Goat Vertising

When it comes to Roger Federer everything has been said. He is the best in almost every aspect of the game. It is quite impossible to make a comprehensive list of all his achievements. Charismatic, efficient, always polite, and good looking, he is the dream ambassador for any brand that can afford to pay the price and the number one tennis player by far in the number of sponsorship and marketing contracts. Over the years, aside from the pure tennis field, thanks to advertising, he developed other less known talents of actor, model, and even singer. Let us have a look at some of the most memorable campaigns, posters, and films he was involved in. A subjective selection patiently and meticulously collected by both a tennis fan and a creative advertising lover. 

NIKE
Wimbledon, title celebration. Along with a famous TV ad “Get off my lawn.”

Here is the link to the video

NIKE
The long running sponsorship began in 1996. It ran for two decades.

NIKE
“In an era of specialists, you’re either a hard-court specialist, a grass court specialist, or a clay court specialist. Or you’re Roger Federer.” Jimmy Connors

NIKE
Fedal yin-yang ad. “I am Rafa because of Roger” “I am Roger because of Rafa.” 

Nintendo Wii Sports
“His backhand resembles nothing in our world.”

Gillette
“Prepare to be your best today” Between 2007 and 2015 we saw Federer shaving with their products in various commercials and posters.

Netjets
Roger and his Falcon 2000EX / Became a Netjets owner in 2004.

Aargauer Zeitung Newspaper
“Breakfast with Federer & co.”

Swiss Tourism
Roger wants to team up with no other than Robert De Niro in a spectacular, big-budget TV spot. De Niro has to say no, because Switzerland may be magical and majestic, but there is no jeopardy or drama precisely the areas that De Niro’s acting focuses on.

Here is the link to the video

Mercedes-Benz
Roger plays with his double in this Chinese TV commercial.

Mercedes-Benz
“The best or nothing” a brand signature that perfectly suits Roger Federer.

Here is the link to the video

Lindt – Lindor
Roger Federer tries to discreetly take Swiss chocolates abroad in his suitcase. 

Here is the link to the video

Lindt
“The chocolate boss”. Lindt has sponsored Federer since 2009 because he “uniquely embodies their fundamental values of Swissness, premiumness, quality and passion.”

UNIQLO
“A perfect match” This 10-year deal has been estimated to be around $30 million annually.

Barilla
“Pasta has been part of my daily diet for so many years that this partnership is a natural”, Roger once said.

Here is the link to the video

 Story published in Courts no. 1, summer 2021.

Steffi Graf

Sa  dernière prouesse

Était-ce le plus grand match féminin de tous les temps ? Poser la question, c’est finalement y répondre. Cette finale de Roland Garros 1999 entre Steffi Graf et Martina Hingis n’est sans doute pas le duel le plus incroyable de l’histoire – d’ailleurs, est-il objectivement possible d’en désigner un sans que cela ne suscite un débat ? – mais il fait sans nul doute partie du Top 10. Plus qu’un simple match, ce fut le choc électrique entre deux générations, via deux joueuses, deux légendes même, à armes égales. 

Graf avait 30 ans lors de ce Roland-Garros. Elle souffrait du dos depuis plusieurs années mais restait compétitive. Sur la ligne de départ de ces Internationaux de France 1999, la voilà tête de série n°6. Hingis, elle, était numéro un mondiale, ayant succédé à cette place à son adversaire du jour en mars 1997, à seulement 16 ans. Désormais âgée de 18 ans, elle avait déjà empoché trois des quatre titres majeurs, seul lui manquait un triomphe à Paris. 

Cinq ans plus tôt, Graf avait changé de raquette. La championne allemande était associée depuis toujours à la marque qui l’avait vue grandir. Mais après une opération en octobre 1993 suite à une fracture du pied (blessure qui ne l’a pas empêchée de remporter Roland-Garros, Wimbledon et l’US Open cette année-là !), elle avait décidé de passer chez Wilson. Ainsi, les huit derniers titres majeurs de la carrière de Steffi en Grand Chelem ont été remportés avec une Wilson Pro Staff (une 7.0 lite, puis Pro Staff 7.5 en 1996 avant une Pro Staff 7.1 en 1998).

Lors de la première heure de cette finale, la victoire semble promise à la Suissesse. Elle a remporté la première manche et a fait le break dans la deuxième (2-0) maniant ce tennis plein d’imagination et de fluidité qui faisait le bonheur des spectateurs.

Et puis Hingis commet une erreur. Une geste qui met en évidence son manque d’expérience. Sur le premier point du troisième jeu de la deuxième manche, son retour de coup droit est annoncé faute. Elle demande alors à Anne Lasserre, l’arbitre de chaise, de vérifier la marque. Qui ne la trouve pas. Pas plus que la juge de ligne venue, elle aussi, inspecter la ligne de fond de court. Dans ce cas, l’arbitre doit donc s’en tenir à son annonce première : la balle est faute. 

Au lieu d’en rester là et d’accepter ce qui était peut-être une erreur du corps arbitral – mais c’est aussi ça, le tennis – Hingis, à la stupeur générale, passe de l’autre côté du terrain ! Et marche jusqu’à la dite ligne pour montrer -l’éventuelle- marque du bout de sa raquette. Franchir le filet sans raison valable est considéré, dans le règlement, comme un comportement antisportif, et passible d’un avertissement. Mais comme la Suissesse avait déjà reçu un premier avertissement un peu plus tôt pour jet de raquette, l’arbitre la sanctionne d’un point de pénalité. C’est à ce moment-là que le match a commencé à tourner…

Hingis, rappelons-le, a toujours un break d’avance avant l’incident. Elle le perd au sixième jeu puis le reprend pour mener 5/4 et servir pour le titre. Elle s’approche même à trois points de boucler son Grand Chelem personnel. Mais face à sa décision de traverser le terrain à 2-0, le public change de camp. Graf va désormais surfer sur le soutien des 14 000 spectateurs, comme si elle jouait à domicile. Elle « breake » Hingis pour empocher le deuxième set 7/5 et faire basculer dans un troisième set, cette finale à l’intensité dramatique grandissante. 

Dès lors, c’est comme si Hingis avait été jetée aux lions. Quand elle cède son service pour se retrouver menée 4-2, les spectateurs s’enflamment comme si Graf était Française. Sur la première balle de match de l’Allemande, à 2-5, Hingis sert à la cuillère, ce qui surprend complètement Graf. De façon totalement injuste, le public se met à siffler Hingis, alors que rien n’interdit de servir par en-dessous, Graf reconnaitra d’ailleurs par la suite que c’était bien joué de la part de son adversaire. Mais la bronca ne s’arrête plus et le public est encore en train de siffler lorsque Hingis tente un nouveau service à la cuillère sur la deuxième balle de match de l’Allemande. S’estimant gênée, la Suissesse va protester auprès de la juge de chaise. Le brouhaha est tel que les deux femmes ont du mal à s’entendre. Hingis n’a pas d’autre choix que de reprendre le jeu, d’enchainer avec un deuxième service, avant de commettre dans l’échange une faute en revers qui offre le titre à Steffi. 

Les discours lors des remises de prix sont souvent très formels, mais là, Steffi, trophée en main, saisit l’instant et lance « Je me sens Française », à un Central sous le charme. Les spectateurs adorent. Ils ne le savent pas encore, c’était la dernière fois qu’ils la voyaient sur ce court.  

