網(wǎng)球網(wǎng)羅你的心

Turn the TV on to one of the cable sports channels anytime and there's a pretty good chance you'll see two or four powerfully built young people grunting and yelling as they smash a rubber ball across a net. Such is the modern style of tennis, once the genteel afternoon pastime of the idle rich.
Lawn tennis, to give the sport its full title, developed from real tennis, an indoor game that dates back to twelfth or thirteenth-century France, when balls were hit with the palm of the hand. Rackets weren't developed until the sixteenth century, when the game became popular among aristocrats and was played in a walled court.

The game's French origins also account for some of its unique terminology. "Love," for instance, representing a zero score, is thought to have derived from l'oeuf, which is French for "egg," while "deuce," similar to the French word for "two," refers to the situation in which two consecutive points are required to win a game.

Nowadays, tennis has evolved into a highly charged, tense encounter between dedicated professionals who more than likely acquired their hunger for success at a very tender age. The degree of commitment required to reach the heights is matched only by the tremendous financial rewards to those who make it into the top rankings.

Asked to name the top male player of recent years, most tennis fans would agree there is only one candidate. With the number of Grand Slam titles to his name at twelve and counting, Pete Sampras has more or less dominated the sport for the better part of a decade.

The son of Greek immigrants, Pete Sampras's first contact with tennis was hitting balls against the basement wall of his family home in Washington, D.C. After the family moved to sunny California when Sampras was seven, it became apparent that he was a tennis prodigy. His professional career began in 1988 when he was just sixteen, and within two years he had reached the top ten rankings and become the youngest winner of the U.S. Open ever.

The 1993 to '94 season was when Sampras acquired the nickname "Pistol Pete" after slamming down a thousand aces on his way to three Grand Slam titles in a row. Since then, his only setbacks have been the death of his coach and mentor Tim Gullikson and his continuing inability to come to grips with playing on clay. The French Open championship on the clay courts of Roland Garros is still the only Grand Slam title to have stayed beyond his grasp.

Whether or not Pistol Pete manages to break the clay court jinx in the twilight years of his playing career, one thing is certain: When he does finally decide to call it a day, his place among the great names of tennis is guaranteed.

打開電視，轉(zhuǎn)到某個體育頻道，你很有可能看到兩個或兩對體格健壯的年輕人，在網(wǎng)兩側(cè)相互回擊著一個橡皮球，一邊打口中一邊念念有詞，不停地喊叫。這就是現(xiàn)代網(wǎng)球。在過去，它可是富貴人家用來消磨午后悠閑時光的活動。

這項全名為草地網(wǎng)球的運動，源自十二、十三世紀法國的“宮廷網(wǎng)球”。當時還是室內(nèi)游戲，玩者徒手以掌心擊球。直到十六世紀球拍才問世，而此時網(wǎng)球已在貴族間蔚為風行，比賽場地的四周也隔起墻來。

網(wǎng)球的法國血統(tǒng)也可以解釋現(xiàn)今一些專用術(shù)語的由來。例如“Love”（零分）一般以為源于法文的“l(fā)’oeuf”，意即“蛋”；“deuce”（丟士），表示比賽中一方需要連贏兩點才能拿下該局的情況，與法文deuce的原意“二”相近。

時至今日，網(wǎng)球已儼然成為一種斗志高昂、對峙緊張的職業(yè)運動。參賽者雖然年紀尚未稚嫩，但是都能夠表現(xiàn)出強烈的獲勝心。他們必須爭取世界頂尖排名、贏取巨額獎金，才能在職業(yè)網(wǎng)球事業(yè)上勇攀頂峰。

誰穩(wěn)坐近年來男子網(wǎng)球第一把交椅？相信在多數(shù)球迷心底，候選人只有一個：他是十二次大滿貫賽的冠軍得主，記錄還在持續(xù)累積，他幾乎等于近十年來網(wǎng)球運動的代名詞：彼得．桑普拉斯。

桑普拉斯，這位希臘移民后裔，生平初次接觸網(wǎng)球是在他位于華盛頓特區(qū)老家的地下室里，對著墻壁擊球。七歲時，舉家遷徙至陽光普照的加州，他絕倫的網(wǎng)球天賦瞬間展露無遺。一九八八年，他以十六歲的年齡進軍職業(yè)賽，兩年不到，他已晉身世界排名前十位，并成為歷史上最年輕的美國公開賽冠軍。

九三至九四年，桑普拉斯連續(xù)奪下三項大滿貫賽冠軍，并在此期間發(fā)了超過千個 ‘愛司球’（發(fā)球得分）。如此優(yōu)異的表現(xiàn)，為他贏得‘快槍球王’的雅號。自此，他幾乎所向披靡，只有在他的教練兼顧問──古力克森先生逝世時，才陷入過低潮；除此之外，他最大的遺憾，就是一直未能在紅土球場稱霸。在羅蘭加洛紅土球場舉辦的法國公開賽，迄今仍是他滿桌大滿貫賽冠軍杯中唯一的遺憾。

無論‘快槍球王’是否能在他日薄西山的職業(yè)網(wǎng)球生涯的末年破除這項‘紅土魔咒’，至少有一個事實絕對不容磨滅：在他終于決定褪下戰(zhàn)袍引退的那一刻，他已在網(wǎng)球殿堂立下了難以撼搖的地位。