新球拍 - 羅傑·費德勒 Federer

第一次po文，看到一篇專欄在講費爸的近況，跟大家分享。
如果有違版規請版主告知。

因為還沒看到有類似的文章翻譯，所以我就自己簡略地翻譯，
有不順的地方請各位指教。＝）

Sometime last month, on a losing streak and looking for answers, Roger Federer
decided that what he needed was a new tennis racquet. Having won sixteen Grand
Slam tennis tournaments in his twenties, more than anyone in history, Federer
in his thirties had come up with just a single title, at last year’s
Wimbledon. Stiffer competition presented a problem, but time had also taken its
toll—at thirty-two, Federer qualifies as young in practically every profession
except the one he chose—and balls that he once slapped back with ease were now
skipping out of reach. The new racquet, a Wilson prototype painted all black,
was bigger, offering an increased margin of error. In tennis circles, the
switch seemed to mark an epochal shift: Roger Federer, the greatest tennis
player of all time, had just admitted that he needed help.
過去一個月中，在一串接連的不順以及尋找答案之後，Roger Federer決定他所需要的是
一個新球拍。在二十幾歲的時候贏過十六座大滿貫，比有史以來任何人都還要多，在三十
幾歲只贏得了一座大滿貫，就在去年的溫布頓。越發激烈困難的比賽是原因之一，但是歲
月也是有代價的。在三十二歲這個年紀，在幾乎所有行業中，Federer都算得上是年輕人，
除了在他自己選擇的這個職業。那些他曾經輕易拍回去的球，現在都跳出他所及的之處。
新的球拍比較大，Wilson漆成全黑的雛形拍，提供更大的甜區。在網球界，這種轉換仿佛
標示著世代性的交替：Roger Federer，有史以來最偉大的選手，承認了他需要援助。


“I feel young,” Federer said last week, as he headed into his fourteenth U.S.
Open, a tournament that he won five consecutive times, between 2004 and 2008,
but hasn’t since. He was at the Gansevoort Park Hotel, sitting on a couch in
an eleventh-floor suite outfitted with a Foosball table, which he hadn’t used.
“I’m not very good,” he said. “It’s more the French guys that are good at
that.” He’d squeezed in two hours of practice in Arthur Ashe Stadium that
morning, before changing into a black suit with peak lapels, and a blue checked
shirt unbuttoned to his chest. His hair had recently been trimmed; gone is the
youthful ponytail. (For a sobering reminder of the Internet’s permanence,
Google “young Roger Federer.”) “By now, I pick my own clothes,” he said,
claiming one benefit of getting older. “I had many things wrong in the
beginning.”
『我覺得年輕。』Federer上禮拜說，當時他正前往參加他第十四個美國網球公開賽，他在
這個公開賽連續贏得五個冠軍，從2004年到2008年，但從此再也沒有了。當時他坐在
Gansevoort Park hotel 十一樓套房的沙發上，房裡附有足球桌（Foosball??)，但他沒使
用它。『我並不是非常在行。』他說，『這比較是法國人在行的東西。』那個早上他擠出
兩小時的時間在Arthur Ashe球場練球，之後他換上一套黑色尖領西裝，藍色方格花樣的
襯衫，扣子扣到胸前。他的頭髮最近修剪了，年輕時的馬尾已不復見。『現在，我自己選
擇自己的服裝。』他說，並稱這是歲月過去的好處。『我在一開始做了一些錯誤的事。』


That was true off the court, but on it Federer’s game was so polished that
his acolytes often described him as an artist; now they feared this bigger,
less precise racquet as an aesthetic threat. (Could Picasso still paint with
a wider brush? Could Baryshnikov dance in hiking boots?) Federer acknowledged
that his game is visually appealing—he prefers “showman” to “artist”
—but insisted that this is incidental. “I don’t purposely try to make it
look graceful or classy,” he said. “But because I have that—can you say
vintage style? Old-school tennis, with the one-handed backhand. I like to use
my slice. The way I move, people really like it. I’m happy that it pleases
the people’s eye—let’s put it that way.”
他說的在球場外或許是真的，但是在他的比賽上，他總是如此優雅讓他的擁護者常常形容
他是一個藝術家。現在他們擔心這個比較大的球拍是美學的威脅。（難道畢卡索可以用
更寬的畫筆畫畫嗎？難道Baryshnikov可以穿著登山鞋跳舞？）Federer承認他的比賽視覺
上很吸引人，他自己喜歡表演者這個名稱更甚於藝術家，但他仍堅持這只是巧合。『我沒
有故意讓動作變得優雅古典。』他說，『但是或許我是...你可以說復古風格？較古老的
網球，單手反拍。我喜歡使用切球。我移動的方式人們喜歡。我很開心我的風格吸引人們
的目光，就這樣說吧！』