Cette victoire à Paris en 1999 va permettre à Graf de viser un 23e titre majeur à Wimbledon, un mois plus tard. Elle fut battue, de façon assez inattendue, dans une finale 100% Wilson, par la cérébrale Lindsay Davenport, alors au sommet de sa carrière. 

Graf prit cinq semaines de repos avant de reprendre la compétition à San Diego. Lors de son premier tour contre Amy Frazier, elle se blesse à la cuisse au début de la troisième manche avant d’abandonner. Deux jours plus tard, elle annonce mettre un terme a sa carrière. Elle déclare qu’elle n’a «plus rien à accomplir », qu’au cours des semaines qui ont suivi Wimbledon, elle a eu le sentiment de ne plus prendre de plaisir sur un court et ne plus trouver la  motivation pour reprendre son sac, ses Wilson et aller disputer des tournois. Elle tire donc la conclusion qui s’impose. A compter de ce jour, Graf n’a plus jamais disputé de match «pro».

Un autre événement a peut-être joué dans sa décision : le début de sa relation avec Andre Agassi, une histoire d’amour confirmée par un mariage en 2001. 

Un nouveau chapitre de sa vie commençait. Et dans un discours très émouvant, pour l’entrée de Steffi au Hall of Fame en 2004, Agassi a évoqué le « zèle discret » avec lequel Graf était passée de son rôle de championne à celui de maman. 

Mais c’est en lisant entre les mots d’Agassi que l’on comprend mieux, comment et pourquoi, Graf a trouvé la force mentale de remporter cette finale de Roland-Garros. Agassi, donc : «De l’ambiance électrique d’un court central au calme de la chambre à coucher d’un enfant, cette âme généreuse, cette force indéfectible, cette voix douce et honnête, n’a jamais été prise en défaut. Le tennis t’a simplement offert l’occasion de mettre plus fortement en lumière tes qualités. Tu as toujours préféré l’action aux déclarations. Tu ne t’es jamais définie par ce que tu as accompli. Ta vraie réussite, c’est d’avoir trouvé qui tu es et tracé ton chemin. »

Me and my Pro Staff 

There’s a line in the 1988 film Tequila Sunrise starring Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer that goes like this: “I don’t know what it is about going to high school with someone that makes you feel you’re automatically friends for life”. It’s a good line.

I went to high school that same year with the Wilson Pro Staff 85 in my bag. And like the line in that movie, we were automatically friends for life. 

I’ve had new friends since then. I’ve loved them, lost them, fallen out with them, kissed and made up, sworn never to see them again. I’m talking tennis rackets here of course. But my Pro Staff 85 is still around, reliable and trustworthy, growing old gracefully by my side. 

The Pro Staff 85, or 6.0 as it was later known, has made a lot of friends for life over the years. It can still be seen hanging out with its many other friends at tennis clubs all over the world, at airports, on stringing machines, on social media. Tennis immortals relied on it in their hour of need, whilst us mere mortals held its hand on clay, grass and tarmac, creating our own inspired magic. Or was it holding our hand when we were break point down? I never quite worked that out. 

Why has the friendship endured for so many of us? Why do so many of us smile warmly to ourselves when we see one or pick one up? Why are some of us we still using one? Perhaps there are several reasons. 

The nerdish mystique of the production run at Wilson’s old factory on St Vincent in the Caribbean? Yes, that’s one reason. 

Pros such as Evert, Edberg and Sampras immortalised in photographs holding its hand moments before holding trophies? Yep, that’s another reason.

The friend Federer learned his craft with? For sure a reason. 

But all those reasons have surely grown out of the real reason, which is this. Nothing has quite bettered it for hitting a tennis ball from point A to point B on a tennis court with supreme control over its journey. Add to that the addictive sensation when the ball collides with that matte black 16mm scalpel of a frame adorned with those thin yellow and red lines. A racket for those who know, for those who continued to invest time in that friendship long after it was left behind by so many for bigger, thicker, stiffer things. 

That best of friends from high school, automatically friends for life. 

But that Pro Staff 85 is not my only friend for life because there was a new kid in town, the Wilson Clash, and we very quickly became friends.

 Now, we’re a high school gang of three. 

1980

The Pro Staff: Wilson begins developing rackets with an entirely new construction graphite and Kevlar. The Pro Staff racket becomes a favorite amongst pro players.

Roger That!

Roger Federer is a law unto himself, know that much. He defies the ageing process, has an unquenchable thirst for more and is still accruing fresh records as a king of longevity, far from diminishing, as lethal as ever he has been. 

In his multiple incarnations of a tennis player, the gift of artistry has been ever present. Picture the angelic Wimbledon poet over the years or the early grand slam wizard (with ponytail and then floppy hair), the mid-career problem solver, the renaissance man in his mid-thirties shapeshifting into versions of himself that would have others speechless, still doing it, leaving a trail of perplexed opponents, in awe, reeling. If you feel you have travelled a distance with the sport, watching from near or far, then inevitably part of your journey has been defined by Mr. Federer and a brand of tennis so clean, so clinical and so incredibly clever that you’ll never recover from it. 

Racking up further titles – surpassing the one hundred mark – testing his own boundaries, switching racket head size to explore his options and find brighter times again, it is an apparently never-ending tale of prestige, one for the ages, immortality long since assured. 

Clearly a sporting superhero, the man from Basel, Switzerland, Mr. Career Grand Slam, has pushed the envelope for what a sportsperson can be, joining Pele, Muhammad Ali, Usain Bolt and few others as one of the classic images of athletic perfection. With a game designed around (but not the only attributes responsible) a serve from the heavens, an elegant one handed backhand and a rip-roaring forehand that most could scarcely dream of it’s a daunting prospect for anyone to face such an exquisite – and yet human – machine. Add to that the further ingredients of his net play, smashes, half volleys of sublime proportions and it is hard, even to this day, not to be mesmerised by the bank of skill of a man still able to pull apart those almost half his age with brutal efficiency, a clean kill, a work of moving art for all to see. Minds blown; lives changed forever. 

Logic does not live here. Reason is pointless. Life sometimes throws up outliers and Roger is one such unique statistic. In his fortieth year and after a lengthy injury delay, nobody can tell where this spectacular journey will end. As he keeps us all second guessing in every which way, as everyone expectantly waits for his decline and he time and again proves science and nature wrong with his beautiful tennis, his astute use of time on court, he wows audiences the planet over as if they were partisan Swiss crowds. He is adored because he is tennis grace in human form, the purest the sport has ever witnessed, he is admired for his craft each time he steps onto the court and he is revered for almost always turning on the electric charm, both on and off the court. It is the reinvention, the adaptation, the natural-born ability that goes far beyond anything technical taught at academies all over the world and the durability to overcome new models of tennis players set in front of him, each puzzle solved in a fashion that leaves open mouths as the jaw-dropping and the spellbinding are witnessed. 

The voice of tennis, the look of tennis, a lord and god of the courts, Roger Federer has provided many of us with a deep well of unforgettable tennis memories, taking us deeper into the sport, its history and his arms than anyone could have ever predicted. He has oozed the slick and the sublime, he has come and seen and conquered, to lodge himself forever in record books that everyone concerns themselves with, and he has pushed others to find new levels they didn’t know existed before meeting their Swiss rival. In short, he has made tennis better, richer, lighter, leading the way, showing us what it could be, giving us something to bask in, something to yearn for, making us fall in love with tennis repeatedly. He created a new dimension and shared that place with us. Life goes on, but when Roger finally does retire it’ll certainly never be the same again. Enjoy his presence while you can, he is a one-off, the outlier of the century. 

