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Accurate evaluation of lack of depth that makes up the person in Tracy Austin . Written result is that of a high s hill graduate not wanting to provide personal details to any degree. I believe she has narcissistic tendencies where she is oblivious to those around her - which contributed to her downfall- not figuring out the puzzle as to why she won or lost the last point .

Book jacket description just inspires one to buy the book but she offers nothing, taking jabs at Pam and Chris. Praises Martina . She stated that she lost Sf at Wimbledon in 1980 Tracy said she was consumed with thoughts of winning Wimbledon because Chris beat Martina and her record over Chris was 5-0 for last 5 matches with Chris. Well she’s lying. Tracy lost to Evonne before Chris played Martina. Then at Open in 79 after beating Martina she said well maybe the crowd will be for me , after all Chris has won the last 4 Opens. In interviews she lies by saying she at the time had no idea how many times Chris had won the Open. Tracy is stubborn in her belief in how good she was . In her mind she’s superior. In reality Chris was much better and Martina and Chris lost to Tracy because they were so nervous Tracy got into their head for half a year.

The Austin’s vs Evert family form vs substance. Chris had a deep well of strength, mental , physical, spiritually sound.

Ironically, we are here for the same reason DFW was for Austin

Well I know David played tennis himself too but personally I think it a very dull subject not worth investing myself enough emotionally to have my heart broken though perhaps just knowing certain types of people exist at all could be disappointing in general maybe that's why DFW always sounds so unfulfilled. Particularly since he doesn't seem to be naturally a competitive type he just thought being good at things what the social expectation and because he was smart he was good at certain things the writing for example but depressed people lose interest in everything if they like it or not it all becomes an exercise in futility.

“Blindness and dumbness” are the essence of genius. Unless, I suppose, your genius is other than the physical variety. There seems to be many other examples, like Larry Bird, Mickey Mantle, and Tom Brady, but not Roger Federer.

I disagree with DFW 's assertion. Most "top athletes" ARE rather dim. And this , as he then states, probably is advantageous to them. This is a brilliant essay , written by a writer of genius. Sad what happened to him. In my opinion, much more of a loss to humanity than the death of any bonehead sportsman.

How do the athletes do it? We stop thinking. It's like falling asleep: been keeing yourself awake all day, forcing yourself through thought after thought and observation after observation where daily life is like reading a dense book by DFW, and then finally you get to your playground and get to step out of all that tedious tracing of reality through words and forced attention and get to just cut loose into your preferred sport, go nonverbal and let your brain finally just do its thing without you yanking the leash back all day.

I wish the universe had made a Tom Brady book reviewed by DFW happen.

Somehow it ends up on a high note... For miss Austin at least. Not the ghost writer

He just called a person and people in that field dumb, in the most round-about way possible.

It's a tough choice to make between "this person is malicious" vs "this person is just unbelievably ignorant".

People in the comments saying to read Agassi's book- this still happens to some degree or another in All memoirs. They control the narrative, they can withold most any stuff they want & sprinkle in just enough to seem legit (& sometimes fabricating/ overexaggerating some tales for entertainment) Reccomend take it with a grain of salt/ accept if for entertainment value/ listen to other people's accounts too if you want to get closer to the real hard truths

I never want david foster wallace to analyze my writing... sheesh... he cant just read the inspiring story of a over-stressed tennis prodigy lol

Ty for this! Haven’t read this one or IJ yet. But I got time too.

Does Jordan Peterson have any ideas of his own?

The line "this line haunts me." at 22:20 makes me laugh so hard.

Thirty-Two minutes and Thirty-Six seconds ago I pulled over for some shade and happened to pull next to a day care. This DFW reading made me laugh so hard, so loud and for so long, most of the children are now crying with snot coming out of their noses. I’m not embarrassed about it fyi and truth is I couldn’t help or control myself because it was that funny…. just pointing this out

Look at all the pompous dweebs in the comments trying to out smart Wallace

I hope DFW had the chance to read Ken Dryden's memoirs, or watch the series 'Home Game'.

Quote, close Quote. Knife.

There are some things words cant express or are almost impossible

Straight destroyed

Awesome essay. Here’s an audiobook of DFW’s story “All That.” m.th-cam.com/video/imsIZ9VPx3g/w-d-xo.html

This review could be summarised (in part) by the aphorism "never meet your heroes"...