With the Open still a week away, and his four-year-old twin daughters with a
babysitter, Federer had decided to allow himself a night out. “I can do
probably two glasses of champagne,” he said, before heading to a party at
Chelsea Piers, thrown by Moët & Chandon, one of several top-shelf brands
—Mercedes, Lindt chocolate—that have made him among the world’s
best-compensated pitchmen. He found Mirka, his wife, waiting on the curb. She
brushed off his shoulders and tugged his collar in preparation for the red
carpet. “I should have brought sunglasses,” he said, as he faced a gantlet
of photographers.
距離公開賽還有一個禮拜，他的兩個四歲的雙胞胎女兒交給了保姆，Federer決定讓他自
己出去一晚。『我說不定可以來兩杯香檳。』他在前往一個舉辦在Chelsea Piers的派對
時說道。由許多高級品牌舉辦：賓士、Lindt巧克力，派對讓他成為最佳報酬的宣傳者。
他找到了他老婆，Mirka在人行道旁等待。她刷一刷他的肩膀，然後拉了幾次他的領子，
為了紅毯準備。『我應該帶太陽眼鏡的。』他在面對一群攝影師時說道。


Inside, Federer settled into a corner sofa next to Anna Wintour, his friend
and style adviser, who wore a pink, tea-length dress. Marion Bartoli, this
year’s Wimbledon champion, who wore a white dress, was dancing giddily to a
remixed Red Hot Chili Peppers song. “He has to save himself for the Open,”
Bartoli said, explaining why Federer wasn’t dancing along with her. Bartoli
no longer had to save herself for anything: four years Federer’s junior, she
had retired a week earlier. “When he feels it,” she said, upon being asked
what advice she might give Federer on when to hang it up. She then took a sip
of champagne and went back to dancing.
裡面，Federer 在一個角落的沙發處安頓，坐在他朋友同時也是造型師Anna Wintour旁
邊，她穿粉紅色。今年的溫布頓女單冠軍Marion Bartoli穿著白色洋裝，眼花繚亂地跳
著舞伴隨著混音Red Hot Chili Pepper的歌。『他得保留自己到公開賽。』Bartoli說道
，解釋著為什麼Federer不跟她一起跳舞。Bartoli已經不再需要保留自己什麼，她比
Federer年輕四歲，已經在一個禮拜前退休了。『當他感覺到的時候。』Bartoli當被問到
會給Federer什麼樣的退休時刻建議的時候回答道。然後她啜了一口香檳，回去跳舞。


So how’s that new racquet working out? Well, after just five matches, Federer
gave it up and went back to his old one. No luck with that, either: he played
Rafael Nadal at a tournament in Cincinnati, and lost for the third straight
time. Federer enters the Open ranked No. 7 in the world, his lowest position
since he was twenty-one years old. New racquets and new strings, he said, had
conspired to rob him of his competitive advantage. “I think I have to play
differently today because of the game itself, not because of my age,” he had
said, at the Gansevoort. “I feel like I’m moving like a youngster.
Mentally, I’m young.” And retirement? He’s not yet feeling it. “After all
the hard work, after ten years, to just say, ‘All right, see ya later’? ”
he said. “That’s not gonna work for me.” ♦
所以，到底新球拍使用得怎麼樣了？嗯，經過僅僅五場比賽，Federer放棄了並回去找舊
的那個。一樣沒有比較幸運：他在Cincinnati對決Nadal經過三盤落敗。Federer以第七
種子的身份參加公開賽，從他二十一歲以來最低的排名。新球拍跟新線，他說並沒有導致
他被奪走了競爭優勢。『我覺得現今我需要用不同方式比賽，是因為比賽本身，而不是因
為我的年紀。』他在旅館曾說道。『我覺得我仍位移得像年輕人。心理上，我年輕。』
那麼退休呢？他還沒感覺到。『經過一切的辛苦努力、經過了十年，然後直接說「好的，
再見囉！」？這在我身上不管用。』他說道。

BY REEVES WIEDEMAN
專欄出處：The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2013/09/02/130902ta_talk_wiedeman

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如果你們是有悲有喜有血有肉的生命
我們難道就不是
有歌有淚有渴望也有夢想的靈魂

當你獨自前來　我們也許可以成為一生的摯友
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