The Serena Effect

A SIGNATURE THAT MEANS SO MUCH

There are few names that can be as synonymous with tennis-and with the armed combat of modern sport-as that of Serena Williams. The vision of a female warrior striding onto the court, across all different surfaces the planet over, with the iconic red Wilson racket bag a natural extension of her body-a stern task for her opponents over the years to be still unmatched-is a classic tennis image.

A gritty competitor applying a type of mental as well as physical and tactical prowess previously unseen, she has taken the sport to fresh heights, delivering it into the new millennium with aplomb. “The Serena Effect” is in full view every time she takes to the tennis court, her ever-growing reputation preceding events on the court and creating an added weight to the shoulders of her rivals. Only a minority has not been affected by the Serena juggernaut on a regular basis. Those are the ones who have beaten her over the years, possessors of a magical recipe. However, none has stood the test of time. 

Regardless of whether she falls short of, matches, or surpasses the record of major titles set by Margaret Court in a wholly different era of the sport, Serena Williams is almost irrefutably the greatest female tennis player of all time and one of the finest competitors across the entirety of sport. At this level and over an extended period (broken even by pregnancy and childbirth) Serena has set new boundaries for what is possible for human beings. This example isn’t just about sport but the human condition. If every other player was a battery-operated timepiece then Serena Williams would be an automatic watch. Setting its own rhythm, with an intricate functionality, nobody quite knowing how it ticked, Serena has an immense sense of direction, of time, of greatness and of purpose. A legacy is built upon such a mindset and here stands a monument of hard work, dedication and talent. That her drive still seems undiluted, despite all the distractions, injuries and pressure, again signals something more than special. 

Serena Williams, ever looking forwards, at times a polemic force-honest, loyal and fun in her own words-doesn’t consider the players of the past she might have enjoyed competing against, but rather the future and her chronic desire to beat the best, some of them still unknown, to be a part of things, looming opportunities to prove herself further, to push her own limits and the boundaries of sport, and therein life. 

Picking out highlights from such a glittering career is pointless, Serena has redefined the parameters of a sport that is continually expanding in no small part due to her own mastery as a tennis player and her steely determination as a woman and ambassador for the female of the species in the world of sport and general society. Voices such as hers are necessary, crucial, shining a light on the need to address fairly two genders which are not meant to be the same and for us all to value them equally.

“I think dance requires a certain level of self discipline that I’m familiar with and so it’s very easy for me to take that lesson from dance and apply it back to tennis.”

This woman, at the pinnacle of the sport, has accompanied me and many others from teenage hood to middle age. I can remember thinking of the teenage Williams (and her sister Venus, too) that she would be around for some years to come, although nobody could have anticipated what has unfolded or perhaps even where the playing phase of Serena’s career will end. Take a step back and look at just how good she still is. 

Think of the times she has been pegged level with an opponent and then shifted into a superior gear, one that the others simply don’t possess; or the occasions on which she has been playing far below her best and still found a way, her iron will seeing her over the line; or those days on which she has defeated younger and less experienced players seemingly before taking to the court, those women daunted by the prospect of even facing Serena, her reputation, her gigantic presence, her missile-like shots, firing holes in the enemy. From 1999 (her first grand slam final) until the end of 2015 she lost only four of the twenty-five major finals she was a part of. While her major win-loss percentage has altered in the last few years she is there time and time again proving herself on the biggest stages. Look not at what is missing, look at the strong independent woman who has reached four grand slam finals since returning from giving birth to her daughter, who is able to find a way past almost any player set before her, who only ever goes down fighting with her last gasping breath. 

Serena Williams is a role model and millennial icon of incomparable dimensions. She has won it all in tennis, from every coveted title to multiple repeats at the Australian, French and US Opens, the grand slams being the ones many judge a player on, and then there is Wimbledon, the venue of her crowning as the Queen of the Turf on seven occasions, where as she states she loves the silence and focus of the Centre Court. She has bagged Olympic golds, year-end tour finals titles and all the majors alongside her sister Venus in the doubles and the hunger for more has yet to diminish. What she has left to do is anybody’s guess. Only the American legend herself will know. Whether she is striving to clear the record barrier in her way-for she already sits at the peak of the pantheon of greatness-or just keep playing for pure love is also impossible to answer. What is true is she has dedicated her life to the sport and the sport appreciates her, unreservedly, for what she has given it. It is not only the history books that love this woman, she is universally adored. Whatever controversy her career has seen, it cannot silence the grandeur. Serena Williams is a person who will always inspire comment, feeling, emotion. Her on-court spirit and hunger defining the modern women’s game, setting the bar at an almost unattainable height, pushing others to unimaginable lengths to compete, to last, to become something more. 

2017

The Serena’s Autograph Racket
Blade SW104: Becoming one of the best athletes of all time doesn’t happen by accident. Serena dedicated her life to creating an unmatched legacy on and off the court. To honor her achievements, Wilson created the Blade SW104 Autograph racket, equipped with Wilson’s all-new Countervail technology. This year she also set the record for the most major trophies in the open era by winning her 23rd Grand Slam at the Australian Open, the first slam she used the autograph racket.

Changing the Game

When in 1875 Pierre Babolat founded a company producing racquet strings from sheep intestines, he could have scarcely envisioned the racquet sports dynasty he was about to build and the impact it would have on the world of tennis. 

Tennis, as we know it today, took on its current shape not much earlier, and in many ways, Babolat evolved together with the sport – at times directly advancing it with technology and ingenuity. 

Pierre Babolat was an expert in processing natural gut for surgical thread, musical instruments, and archery before deciding to adapt them for early tennis racquets. Through its small beginnings, Babolat became the first company to focus on racquet games. Over the years, it expanded into the production of racquet frames, clothes, footwear, stringing machines, tennis balls, grips, wrist-worn play tracking devices, and a variety of tennis accessories. 

In 1925, Pierre Babolat Senior’s son, Albert, already in charge of the family business, introduced a new type of string. As the story goes, a group of French tennis players called The Musketeers – Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste – were sent samples of alphabetically labelled strings for testing. They settled on the one marked with a V, and thus Babolat VS was created. To date, over 100 racquets fitted with the VS string struck the winning championship shot at a Grand Slam tournament.

About the same time that Pierre Babolat sat in his Lyon apartment, not realising he was about to change the landscape of tennis forever, a group of people across La Manche was doing the same thing. 

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, as the Wimbledon club was known before it adopted its present name, is a private club founded in 1868 in Southwest London, originally for croquet only. Nine years later, in 1877, as tennis grew in popularity and croquet began to fade into the side-lined sport for enthusiasts it is now, the club decided to hold its first tennis tournament in order to pay for the repairs of the pony roller used to maintain the lawn.

Contested on grass courts by 22 players, who each paid one guinea to enter the event – about £1.05 in today’s money – and after paying out 12 guineas to the winner as the prize money, the tournament booked a profit of £10 and was able to afford the repairs. 144 years later, The Championships, as Wimbledon is known today, has grown in size and stature.

Each year, over 700 players in singles and doubles brackets enter the tournament through the main draw and qualifying round, with juniors, seniors, and exhibition matches on top of that, to compete for a slice of the £34,000,000 in prize money.

