SR tennis pro unapologetic admirer of Federer
- 2009/07/08 (Wed) 13:35
- 未分类
The nosebleed seats, well, you could get a Nike Air nose bleed from being up so high, and John Potter didn’t want to get a nosebleed, that day in 2005, not if he wanted to watch, study actually, Roger Federer. It was a tennis tournament at Indian Wells in Southern California and Potter, a club pro at La Cantera in Santa Rosa, wanted to get as close to Federer without being placed in handcuffs.
“I was this far away,” said Potter Monday, pointing to an air conditioning unit on the porch at La Cantera, no more than 15 feet from where he was sitting. Federer was practicing on a side court and as Potter remembered it, he was staring through a chain link fence, transfixed on what was before him. He wasn’t alone. There were maybe 20-30 people doing the same thing.
“Now that I think about,” Potter said, “it felt like I was at the zoo. You know how you look at the animals, looking in awe at what they are? It was like I was noticing the size of an elephant.”
Of course the elephant was Federer, as big as they get in the tennis zoo, the guy who just won his record 15th Grand Slam title Sunday at Wimbledon. And for somebody like Potter, now 52, who teaches tennis, observes tennis, thinks of the sport almost as if it’s his second skin, he had a front row seat to magic.
It’s the only way to truly describe Federer, this thing called magic, and after a time Potter came across as good an example as anyone could to describe that magic.
“I couldn’t hear his feet hitting the ground,” Potter said.
Even as he said that last sentence, Potter was shaking his head, almost as if he were disagreeing with himself. Tennis players don’t move silently on an invisible cushion of air. Shoes squeak, scuff, buckle, twist, all because they must. Running at full speed, braking suddenly, to either side or forward and back, tennis players reveal the stress of their activity through their shoes, not counting those women players who grunt loudly after a serve, you’d think they are birthing a calf.
“It’s just not easy to do,” said Potter, who has been teaching at La Cantera for 15 years. “For Federer to play at the high level he does, and to play that light, Air shoes’s unbelievable.”
“I was this far away,” said Potter Monday, pointing to an air conditioning unit on the porch at La Cantera, no more than 15 feet from where he was sitting. Federer was practicing on a side court and as Potter remembered it, he was staring through a chain link fence, transfixed on what was before him. He wasn’t alone. There were maybe 20-30 people doing the same thing.
“Now that I think about,” Potter said, “it felt like I was at the zoo. You know how you look at the animals, looking in awe at what they are? It was like I was noticing the size of an elephant.”
Of course the elephant was Federer, as big as they get in the tennis zoo, the guy who just won his record 15th Grand Slam title Sunday at Wimbledon. And for somebody like Potter, now 52, who teaches tennis, observes tennis, thinks of the sport almost as if it’s his second skin, he had a front row seat to magic.
It’s the only way to truly describe Federer, this thing called magic, and after a time Potter came across as good an example as anyone could to describe that magic.
“I couldn’t hear his feet hitting the ground,” Potter said.
Even as he said that last sentence, Potter was shaking his head, almost as if he were disagreeing with himself. Tennis players don’t move silently on an invisible cushion of air. Shoes squeak, scuff, buckle, twist, all because they must. Running at full speed, braking suddenly, to either side or forward and back, tennis players reveal the stress of their activity through their shoes, not counting those women players who grunt loudly after a serve, you’d think they are birthing a calf.
“It’s just not easy to do,” said Potter, who has been teaching at La Cantera for 15 years. “For Federer to play at the high level he does, and to play that light, Air shoes’s unbelievable.”
