of EDGE International, a sports agency in which Rick Macci is involved. When Dali turned 16, he won his first Junior Grand Slam match at the 2019 French Open. “My dad and my coach were there, and I had passed the qualifiers, and then won my first match there,” he remembers. “I was really happy because it was my first time, and it had been one of my goals to play in the Grand Slam, and it happened earlier than I had expected.”

Krystal, the only girl in the family, is a fierce competitor with a singular focus on tennis. At 17-years-old, with a career-high ITF Junior ranking of 56, she boasts “great hand-eye coordination and a lot of power,” Macci assesses. “I’m definitely an aggressive player. I always try to make my opponent move before they move me,” Krystal describes her game. “I play a really risky game, hitting hard, trying to make the points short. It’s risky, but it’s how I like to play.”

Last but not least is Darwin. “He is going to be a wonderful tennis player,” Macci says with a smile. “Obviously, in men’s tennis, physicality is key, so we will have to see how that goes, but he has incredible potential. He has a lot of ability because he understands the game naturally.” In February 2022, at 14-years-old, playing a $15,000 ITF tournament in Villena, Spain, Darwin Blanch became the second youngest player ever to earn an ATP point. Left-handed by design (one of the best decisions the family has made, Macci thinks) Darwin is a supremely talented competitor. “What I like is he understands the geometry of the court like it’s his living room,” says Macci. “My goal is to be number one in the ATP,” Darwin himself says. “That and to win a Grand Slam. But for now my goal for the end of the year is trying to finish [inside] top-100 in the ITF. It’s gonna be tough, but I think I can achieve that.”

Despite the four kids’ achievements in the world of tennis, this is a story of family. By now Ulises, Dali, Krystal, and Darwin are all fully-formed players in their own rights. Well travelled and trilingual, the whirlwind of life scattered them over the world in search of their own paths. But even the shared experiences of having grown up in Thailand, moving to Argentina, and training at the Rick Macci Tennis Academy in Florida imprinted on the siblings in unique ways. “They were all destined to play pro tennis,” says Macci. “But I think they’re such a great tennis family because they all support each other, they all help each other.”

From the start, the Blanch family understood the impossibility of the task—the odds of successfully creating a top-tennis player verge on astronomical. For every Carlos Alcaraz there are thousands whose dedication, work ethic, technical ability, or physical prowess are eventually found lacking. Ernesto Blanch’s relentless drive to provide his children with the requisite tools to succeed went beyond his desire to see them do so. “You have to pay your dues,” he says. “You have a responsibility to make sure that you send them on the right path. Otherwise, it’s not fair. If you have a dream about this or that, and then the kid gets hooked up on that dream, but you are actually sending them in the wrong direction, that’s so crazy unfair to the kids.”

In the end, there was no hard-coded plan to create a dynasty of professionals, no unrealised ambitions, and no deep-seated wishes to live one’s dreams through a proxy. What Ernesto set out to do was lay out a path before his children, and then guide them as best as he could. “We never started with the first kid with any plan to make him a professional,” he says. “We started to develop something—values, a way of living, and then it led into this. But to me, it’s a great way to focus your life, and to focus your energy, and to develop many things, and stay away from any other things. I think there is value [in tennis] way beyond the actual doctrine of results. I think that’s important.”

 

Story published in Courts no. 3, Summer 2022.