While not even the eldest tennis fans remember the first player to appear at Wimbledon with the racquet strings produced by the French company, over the next century, Babolat had a hand in some of Wimbledon’s most memorable moments. 

In the summer of 1976, Björn Borg became Wimbledon’s youngest male champion after blazing through the tournament without dropping a set. Borg, playing with a racquet fitted with the VS string, was the first man to do so. Three decades later, on the same hallowed turf, Rafael Nadal dropped his Babolat Pure Aero racquet to the ground in ecstasy as he snapped Roger Federer’s five-time Wimbledon-winning streak.

Under the leadership of Pierre Babolat and his descendants, the French company expanded its range of products from strings to tennis equipment and, in 1994, tennis racquets.

Breaking into a new market, with such established competitors as Head and Wilson, was not easy but Babolat’s lucky star – or if you are the more down-to-earth type, their scouting acumen – twinkled. At the 1998 French Open, Carlos Moyá, a 22-year-old Spaniard with the flowing hair of a matador, wielding a blue Pure Drive, became the first player using a Babolat racquet to win a Grand Slam tournament. 

Two of the junior winners at the same tournament, Kim Clijsters, and Fernando González, were also using Babolat gear. Less than a year later, Moyá was ranked number one in the world while Clijsters and González were on the fast track to the tennis elite.

Today, after almost three decades, Babolat’s revenues have more than tripled and their forage into the racquet industry is widely considered a masterstroke.

In July 2017, Garbiñe Muguruza, continuing the lineage of Pure Drive-using champions started by Carlos Moyá, twirled around the centre court trying to hold back tears of happiness. After the 2015 heartbreak, when she lost in the final to Serena Williams, she was finally a Wimbledon champion. 

Two months later, in September 2017, Babolat marked a special occasion – the Spanish superstars, Muguruza and Nadal, were ranked number one in the world at the same time. 

It doesn’t take more than a stroll through any tennis shop to realise how far the Babolat brand has come since its inception as a string maker. From racquet frames to strings to tennis bags to clothing – today it is perfectly possible for a player to dress fully in Babolat gear, from head to toe, and compete at the highest level. 

In fact, the three-time Wimbledon finalist, Andy Roddick (he lost all three finals to Mr Wimbledon himself, Roger Federer) did just that for a time. The big-serving American travelled the tour with his customised Pure Drive Roddick GT racquet, fitted with Babolat RPM Blast racquet strings, and wearing Babolat Propulse III tennis shoes. Although he never won Wimbledon, he did lift the US Open trophy, among 31 other tournaments, and reached world number one in 2003, so there is something to be said about the French brand’s ability to support champions. 

The company, with its family values, has long cultivated a close relationship with its athletes – every sponsored player is invited to the French company’s headquarters and given a tour. Their racquets, the most important tool in any competitor’s arsenal, are given special consideration and, over a process that often takes months of back-and-forth feedback and consultations, are customised to suit every single requirement.

When a single point can spell the difference between triumph and disaster, between lifting that long-coveted trophy and going home with a runner’s up plate, the players cling on to the tiniest advantage they can.

When Rafael Nadal needed adjustments made to his weapon of choice, Babolat worked tirelessly on the Pure Aero creating a number of iterations – each varying in weight and its distribution, the thickness of the beam, and other minute details – and delivered them for testing. 

Another of the important steps in the company’s voyage into the tennis world came in 2003 when the French brand partnered up with Michelin. The years of expertise possessed by the mobility giant, combined with Babolat’s knowledge of the tennis world, resulted in the production of footwear aimed at both enthusiasts and professionals alike. 

Babolat themselves believe that there is no such thing as a perfect shoe as each player looks for a different fit and feel. 

However, innovation, expertise, and product quality are all part of Babolat’s culture, and their line of shoes – built using different technologies and tailored to different needs – includes a range of options to suit the most demanding of individuals. 

A typical Babolat shoe is divided into two distinct parts – the upper textile fabric and the outsole made from rubber.

Babolat engineers created the upper part in partnership with Chamatex, a French textile maker. The two companies have worked together since 2013 inventing a new technical textile called Matryx. 

The goal, which Babolat and Chamatex engineers have accomplished, was to create an upper part of the shoe that weighs less than 100 grams.

The outsole part of the shoe was built in cooperation with Michelin. Just as Michelin develops their tyres to suit diverse conditions – whether it’s a rally, racing, or the street – they have taken that approach to understand and develop outsoles for the Babolat footwear for different surfaces of the tennis court.

One of the defining features of the tennis calendar is the variety of surfaces the players compete on throughout the year. The tour kicks off in January in the Southern hemisphere on Australian hard courts and moves north. 

As the seasons shift over time, so do the surfaces of the courts – from late March to early June tennis is dressed in red and the players compete mostly on clay. After that, they switch to grass until the end of July, when they go back to hard courts. 

Each of the different surfaces puts a different kind of strain on the player’s body and thus requires a different kind of footwear.

Tennis movement is all about bursts of sprinting and rapid changes of direction – players rarely take more than ten steps before it’s time to slam on the breaks and explode in a different direction. For that, traction is key, which is considerably easier to achieve on hard courts than it is on clay or grass.

Another defining characteristic of Wimbledon that needed to be considered during the creation of the footwear for grass was the all-white dress code of the tournament. 

The result is striking – Babolat grass court shoes combine a durable but flexible upper part, in an all-white aesthetic, with an outsole designed to support the intricacies of playing on the grass.

In September 2013, the bond shared by Babolat and Wimbledon tightened even further as the organisers announced that all the tournament’s ball boys and ball girls would be wearing Babolat footwear. These days, the sight of the pristinely white Babolat shoes darting around the Wimbledon courts from one stray ball to another, like some giant game of Snake, is as iconic as the snazzy Ralph Lauren polos that accompany them.

Today, Babolat is a multimillion-dollar company permanently embedded into the fabric of the sport. Stroll up to any tennis court in the world – a professional tournament, a club level match, a casual knockabout in the park – and the chances are you will stumble across someone playing with a Babolat racquet, a racquet fitted with Babolat strings, or wearing a pair of Babolat shoes.

Despite expanding dramatically – Babolat employs over 350 people and books revenues far north of €100m a year – the company has managed to stay grounded and preserve its family ethos. In fact, it still maintains the original premises.

In keeping up with the Babolats – from Pierre to Albert to Paul to Pierre – the family name has always featured on the company papers, difficult as it was at times. The current president, Eric, was thrust into the top position at the age of 28 when his father, Pierre, died in a plane crash.

When asked, Eric Babolat remarked that although he didn’t feel ready to take the helm, he didn’t hesitate either. “I wanted to continue the story,” he said. 

 

Story published in Courts no. 1, summer 2021.

Planet Venus

Venus Williams, sweet, thoughtful and approachable, has had a phenomenal career and continues to compete in her fortieth year of life, a perennial challenger, a player from the tennis heavens. Half of the most famous sporting sisterhood ever, the elder of the pair is some act to follow, as a professional, a woman, and an inspiration to others. Let us make one thing clear–Venus lives in nobody’s shadow. She is a force that over the years has provided the sport with so much life. Able to digest losses and use them to aid her personal growth and professional development, she is a role model of lofty proportions, a planet of stunning scope. 

