Roger Federer as Religious Experience

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"If you've never seen [Roger Federer] play live, and then do, in person, on the sacred grass of Wimbledon, ... you are apt to have what one of the tournament's press bus drivers describes as a "bloody near-religious experience." It may be tempting, at first, to hear a phrase like this as just one more of the overheated tropes that people resort to to describe the feeling of Federer Moments. But the driver's phrase turns out to be true — literally, for an instant ecstatically." -- David Foster Wallace, from the special to New York Times' Play Magazine, "Roger Federer as Religious Experience"

"To bear witness ... is to evoke some sort of spiritual experience that occurs only a handful of times in a lifetime - if you're lucky. To try to describe the way Federer plays tennis is like trying to describe how Nureyev danced or Heifetz played the violin. Common words or images cannot do justice." --The Age

"Part of the pleasure of the Federer experience comes from watching people watch him. On Sunday, a spectator is propelled by awe out of his seat when confronted by a short cross-court forehand that lands and runs almost parallel to the net. Later, a fellow simply bows in Federer's direction, as if applause is an unsatisfactory response. ... Some sigh, exhale, cry "Oh my God". It is an opera of exclamation. Cynics who believe they have seen everything need to watch Federer. ... How, how, we ask, as if mind is still disputing what the eyes have seen. With other players, even in other sports, we sometimes see their shots as beautiful, we wish we could play like that. With Federer we accept almost that we can never play like that, his shots arrive from another dimension, it is too much to wish for." -- Rohit Brijnath, The Hindu

Channel: Sports
Uploaded: July 31, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Author: dastacomantwo

Length: 00:04:50
Rating: 4.90
Views: 82369

Tags: roger federer religious experience

Video Comments:
CantT0uchMe (October 14, 2008 at 8:54 am)
at 4:32 that backhand volley is so flawless
its just perfect
cupcakechagrin (October 7, 2008 at 7:26 am)
great vid! but unlike religion FED is real and truly worthy of praise.
MScEisAthreat (October 15, 2008 at 2:04 am)
totally agree :p
surfer9898 (October 7, 2008 at 5:28 am)
really a great video! great job to whoever put it together
connhartley (October 6, 2008 at 9:27 am)
for those of you who aren't aware of the sourceof this vid's title, please take a moment to look up david foster wallace. he wrote an article about federer (which is where this title comes from), and everything you hear the tennis analysts say about federer playing tennis is (or sadly was true of david foster wallace).
WILSON4JMAC (October 3, 2008 at 3:38 am)
he is more then just a legend in tennis hes a legend of sport
Magyar19 (September 29, 2008 at 10:13 am)
I just watched this video and I kept chuckling at how crazy some of those shots are. Amazing.
RockyPeeters008 (September 24, 2008 at 5:52 pm)
even a little child knows he should be number 1 again. Nadal number 1? the world has gone crazy
mongole12 (October 6, 2008 at 2:34 am)
You know exactly how it is. i like it
pivoinerose19 (September 23, 2008 at 5:33 am)
isn't he just perfect,a true legend.way to go Roger