Skip to main content

Uncle Toni 2

Toni Nadal: The future of tennis

I’ll start with a quote from Mario Vargas Llosa’s essay “The civilization of the spectacle”:

"Today, sport has acquired an importance that in the past it possessed only in Ancient Greece. For Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and other frequenters of the Academy, the cultivation of the body was simultaneous and complementary to the cultivation of the spirit. It was believed that both are mutually enriched. The difference with our time is that now, generally, the practice of sports is made at the expense of, and instead of, intellectual work ".

In the past, when we watched players like Ilie Nastase, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Björn Borg we didn’t just appreciate their different styles, but we marveled at the way they could improvise and produce strategies to defeat each one of their opponents. They prepared each and every point and resolved them in their own way. We admired their talent as tennis players, but we loved their intelligent approach to the game as well.

Today, though, certain developments in the world of tennis are a cause for concern. A few days ago I read that at the recent Australian Open, more than seventy per cent of the points did not last longer than four shots. The statistics are similar at last year’s US Open. These figures may not surprise us, but the people who love this sport have reason to be worried.
There have been no changes in the rules of tennis since it first became a professional sport, even though today’s players are far bigger and more powerful than their predecessors. Not to mention their rackets which have become high technology weapons made out of extralight, lethal materials.
We all know that other sports like Formula 1, football and basketball have introduced changes in order to make the races or the games more entertaining.

I think I can predict where the future of tennis is heading, and I’m afraid I don’t like what I see. If nothing is done, we will soon be witness to the almost total domination of speed and power to the detriment of skills and tactics. Tennis will just become a matter of brute force, rather than a sport in which players need to work on improving their skills, reflect on the game, and apply intelligent strategies.
If the trend continues, those of us who are involved in the game will have to adapt: we’ll have to leave our principles to one side and pursue a new kind of training that ignores reflection and leads to what the wise men of Greece rejected centuries ago: the separation of sport from the cultivation of the spirit.

https://www.thetennisbase.com/?enlace=blog&bg=4&post=Toni-Nadal-the-future-of-tennis

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pengalaman Minggu Pertama Persekolahan

Selamat kembali ke sekolah adik-adik/anak-anak semua! Hari ini merupakan hari pertama dan minggu pertama persekolahan  bagi sesi tahun 2016. Jadi Aida nak ambil kesempatan bercerita tentang pengalaman minggu pertama persekolahan. Tapi bukan pengalaman  Tahun 1, cerita ini tentang pengalaman minggu pertama persekolahan di Tingkatan 4.Ehhh kenapa Tingkatan 4? Mesti ada yang tertanya-Tanya kan? Jawapannya mudah. Aida berpindah ke sekolah baru masa di Tingkatan 4. Pindah jauh ke Borneo kerana mengikut abah yang bertukar ke Sabah. Kami berpindah ke Kota Kinabalu pada penguhujung tahun. Sekolah yang dipilih oleh abah untuk Aida ialah Maktab Sabah @ Sabah College, antara sekolah ternama di Sabah. Pada masa itu kami tinggal di Putatan. Jarak antara Putatan dengan Sekolah Maktab Sabah adalah lebih kurang setengah jam perjalanan menaiki bas. Aida ke sekolah menaiki bas.  Maktab Sabah. Photo credit to Wikipedia.  Ok kita berba...

Buah Hati Pengarang Jantung

Inilah buah hati abah aku skarang ni. Merekalah penghibur hati abah sejak mak pergi. Merekalah racun merekalah penawar. Semoga semuanya menjadi anak yang soleh dan cucu yang sentiasa mengingati atok dan nenek walaupun nenek dah pergi meinggalkan mereka.   Wan, Jiji & Ayoi (Anak2 abang aku) Adam (Anak Adik Perempuan Aku-Ain) Qisya (Anak Adik Lelaki Aku, A'a. Walaupun Qisya bukan anak betul adik aku tapi dia telah menjadi sebahagian daripada keluarga kami. Dan kami sayangkan dia.)

Kembali kepada Fitrah

Petang tadi aku membaca satu posting di FB yang membuat aku rasa sangat gembira dan bersyukur. Seorang gadis Jepun yang aku kenal semasa menghadiri Tokyo Book Fair 2014 telah mengucap syahadah dan telah kembali kepada fitrah. Syukur ke hadrat Allah.   Arisa Sakamoto atau nama islamnya Nur Arisa Maryam yang aku dengar dan aku lihat dari pembacaan aku di FB nya telah lama mendekati Islam. Beliau banyak belajar tentang Islam dan sebenarnya sebelum mengucap syahadah lagi beliau telah muda solat, berpuasa dan juga mempelajari Al-Quran. Hati beliau memang sangat dekat dengan Islam. Cumanya ada sesuatu yang menghalangnya daripada memeluk Islam. Aku sendiri tak pasti apa yang menghalangnya. Aku selalu berdoa agar Arisa diberi kekuatan oleh Allah untuk mengucap syahadah dan kembali kepada fitrah dengan segera.   Sesungguhnya hidayah Allah itu diturunkan kepada sesiapa yang dikehendakinya, kepada sesiapa yang mencarinya. Walaupun syaitan terus menggoda agar anak adam yang ...