Venus Williams did change women’s tennis, did bring the game-in all explosive fashion-into the modern era and new millennium, did see the success that merits such endless praise, and has continued to fight, to value her role, to absorb every moment on a tennis court as if it were her lifeblood, what kept her ticking over. She still does it because every single ball still matters. She is an ambassador for the game who supports younger players and watches her sister’s matches whenever she can. As for the future, Venus’ mind is set on competing at the Olympics in Japan in 2020, the horizon ever filled with promise, no sign of time being called. Venus goes with the tides, rolls with the punches these days. Once upon a time the possibility of winning was higher but nowadays the desire to be a part of the sport she has dedicated herself to is larger than anything else, showing courage every time she takes to the court regardless of the outcome, leaving everything out there, no regrets, all her limits pushed. Defeat is not something to fear, not to Venus, it is simply part and parcel of her job, something to contribute to a better version of the self. 

A symbol of unique on-court style and vibrancy, Williams describes herself as a resilient fighter and lover. Her love of life comes out in everything and tennis is undoubtedly the beneficiary. Battle-hardened, her focused and relentless on-court disposition is counter-balanced by her warmth, playfulness and kindness off-court, a package of sparkling dimensions, an attitude immaculately fashioned. 

Pondering her career and the many victories of her first decade and a half on tour, despite the lack of a title, 2017 was a fresh highlight, surely a year that made her one of the most consistent, hungry and valuable players in the world again (two slam final losses, a WTA finals runner-up trophy and a semi-finalist in one of the other two major tournaments). Her interviews post-final defeats were reflective, her elegant acceptance and eloquent words in the face of potentially crushing losses defined a woman who had long since been beating top players but failing to clear hurdles taking her to the biggest matches. This was a late career renaissance. Let us remember the seven grand slam singles titles, the fourteen doubles majors along with her sister, the couple of mixed doubles titles, her astonishing Olympic games record, and the overabundance of memories of Venus and the fondness that she inspires in tennis fans across the world. 

With late October 2019 seeing Venus celebrate her quarter century of years as a professional it feels a fitting tribute to acknowledge her greatness, what she has given the game and just how lucky the tour is that she is still turning up and producing glimpses of her best tennis, appreciative of her place in it all. One of the faces of Wilson since childhood-having been striking balls with multiple models of their rackets, evolving as a player along with the technology-and a woman with her own place in the history of the sport, Venus is a testament to an eternal love for tennis. 

Synonymous with the modern game, let us enjoy every minute left of Venus’ career as it’s been a privilege to witness, only augmented by her longevity. She acknowledges the luxury she has been afforded in being able to compete because of those who went before, and she will in turn inspire others to explore similar terrain. She labels the culture of tennis as liberating, invigorating and her final word is dedication. All three words sum up what she has brought to the world of tennis. From one planet to another, with love. 

ellesse

A Style Icon Stands the Test of Time

Once a key influencer of tennis’ colourful past, ellesse powers boldly forward into a new era.

For tennis fans, sports enthusiasts and stylish citizens of the world, Wimbledon is the centre of the universe on the first weekend in July, and 1981 is no exception. On this perfect Saturday, the third of July, Centre Court’s Royal Box is packed with luminaries – the elegant Princess Diana among them – as champagne corks can be heard popping while fans file in for the spectacle.

Here we are at the nexus of can’t-miss tennis and cutting-edge tennis fashion. Chris Evert and Hana Mandlíková have an appointment for a Ladies’ Singles final which promises to be magical in more ways than one. The 26-year-old American, World No.1 and already a transcendent figure in the sporting world, will battle a rising 19-year-old Czechoslovakian in the seventh episode of a rivalry that will play out 26 times by the time all is said and done.

For several months now, the racy striker Mandlíková has invited herself to the table of the greats, those of the icon Evert and her fellow phenomenon Martina Navratilova. These two superpowers of women’s tennis have held sway over women’s tennis since the mid-1970s, but Mandlíková is a serious contender for the crown. In 1980, the spirited Czech reached the semi-finals at Roland-Garros, the final at the US Open (both times beaten by Evert), then won the Australian Open. That triumph turned out to be just the beginning. When Mandlíková triumphed at Roland-Garros in 1981, by beating Evert in the semi-finals, the tennis world could no longer consider her an up and comer – she had already arrived! Therefore, the 1981 Wimbledon final was indeed a pivotal showdown between the world’s best player and an ambitious youngster who dreamed of shaking the sport’s foundations to the core.

But we must, for the sake of perspective, see this conflict from another angle… In Perugia, Italy, this duel is experienced as an epic not just in tennis terms, but in terms of tennis fashion. This capital of Umbria, a region linking the South and the North of the country, is the home of ellesse. The iconic sportswear manufacturer, created in 1959, has the honour of outfitting both Wimbledon finalists; it is a momentous date for ellesse, just as it is for the two bright talents who will play for the title.

Leonardo Servadio, ellesse’s founder, got it right when in 1980 he set his sights on the young Mandlíková. The young talent had already become the first world junior No.1 in history in 1978, the year of her Girls’ Singles title at Roland-Garros. ellesse had also recently begun its productive partnership with Evert, just over a year prior. It was an exciting time for ellesse and the legendary American – they were in the honeymoon period of a relationship that was already sending signals across the sporting world. ellesse wasn’t just a brand, it was the brand. 

The bold style of the Czech – wearing a pleated skirt with subtle colour stitching and a daring headband with splashes of hue – contrasting the inspiring elegance of Evert – classic white skirt, belted, and a form-fitting sleeveless blouse – in the hushed surroundings of Wimbledon’s Centre Court: ellesse could not ask for better publicity! The match would not live up to expectations – ruthless Evert triumphed 6-2, 6-2 – but it represented a definitive starting point of an undeniable synergy between the American and the Italian label. 

A long-term success story, until the champion hung up her rackets, Evert and ellesse were an obvious match. The union is so successful, permeates the retinas so strongly, that you almost forget that the American had not conducted her entire career dressed in ellesse. Evert’s iconic link to the brand also contrasts with the stylistic journey of Navratilova. The American’s other big rival, also an 18-time major singles champion when all is said and done, perpetually seeks her stylistic match, moves from partner to partner, but despite her immense career, will never be an icon of one house.

ellesse came into being 22 years before the 1981 Wimbledon final, born from the imagination of Leonardo Servadio. This mountain enthusiast followed in the footsteps of his parents, who were tailors and shop owners in Perugia. The young Leonardo took it into his head to create ski outfits, especially trousers that combined both comfort and style. In this Italy, which is recovering from the traumas of the Second World War and the Mussolini years, there is once again a freedom and a need for creativity. Servadio, like others, is part of this movement. Aided by local entrepreneurs, he succeeded in 1959 in launching his own house: LS, his initials, soon become ellesse, with the first L and the first S in bold. 

The creations of Servadio, which were ins-pired by the work trousers worn by artisans, gradually hit their marks, and gained popularity among sports enthusiasts and fashionistas alike. Ten years later, the Jet model appeared for the first time on the slopes of the Aosta Valley and the Dolomites. The trousers lengthen the leg and flatter the figure. It’s a masterstroke. The red version – colour which would become one of the brand’s signatures – is a must-have for skiers in the early 1970s. Servadio’s approach is based on common sense thinking: “We are much better if we feel good in our clothes,” he explained. 

In 1969, ellesse sponsored the Italian alpine ski team which featured Gustav Thöni, the Giant Slalom World Cup champion. A growing international reputation did not prevent Servadio from continuing to innovate: his lace-up trousers, with knee pads and elastic waist, offered in 1971, helped establish ellesse even more in the marketplace.

