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In a world of fakery, shortcuts and phony CVs, the devotion of the athlete is uplifting.
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Spain's Carlos Alcaraz falling on the court as he hits a return against Serbia's Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.
PHOTO: AFP
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It’s Tuesday night, Jan 21, in Melbourne and Spidercam, a cable-suspended camera, peers at Carlos Alcaraz from close up like a giant, inquisitive eye. Inside him emotion churns, outside he wears a tight, concentrated mask. The world beyond this court is replete with fakery and flash, but Alcaraz can’t pretend his way out of this situation. He is losing at the Australian Open,
He shakes his rival’s hand later and sits on a cycle in the gym and lets disappointment percolate through him. It’s close to 2am and in tennis the rules demand he must meet the media. He can flout them and be fined but even in his misery he arrives. He was outplayed, he erred, it’s there on videotape, in the numbers, and he faces up to it. In tennis, there is no hiding in defeat.
