To accompany Gerald Marzorati’s piece “The Fierce Intimacy of Tennis Rivalries”…
The New York Times Magazine asked the photographer Walter Iooss Jr. and the comedian Andy Samberg to take a look back at several iconic men’s tennis champions.
Iooss Jr. took the original photos that Samberg is reenacting so the whole thing is a pretty hip and meta way to get people interested in a sports subject only 2% of the population actively cares about. I’m not saying tennis rivalries weren’t cool or don’t matter now or will never matter again, I’m just saying I haven’t found myself talking Nadal-Djokovic over beers recently.
Marzorati, Iooss Jr., and Samberg indeed succeed in making me nostalgic for a tennis era I’m either too young for or only vaguely remember. They also make me want to point fingers and shake fists at our homegrown tennis crop from the last decade for not compelling my interest in professional tennis. My dad had McEnroe and Connors! Nadal wears capri pants! You don’t deserve supermodel wives!
My therapist tells me that sort of thinking isn’t healthy though so I should probably just concentrate on Samberg killing it in these reenactment photos. As you’ll see in slide eight he goes full chest merkin to become Sampras, a move that garners much respect from me.
New York Times via Deadpsin
Photo illustration by Walter Iooss Jr. Digital composite by Picturehouse.
Photo illustration by Walter Iooss Jr. Digital composite by Picturehouse.
Photo illustration by Walter Iooss Jr. Digital composite by Picturehouse.
Photo illustration by Walter Iooss Jr. Digital composite by Picturehouse.
Photo illustration by Walter Iooss Jr. Digital composite by Picturehouse.
Photo illustration by Walter Iooss Jr. Digital composite by Picturehouse.
Photo illustration by Walter Iooss Jr. Digital composite by Picturehouse.
Photo illustration by Walter Iooss Jr. Digital composite by Picturehouse.