Why, therefore, not open up to other disciplines? In a country with a strong reputation for textile tradition, the fashion industry has become a major player in the economy. There is an opportunity to make a splash in the sports sector, which has notably been dominated by Fila (founded in 1911), Lotto (1939), Diadora (1948) and even the much younger Tacchini (1966). Servadio, who like the swiftest tennis players, possesses the gift of perfect timing, joined the battle, and dipped his toes into tennis in 1974. The first player equipped by the Perugia brand was the young Corrado Barazzutti. A perfect choice! Winner of Roland-Garros juniors and the Orange Bowl three years earlier, Barazzutti’s game is an intoxicating cocktail of talent and character. A zesty Italian player is Barazzutti, whose artful game is wonderfully expressed on the picturesque red clay. His first big splash on the senior circuit was a victory over Ilie Nastase, then World No.1, in the quarter-finals of the prestigious Monte-Carlo tournament. Barazzutti delivers the message to the chic country clubs of the world and the people watching. The Italian gains notice and ellesse with it. Barazzutti would rise to seventh in the world, with semi-final appearances at the US Open (1977) and Roland-Garros (1978) as well as five ATP titles. 

For Servadio, it is also important from a marketing perspective to underline this diversification: There is no great brand without a strong visual footprint. Thus, the logo of ellesse was born in 1975. A landmark creation, marrying the two emblematic sports of the firm: two skis, red – naturally – surrounding a half-dome yellow tennis ball. Fortunes improved further in 1980. At Roland-Garros, Virginia Ruzici, tournament winner two years earlier, is dressed in vibrant, eye-popping red skirt and playful multi-striped blouse in Paris, as she makes her way to the final. Vintage ellesse. 

Trailing the arrival of the elegant Romanian champion at ellesse, we find a bemusing character by the name Ion Tiriac. The former player, in the process of reinventing himself as a coach, promoter and entrepreneur, would take charge of the career of Guillermo Vilas at the end of the 1975 season. Approached by then fledgling American firm Nike, which wishes to procure the services of the charismatic Argentinian, Tiriac balks and chooses the more fashionable frontier: ellesse. 

Vilas, the original King of Clay, before Nadal came around and redefined the term, will remain decked out in ellesse until the end of his career. And he will do it in style. The Argentine southpaw is a swashbuckling figure. He is vibrant, masculine, moody, and sometimes irreverent. He is a mystery to many, but not in his desire to achieve great victories – at his core Vilas is combative and hungry for the biggest prizes, a lion-hearted generational leader who will take tennis to a new dimension. In turn, the ellesse style sticks to his skin and builds his image just as it helps augment the brand. 

Footloose, free, and more colourful than the creations of its competitors, ellesse has never been shy about its desire to break stereotypes, and thus the legend has grown. With the brand on his back, Vilas won 16 titles and contested 20 finals, including his swan song at Roland-Garros in 1982. Vilas lifted his 62nd and final trophy on the clay courts of Kitzbühel in July 1983 in a 100 percent ellesse final against Henri Leconte. A splendid showpiece and a thrilling transfer of power: the young Frenchman had joined ellesse the previous year and would proudly boast the colours for the next three seasons. It was in ellesse that Leconte scored his maiden title, in Stockholm, in 1982. 

Italy’s juggernaut was not finished causing sparks. The new kid on the block is named Boris Becker, and he’s impossible to ignore. He is a brash, pugilistic German who uproots everything in his path and will revolutionise the sport with his mind-bending serve and head-first dives on the Wimbledon grass. In 1985, at age 17, Becker stunned the tennis world by becoming the youngest ever men’s singles champion at the All England Club. Frozen in time are iconic photos of the wunderkind, parallel to the ground, the ellesse logo adorning his snug-fitting polo as he sails through the air. The day before Becker’s maiden triumph, Chris Evert played the final against Navratilova at Wimbledon. Once again, ellesse is at the peak of its powers. Becker, in the same kit, will repeat his feat the next year. Along with the emergence of “Boom Boom” Becker, Evert’s chic and magnetism continue to push the envelope and take her on-court style into the mind of the collective subconscious. Under the banner of ellesse, the American added seven Grand Slam trophies to her record, bringing her total to 18. Evert’s number of titles on the WTA circuit is beyond comprehension: 154. She won the last one in October 1988, in New Orleans, a few months before her retirement. 

Could a brand dream of a better standard bearer? It was during the Vilas and Evert era that ellesse had its most dynamic period. In 1983, the turnover reached a record 139 billion lire (about 71 million Euros), also driven by the success of Italy at the 1982 Football World Cup, in ellesse shorts and jerseys. 

After a few transitional years, ellesse re- turned to its perch as style maven in the 1990s. On the tennis side, the colours sing as new talent lends fresh character to contemporary styles. Anna Kournikova, Arantxa Sanchez, Tommy Haas and Feliciano Lopez join the family. Pat Cash, winner in 1982 of the junior titles at the US Open and Wimbledon in ellesse, would return in 2014. The Puerto Rican Monica Puig made history as well, her Cinderella story captures the imagination of the sporting world when she wins Gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016, thus becoming the first Olympic champion of her country, all sports and all sexes combined. Pica Power! 

In recent years, British No.1 Johanna Konta has lent her aesthetic to the brand. A proud, resilient independent thinker, Konta is the perfect embodiment of ellesse in the modern era: Sure of herself, quick to the punch, and always elegant. Joining Konta from the Brit pack are Alfie Hewett, World No.1 in wheelchair tennis, and former NCAA champion Paul Jubb. 

Just as ellesse founder Leonardo Servadio backed young talent with Mandlíková in 1980, the modern day ellesse is immersed in making tennis more accessible and seeking out the talent of tomorrow. From signing the first British NCAA men’s singles champion Paul Jubb in 2020 when he turned pro, to creating a PATTA partnership in order to regenerate urban tennis facilities in London and beyond, the brand is committed to opening up the sport to a wider, more diverse audience.

The future is bright, and the tradition is time-honoured. The legacy lives on in all these heroes, past and present, as they wear with pride this testament to a most sacred heritage. 

Story published in Courts no. 1, summer 2021.

A Date With the Past

You never forget your first time

For Richard Jones, that magical moment took place in the summer of 1969, when he was 17 years old. As most people do, he found it an exhilarating experience.

Richard wasn’t a complete beginner – he had tried it in school and watched a fair bit on television – but he still wasn’t ready for the real thing.

When Richard Jones sat down to watch a semi-final of his first Wimbledon Championships, he had a basic grasp of what was going to happen. He knew the rules, he understood the scoring system, and he knew that the players – Rod Laver and Arthur Ashe – would come out on court and serve and rally and volley and try to outsmart and outlast each other, as he and his friends did many times playing on run-down, knee-scraping school courts, until one of the players, the better one, defeated the other, the slightly weaker of the two, as Richard had seen happen many times on television.

In this case, the better player was 30-year-old Rod Laver. With a Hollywood-style combover and sparkling eyes that hardened like steel when he stepped out on court, the Australian was an absolute superstar at the time – a player so regal, 47 years later, Roger Federer would name a tennis tournament after him.

During that time, the tournament’s top seed, Laver was the reigning Wimbledon champion, and coming off the back of two Slam wins earlier in the year, he was en route to completing his second Calendar Slam, an unmatched record that stands to this day.

