Tennis Players as Works of Art

This episode is on Bobby Riggs and two of the famous matches he had with Don Budge near at the end of WWII. It also explores his gambling addiction. The portrait of Bobby Riggs is by Mort Drucker and was used for the cover of Time Magazine when Riggs played Billie Jean King in the Batlle of the Sexes. This portrait is housed in The National Portrait Gallery. The link is available on the blog. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://davidlinebarger.com/2021/07/21/bobby-riggs-on-his-death-bed/

This episode explores Boris Becker and his relationship to Germany in the late 80s and early 90s. The featured artwork is by the German artist, Miki de Goodaboom. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://davidlinebarger.com/2020/12/26/boris-becker-2/

My tribute to Novak Djokovic. Art by Victor Jerez. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://davidlinebarger.com/2020/12/13/novak-djokovic/

This episode features a stunning new painting of Pat Cash by Mark Shorter, an Australian artist who teaches at the University of Melbourne. Mark and I are working collaboratively on a series of paintings and writings on famous Australian tennis players. "Pat Cash" is the sixth piece we have done together. The other five can be found on my website for Tennis Players as Works of Art. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://davidlinebarger.com/2021/07/02/pat-cash/ Make sure you visit the blog to see a beautiful, big image of Mark's painting. 

This episode explore three backhands Simona Halep hit in a single point in the French Open Final against Sloane Stephens in 2018. It also contains extended sections of my favorite paragraph on tennis by David Foster Wallace. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://davidlinebarger.com/2021/07/16/simona-halep-three-easy-but-difficult-safe-but-risky-calculated-but-mindless-backhands/ This post features art by Cat Lee (Colacat). 

A comparison of Roger Federer's tennis game to one of the great Greek sculptures inspired by the Olympic games. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://davidlinebarger.com/2021/06/25/roger-federer-and-myrons-discus-thrower/ You can check out an image of Myron's Discus Thrower there. 

This episode explores the drama and tension of Andy Murray's 2013 Wimbledon victory. It feature a fantastic portrait of Andy by Bam. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://davidlinebarger.com/2021/06/18/andy-murray-the-pressure-of-wimbledon/

A book review of Bobby Blair's story about coming out as a gay male tennis players some thirty years later. Question: How can we build a more supportive community for gay male athletes?  This episode is also available as a blog post: https://davidlinebarger.com/2021/04/16/hiding-inside-the-baseline-the-story-of-bobby-blair/

This week's episode introduces and discusses an exciting new painting of Serena Williams by Lady Pink, the first Lady of Graffiti. It also describes what Serena Williams meant to my two young daughters and me when we watched her play about 15 years ago when they were still young. To check out Lady Pink's new painting of Serena, you can visit the blog post: https://davidlinebarger.com/2021/06/11/lady-pink-paints-serena-williams/ Lady Pink's bio and links to her instagram and website pages are there as well. 

This episode explores two of the greatest (and most artistic) backhands in the history of tennis: Justine Henin's One Handed backhand and Ken Rosewall's Slice Backhand. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://davidlinebarger.com/2020/09/25/justine-henins-backhand-music-of-the-spheres/