Serena Williams glides across the ice rink. Ana Ivanovic leaps to the net in beach volleyball.
Roger Federer poses as a fencer. Rafael Nadal fulfils his boyhood dream as a soccer player.
To celebrate 20 years at the modern Olympics, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) persuaded 40 of the world’s top players to dress up as athletes from other sports.
The result, launched at Wimbledon this week, made for some intriguing choices in a glossy coffee table book “Journey to Beijing: Tennis Celebrates the Olympics.”
As befits a truly international sport, the photo shoots spanned the globe.
Chile’s Olympic champions Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzales became marathon runners on the streets of Santiago. Maria Sharapova tried rhythmic gymnastics in Los Angeles while Serena Williams went ice skating at her local rink in Palm
Beach, Florida.
Sharapova recalled dressing up as a child in the team’s white beret and marching beside the television as the Russian team appeared at the opening ceremony.
Nadal, glued to the television as a six-year-old, will never forget Fremin Cacho winning the 1500 metres in Barcelona. “The last few metres were unbelievable,” he recalled.
While playing at The Masters in Shanghai, Nadal snatched a few quick minutes to pose as a footballer playing in the streets down a back alley.
He was the first player to commit to the book and others swiftly followed.
ITF spokesman Nick Imison told Reuters at the launch “Every one of the men players wanted to be a footballer.”
“For the modern-day player, the Olympics is a real career goal,” Imison said of the top-ranked players who now need much less persuading to appear at the Games.
The millionaire players, who jet round the world leading a cocooned lifestyle from one five-star hotel to another, rave in the book about the joys of mingling with other athletes in the Olympic village.
But Serena Williams did admit that she and her sister Venus could not stay in the Sydney Olympics village too long in 2000 because “It was crazy … Everyone came over and overcrowded us. There’s a lot of excitement.”
Federer can perhaps lay claim to the fondest of Olympic memories — he met his long-time girlfriend and manager Mirka Vavrinec at the Sydney Olympics.
Little wonder that the Swiss champion, who happily signed autographs for three hours at the opening ceremony, said of the Games “I loved every minute of it.”