His opponent that day, Arthur Ashe, was seeded fifth in the tournament. Cool and composed, the bespectacled American would offer no challenge to Rod Laver, Richard thought. 

Watching professional tennis on television is to watching it live what seeing Federer’s serve is to being hit by one – you experience it in a more visceral way.

When the match started, Ashe – in Richard’s mind the far inferior player – began raining bombs on Laver. His shots were like cannonballs, echoing around the stadium with a thunderous thwack, as he raced off to a 6-2 start in what seemed like ten minutes. 

Richard, with his basic grasp of what was going to happen, did not expect this.

In the end, Rod Laver prevailed, winning the match 2-6, 6-2, 9-7, 6-0, and going on to claim the Championship, but however much the win meant to Laver, it might have meant just as much, if not more, to Richard Jones. The hyper charged rollercoaster of emotions he had just witnessed, kickstarted a lifelong passion for tennis and Wimbledon in particular.

“It’s just a coincidence that one of the most amazing things was also the first thing,” he would later recall of watching the match live. “I’ve been to hundreds of days [of Wimbledon] since. The only year I didn’t go was in 1971. I had a girlfriend then, and she didn’t like tennis.”

 

In the coming years, Richard’s passion grew – between 1973 and 1988 he did not miss a single day of Wimbledon – until it finally took on a physical, brick and mortar form when on the 1st of October 1999, Richard and his wife, Chris, opened the Tennis Gallery, a bookshop and art gallery dedicated purely to tennis. The little shop, located right next to the Wimbledon Park station (in 2007, the Tennis Gallery moved to a bigger locale next door where it is still located today), served as a natural extension of their love for the game.

That love is evident from the moment one sets foot inside the shop. The place is small, barely spacious enough to swing a forehand, and yet it possesses a certain hallowed quality. The light shines in through a big window and falls upon bookshelves crammed together, filled to the brim with tennis books and programmes – new, second hand, signed. In between, posters of past tournaments adorn the walls.

What Richard and Chris have created over the past 20 years is in equal parts a bookshop and a temple dedicated to the sport. Everywhere you look, something tennis-related is there for you to look at, leaf through, admire, or trip over. The overall effect ends up being somewhere between quirky and cosy – it’s the kind of a place you’d imagine a protagonist walking into in search of the next clue or a crucial piece of information.

The passion of Richard Jones imbues the very walls the shop is located in. He is not only a collector but also a raconteur. He welcomes every visitor with the same kind of warmth, be it a casual fan or a tennis celebrity (and over the years, the list of people who have visited the Tennis Gallery includes such names as Rod Laver, Maria Bueno, Ken Rosewall, Betty Stove, John Lloyd, Christine Truman, and Mansour Bahrami), and if you give him the chance, he will talk your head off. Richard’s knowledge of Wimbledon and tennis in general is encyclopaedic. He is a walking treasure trove of tennis information – always telling a story or an anecdote or bringing up a little-known fact. When we spoke about his first Wimbledon Championships, he rattled off the score of the match between Laver and Ashe with barely a thought.

As the Tennis Gallery gained more customers, Richard kept himself busy. Eventgoers at Eastbourne and Birmingham could find his pop-up bookshop on the tournament grounds, tucked in between racquet and tennis gear vendors – tradition versus progress. Although it lacked the glitz of the latest tech, the Tennis Gallery pop ups, with their collection of memorabilia, offered a glimpse of the Old-World tennis – the cardigans and long dresses of Wimbledon, the romance of clay courts on the Côte d’Azur, the triumphs and victories of players long forgotten. 

“Those spaces are awfully expensive to have a shop. I have to sell ten books to make the same profit as someone selling a racquet, but it is much more fun. Anywhere you go, people love a bookshop,” Richard says.

Richard’s relentless pursuit of the next adventure means that, at any given time, he is involved in multiple projects. Over the years, he has co-authored books, written for a tennis magazine, Ace, and interviewed players and tennis personalities. 

When on the 29th November 2015, the Great Britain tennis team achieved the near-impossible feat of winning their tenth Davis Cup title, the first one since 1936, Richard approached the Lawn Tennis Association about writing a book celebrating the event. For the next few months, Richard threw himself into the editorial waters and became a full-time project manager – he wrote the text, hired a designer, chose the paper, the bindings, and arranged the printing. The book went on sale just three months later. 

Richard explains, “As you get older, you get much more confident in your ability. When you’re younger, you might say, ‘That’s risky. I won’t do that. It might go wrong.’ But when you’re older, you get more confident because you’ve been around.”

In 2016, Richard was given access to the Wimbledon Museum and started spending his days examining their tennis ephemera collection. For three years, every Monday, Richard could be seen at the museum hunched over a ticket stub or an old programme. In total, he examined over 6,000 items: magazines, postcards, tickets, programmes, badges, wristbands, catalogues from tennis racquet manufacturers, advertising signs, newspaper cuttings – all pieces of tennis history. He wrote a paragraph about each item, creating a detailed description of the historical meaning behind it. 

In Richard’s mind, the very existence of such a collection was a paradox. Ephemera – things meant to exist or be used for a short period of time – by their pure definition are not supposed to be kept. And yet here he was, surrounded by thousands of items that outlived their usefulness, and despite that were being kept for sentimental values.

In 2019, Richard Jones was invited to speak about his research at a Tennis History Conference organised by the Kenneth Ritchie Wimbledon Library. Daunted by the stature of the audience –  the room was filled with professors and academics – Richard decided to open with an icebreaker. He put on the screen three Wimbledon programmes: from 2018, the 1960s, and the 1930s, and asked the audience to identify the items which they correctly did. Then he asked for a show of hands of how many people had an old programme at home. A forest of arms shot up. 

“You see,” said Richard, “almost every one of you has a tournament programme at home, but you’re not meant to.” The tennis ephemera have long stopped being ephemeral and are enjoying a collectible level of permanence, he explained to the gathered audience.

 

While researching the miscellanea kept at the Wimbledon Museum, Richard began jotting down memories from customers of the Tennis Gallery, and from players, coaches, and journalists with a deep connection to the tournament. Richard had always wanted to share the collection of images he and his wife had accumulated over the years, but in order to present them as a complete project, he felt they needed a common thread. 

The more Richard talked about his idea to Alan Little, a friend and, for many years, a librarian at the Wimbledon Museum, the more that thread started to reveal itself. In the end, it was Alan’s idea that Richard write an illustrated book combining people’s memories of Wimbledon and Wimbledon-related tennis memorabilia – a class of items Richard dubbed Wimbledonia.

The idea of the book, aptly titled The People’s Wimbledon, was born. As Richard waded through the vast waters of the source material, aided by his friend Amisha Savani, the manuscript slowly took on an exciting shape. While Richard wrote, Amisha sourced stories of Wimbledon from social media and contributed parts about digital memories.

The book was split into two main parts: Memories of Wimbledon and Wimbledonia. Fans who have met star players such as Chris Evert, Pat Cash, Martina Navratilova, and many others, contributed over 120 stories of Wimbledon – their memories have been interspersed with recollections of the early years of Wimbledon which Richard uncovered in old books and magazines during his research. The finished product became a joyful celebration of Wimbledon from 1877 through to the most recent shot hit on the Centre Court in 2019.

