Roger Federer is the most elegant sportsman on the planet. Who else is there?
Elegant
–adjective
1. graceful in form or movement
Roger Federer has been voted the second most elegant man on the planet, by Spanish rag Marca. Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld came first, improbably. Roger wuz robbed.
Federer is truly elegant because, as much as he is fiercely competitive, he doesn’t just care about results; the physical poetry of a classically performed backhand, for example – he cares about that too.
Which got Anorak thinking, when did the elegance disappear from sport? Is Federer the only graceful sportsman left?
In men’s tennis, Federer has been usurped by the brutal power of Rafael Nadal. Nadal is an impressive specimen, but he could never be classed as elegant. In the women’s game, the Williams sisters epitomise the power game that rules in the modern era.
Tennis is just one example. All professional sport is geared almost exclusively towards results and the success that comes with them – there is increasingly little room for stylists.
So give thanks for Federer, that rare star for whom the aesthetic aspect of sport matters.
Posted: 2nd, December 2008 | In: Sports Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