I am by far an hour late and a dollar short. Is someone able to elaborate and illuminate what Foster means by a "Gertrudian fervor". I am able to garner connotative meaning by his context, but have not be able to track down the specific analogy. Is it something I have not read and therefor not familiar with? Please ..teach if u can. PS. "Fervor" and its surrounding synonyms and antonyms are not eluding me. It is the specific "Gertrudian" reference. Thanks, folks!

Why is DFW so reproachful about Tracy Austin's "naivity" in her memoir? He seems to believe that only because someone has the talent and determination to become a top athlete, they must naturally deliver literature at the level of a nobel prize winner. Sometimes naivity is not a bad trait. In a career like Tracy's, cut short by injuries and accidents (he compares it to a Greek tragedy) it is perhaps better not to reflect too much about the past. Just look at Tracy today: she seems a happily married mother of three, still enjoying her role in tennis as a commentator, occasionally even competing in the legends. DFW, the absolute opposite of naive, tragically took his life in 2008 at the age of 46.

Also if you really listen through this isn’t it possible that David is oozing out his frustration of not being able to think his way into pure athleticism. I mean think of how many times he uses techne, Techne cannot be achieved through “just” episteme

Breathtakingly insipid. Wow DFW. I’m going to usurp

This was poetic genius. That last sentence was like a samurai cutting off the head of its opponent.

The easiest way control society is to limit the scope of education.

absolutely amazing

I wish DFW had been able to see The Last Dance

How David Foster Wallace broke my heart.....

This is the intellectual realizing intelligence isn't the most highly valued ability and it doesn't necessarily translate to greatness the way athletic ability does. You want to believe that this great athlete must have something profound to offer because they drove themselves to greatness and you are constantly fighting your own logic and intelligence to find something meaningful in your own life . You can hear it when DFW talks about thinking about what he's not supposed to be thinking about. You can't overthink like that if you want to be great at anything and smart isn't always a blessing. I have found the most successful people I've met to he underwhelming in conversation. Not a lot of deep contemplation. But that's why they're good. An almost obsessive single minded focus. They don't think about the superfluous tragedy that is our life, they just choose to focus on something that they enjoy/have a knack for and simply go do it. Overanalyzing is paralyzing because it makes you talk yourself into the snooze button. "Do I really need to get up right now? Is it THAT important?" And if you can't argue with yourself effectively enough you hit snooze. You don't try hard because "ehh what's the actual benefit?" Path of least resistance. But there's something in you that wants meaning. Craves purpose. Something that you will be valued for. Something you look forward to getting out of bed for. I think it's disappointing and disturbing to realize the motivation isn't coming from some unlockable place. Your mind is locking it up. It's up to you. It IS that obvious that even these people can get it and their inability to grasp concepts of metaphysics likely benefits their performance and persistence tenfold.

Maybe great athletes simply don't think about it too much, but great writers do...?

DFW gets to it at end. People are "articulate" in different ways. There are about as many top ten tennis players who could write a great book as there are great authors who could play world class tennis. With the possible exception of Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" the greatest spots book ever written. Well, at least my favorite. lol

quote, close quote.

Beautiful biography of Tracy Austin and the human condition itself

Another way to look at this: Great players make lousy coaches (I’m thinking of team sports). That’s because they just do. They don’t deconstruct.

Ouch and wow

DFW has a history but the fact is you know just enough about it to think his publishing and teaching overshadows it's importance. He is a teacher and writer. So why did his history get shoveled under a rug? I want to know if he almost died as a child? If his father was culturally diverse? If his mother experienced tragedy? These are truths that make a difference.

He was a genius and did what every genius does when he has achieved the mark: "They only fade away."

anyone think that wallace and sam harris have similar voices and delivery styles? albeit, foster is like sam on 1.5X?

Is DFW implying those 'freak accidents' may have been intentional to cripple her from playing?

22:15 made me laugh out loud

Country clubs are closed on Monday’s

She would say the same thing about watching a dfw tennis match

Am I crazy or has this been cut? Wasn't this an hour long?

"She was a genius and I was not." Yeah...gonna have to disagree with you on that one David...