PTFO - Reliving a Masterpiece: David Foster Wallace, Michael Joyce, and the Psychology of Tennis

Le Batard & Friends Network

Dan Le Batard

Sports

4.9 • 8.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2024

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thirty years ago, David Foster Wallace reported “The String Theory,” an essay about a pro tennis player named Michael Joyce. No, Joyce wasn’t as good as his fellow Americans (Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang). But what Joyce taught Wallace — the best writer of his generation, and a former junior player himself — turned into the greatest tennis essay of all time. Today, in the middle of the U.S. Open, Pablo sits down with Michael Joyce — who’s since become a coach to players like Maria Sharapova — and they dissect the genius and the eccentricities of David Foster Wallace, who died in 2008. And we learn about the psychologies of two grotesque glories: writing and tennis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Pablo Torrey finds out. I am Pablo Torrey and today we're going to find out what this sound is.
0:06.0	Wimbledon is where I read it and I remember reading and I was like, what the fuck is this?
0:11.0	Right after this ad.
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1:24.0	Michael Joyce, do you know why I summoned you into this room today?
1:35.0	A little bit, David Falster Wallace.
1:37.0	Yeah, yeah, I've never done an episode like this where I'm like, let me talk to the subject of one of the greatest essays that has ever been written and I was just
1:46.8	curious at the start like how often does this happen where someone wants to talk to you about
1:51.5	David Foster Wallace.
1:53.2	You'd be surprised a lot.
1:55.0	Okay, so that actually does make sense to me.
	...

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