The Czech photographer has been capturing the aesthetics of the tennis court in recent years, and considers Roger Federer as her favourite subject.
In an interview with Baseline magazine, the photographer invoked the famous ballet dancer image to describe Federer’s fluid motions on the court.
Roger Federer: The personification of grace
The late American author David Foster Wallace, in his famous essay on Roger Federer titled Roger Federer as Religious Experience, had spoken of the Swiss’s stylistic influence on the game in something resembling a swoon.
Federer’s beautiful exploits on the tennis court were an epiphanic, spiritually transformative experience for the famously reclusive writer. Wallace even went so far as to say that the beauty of Federer’s tennis couldn’t be captured by a television stream, and that you had to be present at the venue to fully appreciate his art.
Wallace isn’t in the minority when it comes to love for Federer’s inimitable and ethereal beauty as a tennis player. For the fans, it is the perfect mix of style, intelligence, grace and planning. For lovers of the poetry in motion that is Federer, his 20 Grand Slam wins only count as second in importance.
Many fans believe that even if the juggernaut that is Novak Djokovic or the Spanish matador Rafael Nadal break his Majors record, they will never be able to match the intangible and inherent beauty that is represented by Federer. They have even coined the term ‘Federerism’ to signify his cult-inspiring tennis, and have formed an eponymous website dedicated to Federer worship.
Dance critic Sarah L Kaufman called Roger Federer the most graceful athlete of our time in the Washington Post. Not many sportspersons can feature in the Theatre and Dance segment of a major newspaper.
Leitmeritz’s other favorite photogenic tennis players include Barbara Strycova and Petra Kvitova. Kvitova was actually the first tennis player that the photographer shot.
Her top five tennis images featured in the interview also had a shot of the iconic Hearst Castle tennis court as well as Letna, the oldest tennis court in Prague.
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