from David Foster Wallace, “Federer as Religious Experience” – a Quote for Wimbledon Week

It’s Wimbledon Week.  (as I write this, Nadal just lost the first set in the Gentlemen’s Final.  Update:  he just lost to Novak Djokovic).
The New York Times has a terrific essay:  Tennis by the Book by Touré (Touré, now a writer, was once a #1 ranked tennis player).  It’s a look at some great tennis writing.  The winner, the top article of all, is the incomparable Federer as Religious Experience by David Foster Wallace  (listed in the top 25 on Cool Tools list of the greatest 100 magazine articles.  I blogged about this list here).

Here’s the quote for the day:

Genius is not replicable. Inspiration, though, is contagious, and multiform — and even just to see, close up, power and aggression made vulnerable to beauty is to feel inspired and (in a fleeting, mortal way) reconciled.

Roger Federer at work       (Rob Tringali/Sports Chrome — accompanying the article by Wallace)