Love Game: A History of Tennis, from Victorian Pastime to Global Phenomenon

The European Union, dominated by Germany and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, united with the International Monetary Fund to insist on harsh measures to stem the debt problems and stagnation afflicting Europe. German sociologist Ulrich Beck saw this as an expression of long-term tendencies in German culture: ‘Suffering purifies. The road throu

(As a letter to the London Guardian put it, ‘is it any wonder the world is in such a mess when, instead of concentrating on wars and famines, God spends his time watching Wimbledon?’, but that raises questions beyond the scope of this book.)

Nor do sporting records necessarily reflect a hierarchy of greatness. Aesthetic and qualitative judgements enter just as much into sports as into music or painting. Rankings of the ‘greatest’ players based on how many tournaments, games, matches or anything else they won omit crucial qualities of beauty, excitement and creativity.

After Ivanisevic revealed that part of his ‘lucky’ routine was to watch the same children’s programme, the Teletubbies, every morning, a cohort of supporters appeared at the All England Club dressed as the on-screen puppets.

By the 1980s McDonaldisation was spreading to the world of leisure and sports. Partly as the result of new technologies, tennis was being McDonaldised too.

The Situationist writer, Guy Debord, whose book, The Society of the Spectacle, became the bible of the ‘événements’ in France in 1968, denounced the commoditisation of leisure and accused capitalism of colonising all aspects of life. To view the spectacle –in this case

To be authentic was to express your feelings.

So, while a performance of transcendent music is something deeper than ‘entertainment’, tennis is ultimately darker than entertainment, containing within itself an inherent contradiction and thus continually in thrall to frustration and paranoia.

Club du Lys in Paris.