Tennis And Badminton In Art

Tenniswedstrijd met toeschouwers bij kasteel Rochefoucauld, Israël Silvestre, 1656

US Open

September 1994

My entire life’s work rests on the outcome of this match.

My father, Javier, and I sit front row center at Flushing Meadows, the sidelines just out of reach. The linesmen stand with their arms behind their backs on either side of the court. Straight in front of us, the umpire presides over the crowd high in his chair. The ball girls crouch low, ready to sprint at a moment’s notice.

This is the third set. Nicki Chan took the first, and Ingrid Cortez squeaked out the second. This last one will determine the winner.

My father and I watch—­along with the twenty thousand others in the stadium—­as Nicki Chan approaches the baseline. She bends her knees and steadies herself. Then she rises onto her toes, tosses the ball in the air, and with a snap of her wrist sends a blistering serve at 126 miles per hour toward Ingrid Cortez’s backhand.

Cortez returns it with startling power. It falls just inside the line. Nicki isn’t able to get to it. Point Cortez.

I let my eyes close and exhale.

“Cuidado. The cameras are watching our reactions,” my father says through gritted teeth. He’s wearing one of his many panama hats, his curly silver hair creeping out the back.

“Dad, everyone’s watching our reactions.”

Nicki Chan has won two Slam titles this year already—­the Australian Open and the French Open. If she wins this match, she’ll tie my lifetime record of twenty Grand Slam singles titles. I set that record back in 1987, when I won Wimbledon for the ninth time and established myself as the greatest tennis player of all time.

Nicki’s particular style of play—­brash and loud, played almost exclusively from the baseline, with incredible violence to her serves and groundstrokes—­has enabled her to dominate women’s tennis over the past five years. But when she was starting out on the WTA tour back in the late eighties, I found her to be an unremarkable opponent. Good on a clay court, perhaps, but I could beat her handily on her home turf of London.

Things changed after I retired in 1989. Nicki began racking up Slams at an alarming rate. Now she’s at my heels.

My jaw tenses as I watch her.

the opening to Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2022)

Humans worked out how much fun it is whack a thing with a bat like thing many, many years ago. Scenes of the joy of racquet sports such as tennis and badminton has been preserved in art.

