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Monday, January 30, 2006

Tennis Anyone?!?

Dear Tim,

Why do they call it a diamond tennis bracelet? What does it have to do with tennis?

-Rika

Dear Rika,

This is a very good question, and I've always wondered about it myself. Having played tennis most of my life, I know that wearing something on your wrist can be an encumbrance while playing. I once broke the face of my watch on my follow through. Though, to be honest, most good tennis players don't usually end up hitting their wrist with their racket, but the question remains!

First off, for those without a penchant for "bling", the term tennis bracelet is used to describe an in-line diamond bracelet. It was originally called an "in-line diamond bracelet" but as that term is just plain boring, the stage was set for something exciting to happen.

And something exciting happened indeed. In 1987, the ever elegant, always graceful, former #1 World women's tennis player, winner of whopping 18 Grand Slam singles titles, and sometimes grunter (not to mention the love of my life at the time), Chris Everet was sporting (pun intended) said bracelet during one of her U.S. Open matches. During an especially powerful return, the bracelet - in what some describe as a "slow-motion-event" (or SME) - was flung from her wrist to land carelessly on the hard court.

Play was stopped to allow her to find her bracelet, and while awaiting play to resume, the television announcers jokingly referred to it as her "tennis bracelet".

Due to Chris being such a popular player, the name stuck, and demand skyrocketed for the bracelet.

In all her glory...

***Did you know***
Tennis Rocks! And my all time favorite player was Jimmy Connors, mainly because of his arm spin and pump that he would do after an especially great winning shot! He also played with a wooden and metal racket long after most players had moved to the newer, graphite models.