THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB, London — A ball kid scurries along the net before crouching down. The wind ruffles the hem of a skirt. A player wipes the bead of sweat from their brow. They prepare to serve, bouncing the ball, once, twice, three times.
Then it arrives. The percussive thwock of strings meeting ball.
No words have more impact than that sound, and when fans watch tennis on television, they do so in silence. The movements of the players, the geometries that they craft and their speed of thought and shot are all there for them to see. For a commentator, to talk would be to get in the way.
"That's sacrilege," Jonathan Overend, a tennis commentator for over 25 years, currently with Sky Sports and previously BBC Radio, said during an interview at Wimbledon. Overend, 53, views tennis commentary as a musical composition, guided by the rhythm of not just the games, sets and matches, but of the action itself.
The server receives the ***** . The point plays out. The crowd reacts. The process repeats.
Then it arrives. The percussive thwock of strings meeting ball.
No words have more impact than that sound, and when fans watch tennis on television, they do so in silence. The movements of the players, the geometries that they craft and their speed of thought and shot are all there for them to see. For a commentator, to talk would be to get in the way.
"That's sacrilege," Jonathan Overend, a tennis commentator for over 25 years, currently with Sky Sports and previously BBC Radio, said during an interview at Wimbledon. Overend, 53, views tennis commentary as a musical composition, guided by the rhythm of not just the games, sets and matches, but of the action itself.
The server receives the ***** . The point plays out. The crowd reacts. The process repeats.
24 days ago
