"The Most Beautiful Court in the World: No. 2 at Midtown Every Sunday Since The Dawn of Time" is an article published in the March 1982 issue of World Tennis.
Summary[]
Every Sunday morning Vonnegut plays at Court No. 2 of the Midtown Tennis Club, a relative newcomer among a group of six other people who've played at the court for several years. There's no backcourt, but everyone who plays there for any length of time adjusts to it. Some, like 73 year old group member James Flexner, are so used to it, they won't play on another court. They are "a fairly tight group", and in many ways they are each other's primary friends. When the painter and illustrator Joe Hirsch, who was a group member, died, the others put a band of black tape around their racket handles. At his funeral, Vonnegut mentioned how strange it was to know a great man primarily as a "third-rate tennis player". Vonnegut's wife, who taught him tennis, prefers to play outdoors, which he can't get a handle on, confused by wind and sun. But he always feels "high as kite" when he comes back from Court No. 2, calling tennis "tremendously fun" and the dimensions of the court "magical".[1]
- ↑ "The Most Beautiful Court in the World", World Tennis, March 1982, pg. 30.