Almost everyone in the world of tennis has lined up to kick poor David Nalbandian, suddenly the most infamous poor sport in recent memory. I for one feel some sympathy for him. Most people have a wee temper - not that they usually kick bits of wood perilously close to people's shins - and we can all imagine being a player, stressed, frustrated, tired, momentarily seeing red, and booting some wood. It was Nalbandian's bad luck that the wood broke off, and badly cut an official's leg - a most unfortunate accident. But accident it was. Yet the look of pompous incredulity on the official's face suggests a certain noblesse oblige at work. One does not do such things here. Anyway, Nalbandian was immediately declared the loser, fined a great deal of money, and is even now being investigated by the police, who presumably have no murders or rapes to look into. What a lot of nonsense. The match was spoiled, the crowd and players denied a proper final, and a good player has been unduly tarnished over a split-second misjudgement that was hardly malicious. There is an old-fashioned concept: charity. It was not shown by anyone with any duty of care, or concern, at this event.
A poem for my mother, July 15 When she was dying And I was in a different country I dreamt I was there with her Flying over the ocean very quickly, And arriving in the room like a dream And I was a dream, but the meaning was more Than a dream has – it was a moving over time And land, over water, to get love across Fast enough, to be there, before she died, To lean over the small, huddled figure, In the dark, and without bothering her Even with apologies, and be a kiss in the air, A dream of a kiss, or even less, the thought of one, And when I woke, none of this had happened, She was still far distant, and we had not spoken.
Comments
I couldn't agree with you more. What Nalbandian did was positively tame compared with what McEnroe and Connors used to get up to.
Best wishes from Simon