QuoteProject
Tennis: the most perfect combination of athleticism, artistry, power, style, and wit. A beautiful game, but one so remorselessly travestied by the passage of time.
Martin Amis
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Tennis combines physical skill and artistic expression, but its beauty is often overshadowed by time and change.

Martin Amis describes tennis as an ideal fusion of physical prowess and artistic elements, showcasing both strength and creativity. However, he also reflects on how the game is affected by the inevitability of time, suggesting that its qualities can be altered or diminished as it evolves.

Themes

TennisSportAthleticismArtistryPowerBeautyTime

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech discussing the art of sportsmanship, one could quote Amis to highlight the multifaceted nature of tennis.

More from Martin Amis

Oh Christ, the exhaustion of not knowing anything. It's so tiring and hard on the nerves. It really takes it out of you, not knowing anything. You're given comedy and miss all the jokes. Every hour you get weaker. Sometimes, as I sit alone in my flat in London and stare at the window, I think how dismal it is, how heavy, to watch the rain and not know why it falls.
Martin AmisRead
Sometimes I feel that life is passing me by, not slowly either, but with ropes of steam and spark - spattered wheels and a hoarse roar of power or terror. It's passing, yet I'm the one who's doing all the moving.
Martin AmisRead
You know how it is when two souls meet in a burst of ecstatic volubility, with hearts tickling to hear and to tell, to know everything, to reveal everything, the shared reverence for the other's otherness, a feeling of solitude radiantly snapped by full *contact* - all that?
Martin AmisRead
All my adult life I have been searching for the right adjective to describe my father's peculiarly aggressive comic style. I recently settled on 'defamatory.'
Martin AmisRead
Love is an abstract noun, something nebulous. And yet love turns out to be the only part of us that is solid, as the world turns upside down and the screen goes black.
Martin AmisRead
Jane was my wicked stepmother: she was generous, affectionate and resourceful; she salvaged my schooling and I owe her an unknowable debt for that. One flaw: sometimes, early on, she would tell me things designed to make me think less of my mother, and I would wave her away, saying, Jane, this just backfires and makes me think less of you.
Martin AmisRead

Similar quotes

Swimming is normal for me. I'm relaxed. I'm comfortable, and I know my surroundings. It's my home.
Michael PhelpsRead
One reason golf is such an exasperating game is that a thing we learned is so easily forgotten, and we find ourselves struggling year after year with faults we had discovered and corrected time and again.
Bobby JonesRead
Golf has become so manicured, so perfect. The greens, the fairways. I don't like golf carts. I like walking. Some clubs won't let you in unless you have a caddy and a cart.
Robert RedfordRead
Disability sport came about largely because of exclusion, because mainstream sport didn't want disabled people to be part of it.
Tanni Grey-ThompsonRead
There are teams that wait for you and teams that look for you: Espanyol look for you. I feel very close to their style of football.
Pep GuardiolaRead
Football is simple but the hardest thing to do is play simple football.
Johan CruijffRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.