Philippine Butterfly

The world warms up this time of year, and the shifting temperatures move from one season into another, signifying the beginning of another tennis season. As Wimbledon tennis starts to enter into the news again, with renewed interest in what the favorite players are doing this year, the history of the game becomes a subject of conversation again in pubs and cafes. People start to take interest in the newcomers, wondering what new stars might come out to shine, and also remembering the old favorites.

For tennis, like in any sport, it can be a difficult life to be an athlete. The winners enter into a kind of cult of personality, and become instant celebrities. There is also a great deal of pressure with this role, because it’s something that happens to athletes when they are young, and that can make the later years more difficult, when the attention wanes and the spotlight goes to someone else. For some tennis pros, like Yannick Noah , reinvention of the self is what has to come next, because life is short, and there are always new possibilities and talents to mine.

The player who was featured as the central figure in so many French Open highlights in the early 80s has refused to leave the public spotlight. Even with the splendid career that he’s had on the court, it’s tough to call whether that center stage has been eclipsed by his present public persona. Not every athlete has the opportunity to enjoy a second career as a major figure in pop and reggae , but then again, not everyone has so many talents running in so many directions at once.

His presence on stage is as compelling as it was on the courts, and his talent for music has obviously been in him even when he was playing on grass and concrete. This is also accompanied by an enormously generous spirit, being an active presence in global charity work. This is a true celebrity, one who has an amazing ability to persist in many different fields, and the persistence has paid off, every single time. The dreadlocks that caught the attention of tennis fans now swing to music audiences, and that brings up some questions, wondering what he might decide to be in his next incarnation of self.

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