Een leraar speelt badminton met zijn leerling, Bernard Picart, after Gerard de Lairesse, 1714
Een leraar speelt badminton met zijn leerling, Bernard Picart, after Gerard de Lairesse, 1714
Drie kinderen spelen badminton of pluimbal, Johannes Alexander Rudolf Best, 1807 - 1855
Drie kinderen spelen badminton of pluimbal, Johannes Alexander Rudolf Best, 1807 – 1855
1909
1909
1929 puck annual children playing tennis
1929
The English Air cover art
Modern Priscilla Jul 1919 Magazine Advertisement
Woman's Home Companion August 1912 cover art. A young woman looks toward the camera and poses for a backhand. Behind her is a tennis court and country house.
Woman’s Home Companion August 1912 cover art
by Lucille Patterson Marsh
Vogue Magazine July 15 1927 cover art by Meserole
‘Tea and Tennis.’ (1920) Eveline Syme
Tennis in Mornington Crescent Gardens (1909) by Spencer Gore (English, 1878-1914) The Carreras Cigarette Factory was built on this site in 1926.
Tennis in Mornington Crescent Gardens (1909) by Spencer Gore (English, 1878-1914) The Carreras Cigarette Factory was built on this site in 1926.
Better Homes & Gardens magazine June1938
1893, Willem Wenckebach c 1893
1893, Willem Wenckebach c 1893
Art - Goût - Beauté, Feuillets de l' élégance féminine, Mai 1931, No. 129, 11e Année, p. 24, anonymous, 1931
Art – Goût – Beauté, Feuillets de l’ élégance féminine, Mai 1931, No. 129, 11e Année, p. 24, anonymous, 1931
Judge magazine, May 14, 1927 well go ahead and serve
Vogue Magazine Cover - art by George Wolfe Plank - 1921 tennis
Vogue Magazine Cover – art by George Wolfe Plank – 1921
Très Parisien, 1923, No 8 18.- PALLANZA. - Pour les derniers jours..., anonymous, 1923
Très Parisien, 1923, No 8 18.- PALLANZA. – Pour les derniers jours…, anonymous, 1923
Telephone Review Magazine June 1937
Telephone Review Magazine June 1937
Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement from the May 16, 1949 issue of Life magazine
1930 Don’t Overindulge, Smoke a Lucky. Fat-shaming as well as flat-out lying. Nice one, Don Draper.
Blücher en Wellington spelen badminton met Napoleon, 1815, Johann Michael Voltz, 1815
Blücher en Wellington spelen badminton met Napoleon, 1815, Johann Michael Voltz, 1815
Journal des Demoiselles, septembre 1868, 36e année, No. 9, Paul Lacourière, after Emile Préval, 1868
Journal des Demoiselles, septembre 1868, 36e année, No. 9, Paul Lacourière, after Emile Préval, 1868
Le Moniteur de la Mode, 1885, No. 2224e, No. 39 Costumes d'Enfants (...), anonymous, 1885
Le Moniteur de la Mode, 1885, No. 2224e, No. 39 Costumes d’Enfants (…), anonymous, 1885
The Young Ladies' Journal, 1 May 1868, No. 49, Anaïs Colin-Toudouze, 1868
The Young Ladies’ Journal, 1 May 1868, No. 49, Anaïs Colin-Toudouze, 1868
Journal des Demoiselles, 1 juillet 1903, No. 5307 Toilette de Mmes Forcillon Soeurs (...), anonymous, after Monogrammist BC, 1903
Journal des Demoiselles, 1 juillet 1903, No. 5307 Toilette de Mmes Forcillon Soeurs (…), anonymous, after Monogrammist BC, 1903
Le Moniteur de la Mode, 1895, Nr. 3128e, No. 17 Garnitures et Passementeries (...), Guido Gonin, 1895 tennis
Le Moniteur de la Mode, 1895, Nr. 3128e, No. 17 Garnitures et Passementeries (…), Guido Gonin, 1895 tennis
Revue de la Mode, Gazette de la Famille, dimanche 26 juin 1887, 16e Année, No. 808 Etoffes de la M.on Le Houssel, P. Deferneville, 1887
Revue de la Mode, Gazette de la Famille, dimanche 26 juin 1887, 16e Année, No. 808 Etoffes de la M.on Le Houssel, P. Deferneville, 1887
Ideal Book For Girls, 1945
Ladies Home Journal Original Cover, June 1907 By Henry Hutt
Ladies Home Journal Original Cover, June 1907 By Henry Hutt
The Badminton Game David Inshaw, oil on canvas, 1972. The smooth shapes of this shrubbery are almost creepy. They put me in mind of a picture book by Chris Van Allsburg: The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.
Cover art of Murder At The Vicarage by Agatha Christie, by Tom Adams
From 'Furniture Age' February 1948 tennis
From ‘Furniture Age’ February 1948 tennis
Horace Henry Cauty - The Tennis Match
Horace Henry Cauty – The Tennis Match
Bernie Fuchs tennis in Sports Illustrated
Bernie Fuchs tennis in Sports Illustrated
Country Home Magazine June 1933 Young boy badly stringing a tennis racket
Country Home Magazine June 1933 Young boy badly stringing a tennis racket
Zittende vrouw met een tennisracket, Edgar Chahine, 1899
Zittende vrouw met een tennisracket, Edgar Chahine, 1899
Slaghout en pluimbal, Kikugawa Eishin, 1810 – 1819
Slaghout en pluimbal, Kikugawa Eishin, 1810 – 1819
Joseph Christian Leyendecker
Joseph Christian Leyendecker
Louis Wain tennis cats
Louis Wain
Cat’s Tea Party Louis Wain (1860-1939) tennis
Adolph K. Kronengold tennis
Adolph K. Kronengold tennis
Joseph Christian Leyendecker
Joseph Christian Leyendecker
Mary Petty (1899-1976) Tennis
Mary Petty (1899-1976)
Edward Ardizzone
Lorenzo Mattotti New Yorker Cover
Lorenzo Mattotti New Yorker Cover
Joseph Christian Leyendecker Girls with Golf Clubs and Tennis Racquet, ca. 1920
Joseph Christian Leyendecker Girls with Golf Clubs and Tennis Racquet, ca. 1920
St Nicholas Magazine for boys and girls 1923 May
The Digest – Literary Digest – Magazine – September 4th – 1937

Header illustration: Tenniswedstrijd met toeschouwers bij kasteel Rochefoucauld, Israël Silvestre, 1656

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