In August 2006, the New York Times published an essay by writer David Foster Wallace titled Roger Federer as Religious Experience. If you’ve never read it, you should. Just like the subject of the piece, the words move on the page like phosphenes, those strange sensations of light experienced when there is no light to cause them.
The essay began “Almost anyone who loves tennis and follows the men’s tour on television has, over the last few years, had what might be termed Federer Moments. These are times, as you watch the young Swiss play, when the jaw drops and eyes protrude and sounds are made that bring spouses in from other rooms to see if you’re O.K.”
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