If you've been reading zootennis for any length of time, you know I'm a huge fan of Joel Drucker, both as a writer and a person. We first connected over three years ago after I read his book Jimmy Connors Saved My Life.
In addition to working for the Tennis Channel, Drucker writes for espn.com and TennisOne, so his sometimes contrarian but always thoughtful writing is available regularly online. He now has a new online column for the Tennis Channel called Tenniscope, and the current installment is about Seth Grinberg, a top Southern Californian junior back when Drucker was also playing sectional tennis. Grinberg died recently, and this memoir/eulogy captures (as does Drucker's book), the competitive milieu of SoCal junior tennis. Although this was many years ago, much of the human dynamics remain the same, and I was particularly struck by Drucker's plea for more humane interaction between the elite and the average player.
Easter Sunday seems like an appropriate time to reflect, as Drucker does, on what it means to be in the tennis community. He closes, not very optimistically, with this:
In addition to working for the Tennis Channel, Drucker writes for espn.com and TennisOne, so his sometimes contrarian but always thoughtful writing is available regularly online. He now has a new online column for the Tennis Channel called Tenniscope, and the current installment is about Seth Grinberg, a top Southern Californian junior back when Drucker was also playing sectional tennis. Grinberg died recently, and this memoir/eulogy captures (as does Drucker's book), the competitive milieu of SoCal junior tennis. Although this was many years ago, much of the human dynamics remain the same, and I was particularly struck by Drucker's plea for more humane interaction between the elite and the average player.
Easter Sunday seems like an appropriate time to reflect, as Drucker does, on what it means to be in the tennis community. He closes, not very optimistically, with this:
Maybe when I think of what tennis gave and took from Seth it would be better if the lesser and the better players could put the tennis in perspective and simply value one another's company as adolescents enjoying a healthy activity with tons of physical and mental benefits.
Maybe.
Ten years ago, pondering the idea of writing a story where I'd hunt down Seth, I called his mother. Naturally we turned to tennis, and I told her how envious I was of Seth's skill and the way he and that special troupe of ranked players could play so well. "I always thought it was nice that he had made so many friends through tennis," said Mrs. Grinspan. "But do you know what he said to me? He said, "˜Mom, those guys aren't my friends at all. They'd walk right over me if I couldn't beat them.'"
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