When Richard speaks about The People’s Wimbledon, beams with pride – his eyes light up and an almost-involuntary smile appears on his face. In many ways, the upcoming publication of the book is the crowning achievement and a culmination of a decade’s work. And yet, Richard, ever the romantic, is already looking towards the future – with the past very much on his mind.

“People in the tennis world are focused on the now. The thing many don’t realise is how history informs the present,” Richard says. “In The People’s Wimbledon, I didn’t put any of my own memories. I’m saving mine for the future.” 

 

Story published in Courts no. 1, summer 2021.

Wimbledon

ou l’art de faire la file

Quel est le point commun entre un concert de musique, un bureau de vote et le tournoi de Wimbledon ? Un même mal pour un bien : la file d’attente. Coup de projecteur sur un livre qui s’empare d’un phénomène culturel so british : Standing in Line, 30 years of Obsessive Queuing at Wimbledon (Faire la file, 30 ans d’attente acharnée à Wimbledon), de Ben Chatfield. 

Dans une société allergique à l’attente, synonyme de temps perdu et de vide, ennemie de la productivité et des moyens de communication instantanée, une tradition persiste aux abords du site de Wimbledon, sur une surface aussi verdoyante que les terrains de gazon foulés par les joueurs mais bel et bien chasse gardée des spectateurs : The Queue. C’est pourtant là aussi, à l’abri des caméras, que se joue le tournoi de Wimbledon (organisé par le All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club), l’un des plus grands événements sportifs annuels en Angleterre et dans le monde entier, où affluent des milliers de passionnés pour braver des heures, voire des jours, d’attente et décrocher enfin le graal : un ticket d’entrée.

 

A gift that keeps on giving

Ben Chatfield cristallise cette expérience unique dans un ouvrage composite à la croisée des genres : récit-témoignage de 30 années d’histoire du tennis et de matches légendaires ; mode d’emploi pour réussir l’épreuve de la file d’attente et accéder au prestigieux tournoi ; déclaration d’amour au tennis, à des joueurs (e.a. Boris Becker) et des joueuses (e.a. Chris Evert), à la culture anglaise et à Wimbledon ; autobiographie où l’histoire personnelle se mêle intimement à l’histoire d’un sport et d’un pays. Le tout non dénué de micro-réflexions sur la culture et la sociologie. L’amour de l’auteur pour son sujet d’écriture ne se départissant néanmoins jamais d’un recul critique savamment trempé dans l’encrier d’un humour omniprésent et piquant :

« Pas question de quitter la file. Ma mère n’était pas du genre à lâcher l’affaire. Comme lorsque, pour me faire passer l’envie de sécher une journée d’école en prétextant une maladie, elle m’assénait une réplique qui, il faut le reconnaître, s’avérait diablement efficace : “Qu’est ce que Jimmy Connors ferait à ta place ?” Rétrospectivement, l’idée qu’un joueur de tennis multimillionnaire puisse fréquenter mon école n’était pas dénuée d’une certaine dose de surréalisme. Il n’empêche qu’avec moi ce stratagème marchait à tous les coups. »

Le style et le ton du livre s’avèrent aussi légers et fluides que les prouesses d’un serveur-volleyeur né sur gazon. Quant aux dessins de Zebedee Helm, aussi humoristiques que les mots qu’ils illustrent, ils confèrent un visage humain aux acteurs du récit. 

Cependant, derrière une apparence de divertissement et de détachement, le livre recèle un trésor d’informations pour tout mordu de tennis, ainsi qu’une profonde humanité. Chatfield écrit sur un sujet qui a lui-même écrit sa propre vie. Il rend à Wimbledon ce que ce lieu de magie lui a donné pendant si longtemps.

 

Loving is waiting

Pour pénétrer dans le Saint des saints londonien, plusieurs options s’offrent au public : le saut en parachute (déconseillé), l’inscription à un tirage au sort (the public ballot) plusieurs mois avant l’événement, un partenariat avec l’instance du tournoi en tant que sponsor ou VIP, la revente de tickets, l’achat en ligne et… la file d’attente.

Matinal dans l’âme, vous atteignez l’aire de camping aux alentours de 7 heures du matin. Des tentes se dressent à perte de vue, aux allures de camp militaire la veille d’une bataille. À y regarder de plus près, le paysage évoque davantage un festival vu le nombre de participants et l’ambiance enjouée. Ces deux impressions mettent à vrai dire chacune le doigt sur un aspect différent de The Queue : la culture de l’ordre, des codes et de la discipline y côtoie en toute harmonie la culture de la détente et du divertissement. Quelques heures après votre installation, vous recevez une queue card, carte datée et numérotée indiquant votre place dans la file ainsi que les terrains auxquels celle-ci vous donne droit une fois à Wimbledon. À l’issue d’une nuit poivre et sel rythmée par les bruits des nouveaux arrivants et les discussions à la belle étoile de vos voisins, un responsable vous tire de votre torpeur à 6 heures du matin pour procéder au début de votre transhumance. Moyennant encore quelques heures d’attente dans une autre file, vous voilà aux portes de la Terre Promise, à 10 h 30. 

Loin de toute idéalisation, l’auteur souligne la relation d’amour-haine qui l’a uni à cette tradition. Encore aujourd’hui, l’attente semble parfois aussi infinie que la passion vouée par le spectateur à ce qu’il attend. Le rituel se répète ainsi chaque jour du tournoi, brassant entre 5 000 et 10 000 personnes en moyenne. Le principe d’organisation se base sur la répartition des tickets d’entrée par tranches/vagues de 500 personnes. Les 1 500 premiers arrivés bénéficient, par exemple, de l’accès aux courts principaux. Plus prestigieux le terrain convoité, plus longue l’attente. Pour réussir cette épreuve, le public doit lui-même faire preuve de qualités tout aussi nécessaires aux joueurs professionnels pour faire carrière : patience, rigueur, adaptation, volontarisme et foi dans le but ultime à atteindre. 

L’attente sur place se révèle cependant moins contraignante quand elle est attendue durant toute l’année : non seulement on s’attend à attendre, mais on attend même (avec impatience) d’attendre. La deuxième phase, à savoir la file d’attente proprement dite, possède alors le goût de la réussite. Cette première file en annonce pourtant d’autres, à l’intérieur de la zone de camping (files pour les toilettes, la nourriture, les boissons, les journaux) et, ensuite, au sein du site de Wimbledon. 

 

The Queue’s Life Lessons

Le phénomène de la file d’attente pose une question essentielle : à quel point veut-on ce que l’on veut ? Qu’est-ce qui est digne d’être attendu par nous ? Au fond, The Queue incarne la conception de la liberté proposée par l’homme de théâtre Jean-Louis Barrault : « La liberté, c’est la faculté de choisir ses contraintes. » The Queue est une contrainte, mais moins grande que la liberté à laquelle elle prépare. 

Au fil du temps, un faux paradoxe n’a cessé de s’affirmer. D’un côté, le temps d’attente augmente en raison du succès grandissant de l’événement. D’un autre, le sentiment d’attente diminue grâce à l’amélioration de l’organisation et à sa dimension de plus en plus événementielle et festive : activités périphériques (barbecues, sports de raquette improvisés, espaces de restauration, musique) et cadeaux distribués par les stewards. 

Enfin, l’art de faire la file, de vivre aussi bien le voyage que la destination, trouve sa plus belle expression dans la bouche du grand-père de Ben Chatfield : « La vie se trouve dans les moments entre les moments. » 

 

Article publié dans COURTS n° 5, été 2019.