Nadal chooses to receive. Can’t remember why he does this. Superstition? Think it's Gilbert’s advice in Winning Ugly. Amis bought that book—“I’ve got the ugly part down," he said, "now I just need the winning."
The logos around the stadium. What do they add up to? Fly Emirates airlines—really? Enterprise Rental—very aggressive service, lots of frozen smiles across clerk's faces. Don Julio tequila—still can't smell raw tequila and not think of . . . I won't get into it. Eisenhower Medical Center—a little ominous, don’t you think? Coca-Cola. That’s a logo. Loved it as a kid, the cursive lines, loved the dull cherry-red color of the cans. Had a fantasy when I moved to the Village in the early 90s about sitting in the living room on a sunny afternoon with a girl—no one I knew, just a girl who I imagined would wear white Jack Purcells like me—drinking Cokes in the classic old Coke bottles and listening to a Buddy Holly record I’d just bought, tapping our Purcells and smiling. Never happened.
Isner, a long kid. Reminds me of an upperclassman I saw the first day of freshman year in the quad, manning the keg—Chris, turned out to be a nice guy. Can Isner win with his hat on backwards? Who was the last guy to do that at the big ones? Hewitt? Seems like it would make you too casual. Another question: Can Rafa win with those pants on? No fashion advantage for either. Who am I to judge: I’m wearing yellow New Balances. Isner wins first game at love. Nadal loses first point on his own serve. Can see him calm him his body down as he goes back to the ball kids. Takes his time between points because he needs that time. To find his “calm.”
Line judges, ball kids. Played two matches with them way back when. What a difference! You just play tennis, nothing else, no walking back to the fence, no picking up balls, no bending at all. World at your service. Isner: where did he get the return, the ground strokes, the volleys? Not just better than last year. Like a new player. Moves with some fluidity and maybe even . . . explosiveness? No, don’t go overboard. From this angle—off to the side—it looks like he’s playing above the court. Racquet looks like a ping-pong paddle. Weird thing he does with his left hand as he hits his forehand. Sticks all of his fingers straight out.
Sea of sunglasses. Can’t keep the sun out here. Are they the final arbiter of class? The ultimate test on a date: Do you have the right shades? Knew a girl who wouldn’t go out on a second date with a guy because he used Thousand Island dressing. He became a hedge-fun millionaire a couple of years later. Isner hits a ball just long. Late call. Nadal signals it out with his finger. Is this kosher? Serena does it, too. As a kid, I used to play a guy who hated it when I signaled out with my index finger and didn't say anything else. Drove him up the wall. I kept doing it, of course. I'd stand there watching his lob; when it landed out, I’d put my finger up for as short a time as possible, without looking at him. He finally walked off the court.
Rafa is better to watch live. You can see the nasty bend in his shots. Seem to break in half in the air. Playing well now, totally different player from the guy in London last year. Loves this place. Plays golf with Fred Couples here; shot two-over. Need to have an ATP golf tournament out here some day. Anticipates Isner serve to forehand and drills it. More agile on return than Isner—is that the difference? Breaks him. Always a tightrope walk against a big server. You know you can’t afford to give away any rallies.
Also a tightrope walk for Isner, playing a rallier like Nadal. Needs to attack but not over-attack, take the ball on the rise at exactly the right time and judge the length of his shots precisely. Can’t afford to wait and hit from behind the baseline. Can't afford to hit mediocre approaches. Had those kinds of matches with a junior rival named Jake. Deep moonball after deep moonball. I’d move back, hit a ball at head level, jog back to the baseline, start all over. The kid had a watch and timed himself between every damn point. We had 30 seconds; he never served the ball before the 29th had ticked. Ball rolled to the fence behind me during one of our marathon points. Two older juniors on the court next to us had to stand and watch us moonball each other for a good 5 minutes. Whole club erupted in laughter when I finally missed.
Does Isner’s size help his attitude? Easygoing, like big guys are. Doesn’t panic. A hyper giant—what would that look like? Never noticed before, but he moves his upper body into the court well on his serve. Don't think I've seen a toss for a kick serve that’s so far out in front of a player’s body. Looks like a basketball move, taking the ball up strong.
Blondes here, flip-flops, shorts, black Chuck Taylors and Castro-style hats. Do I really miss the girls’ shiny winter rainboots in NYC? Pro tennis shots from the side view look like they have a comet tail. Can almost glimpse the outline of their trajectory. Nadal says he doesn’t have to prove he can win matches. Must want to tell people: “I won Wimbledon, didn’t you see it?” I had a Wimbledon-winning fantasy for years. I'd hit a perfect overhead—falling back, from one deuce court to the other—to win 9-7 in the fifth. Crowd stands, but no histrionics from me, no tears. Just walk up to the player’s box and give my coach—whoever he would have been—a soulful hug while everyone claps in Centre Court. Not enough to win Wimbledon; wanted to do it with class.
Another surprising thing about Isner. Or maybe not that surprising: He has tremendous racquet-head speed on his forehand. Gets it through the zone in a hurry. Has that in common with Federer; some kind of natural talent, loose, live arm. Roddick, too; has crazy shoulder muscles. Isner is broken at 2-1 in the third, both in score and in body. But he staggers to a couple more holds and makes Nadal win it.
Rafa, what a kick. He’s up 4-2, has multiple break points, can’t convert. Long game. Kind of game a receiver will get discouraged in, because the server can wipe away all his work with one fell swoop of the racquet. Isner does this a bunch of times. He gets a game point but misses a backhand wide. Nadal is right there with a fist-pump, and the score is only deuce. He still has to win two more points just to break. He doesn’t think of it that way. He hasn't gotten discouraged at all during this game. He hasn’t wearied of fighting for it. No way I could do that. I’m up here. He’s down there.