The Tennis Court: A Journey to Discover the World’s Greatest Tennis Courts
Nick Pachelli's photographic odyssey visits 200 of the world's most remarkable tennis courts, and what a surprisingly rich subject it turns out to be. At its barest, every court on the planet is essentially the same: a 78-by-36-foot rectangle, bisected by a net, ruled by eleven lines. Identical blueprints, endlessly repeated. And yet, once you fold in surface texture, crowd noise, shifting light, altitude, coastal wind, and creeping humidity, something strange happens. Each court becomes its own world. Some become something close to sacred. The famous venues are here, of course. Wimbledon's All England Club, where a trained hawk is kept on staff to deter pigeons from disturbing those obsessively maintained lawns. The cluster of courts at Flushing Meadows, including Arthur Ashe Stadium and the more intimate Court 17, which draws enormous summer crowds for the US Open. Roland-Garros's Court Philippe-Chatrier, whose clay shifts through burnt orange, deep red, burgundy, and umber depending on the hour and the weather. But Pachelli's real gift is his appetite for the obscure. He takes you to Waiheke Tennis Club in New Zealand, reachable only by plane, ferry, car, and finally your own two feet. To the Tennis Club de Belgique, an indoor venue with the hushed, vaulted atmosphere of a concert hall, skylights washing the court in light while spectators sit in gentle shadow. To Venice's Tennis Club San Stin, a single clay court hidden behind a villa wall thick with vines. The extreme cases are unforgettable. A solitary court marooned in the Scottish wilderness. A Spanish coastal court that only appears at low tide, its metal line-markers surfacing from wet sand like something archaeological. A Kenyan court whose surface is built from compacted termite mounds. What lifts this book beyond a glossy catalogue is Pachelli's writing. He understands that courts are mirrors. It's where players, amateur or professional, meet their own temperament head-on: the drive, the frustration, the private bliss, the stubborn longing to be better. Whether you're at Wimbledon or a cracked municipal court around the corner, that encounter is always the same. This book, warmly observed and beautifully shot, does justice to it.
- Author: Nick Pachelli
- Publisher: Artisan
- Genre: Photography
- ISBN: 978-1648293351
- Pages: 335 pages