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Now that Wimbledon<\/a> is in full flow, it is time to celebrate those occasions when tennis and classical music have combined in glorious harmony. Here are ten such examples\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> The most famous piece of classical music based on the game of tennis, Debussy\u2019<\/a><\/strong>s 1912 ballet (or \u2018po\u00e8me dans\u00e9\u2019, to be precise) Jeux<\/em><\/a><\/strong> depicts a young man and two female friends looking for a missing ball on a warm summer\u2019s night. Admittedly, there\u2019s not much serve and volley going on here; instead, the three characters frolic around merrily before starting to get a little cosy with each other. Love all, as they say\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Never one to mince his words, Satie<\/a><\/strong> smashed a couple of hard-hit volleys in the direction of Jeux<\/em>, pointing out how little it seemed to have to do with the game itself. The following year, he had a shot of his own at the subject when he included \u2018Le Tennis\u2019 as the last of the 21 movements of his Sports et divertissements<\/em> for solo piano.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Britten<\/a> <\/strong>was both a very talented sportsman and the possessor of a ferocious will to win, not least when playing tennis against his partner, the tenor Peter Pears. \u2018Ben was intensely, remorselessly competitive in an almost sadistic way,\u2019 remembers author Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy about the British composer. \u2018When you were beaten by him at squash or tennis\u2026 you literally felt that he\u2019d been \u201cbeating\u201d you.\u2019<\/p>\n When Arnold Schoenberg<\/a><\/strong> arrived in Los Angeles in the mid-1930s, fellow composer George Gershwin<\/a><\/strong> made him welcome by inviting him over for a game of tennis. It proved such a success that further games followed on a regular basis and, despite a 24-year difference in age, the two proved a good match. Apparently, Gershwin\u2019s style was free and easy, while Schoenberg played a more precise, safety-first game \u2013 rumours that the latter had 12 different shots which he played in rotation before repeating one are untrue.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In 1916, Prokofiev<\/a><\/strong> revealed that his love of tennis had got in the way of his day job. \u2018The famous international tennis star Prokofiev has arrived in Kuokkala [in Finland] and has taken part in a huge tennis competition,\u2019 wrote the composer in a letter. \u2018The Gambler<\/em> [his opera] suffered most of all.\u2019<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Swedish composer Peterson-Berger was such a fan of tennis that, in his later years, he had a court built at his house on the island of Fr\u00f6s\u00f6n. Long before that, however, he had ardently championed the game in Sweden and depicted its charms in \u2018Lawn Tennis\u2019, the third movement of his Fr\u00f6s\u00f6blomster<\/em> (\u2018Fr\u00f6s\u00f6n Flowers\u2019) for solo piano in 1896.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Vaughan Williams<\/a><\/strong> also had a tennis court at his house, in Dorking, Surrey. How much he himself played is not clear \u2013 given his physique, probably not a lot \u2013 though we do have letters from his wife, Adeline, inviting fellow composer Gerald Finzi over for a game of \u2018very mild\u2019 tennis on a couple of occasions in the early 1930s. History does not reveal if Finzi was any good, either.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The famous Tudor king, often credited as the composer of Greensleeves<\/em>, was mad keen on tennis \u2013 though of the \u2018real\u2019 rather than the \u2018lawn\u2019 variety. Two of his wives revealed that he would head off in a sulk when games didn\u2019t go his way, while another two complained that he had a very choppy style of play. Possibly.<\/p>\n Three of the finest violinists of recent years have also enjoyed nothing more than to head to the court for a little exercise. The great Isaac Stern (1920-2001) played the game throughout his career, constantly dismissing those who warned him about injury with the riposte that life is for living. Joshua Bell<\/a><\/strong> (b. 1967) was a very talented tennis player as a boy, regularly winning tournaments in between practising his scales, while Pinchas Zukerman (b. 1948) even at one point dabbled with the idea of dropping the violin to take up a professional career with the racquet instead.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Now that we have served nine examples of tennis-loving musicians, what about life on the other side of the net \u2013 namely classical music-loving tennis players? The three greatest players of the current era \u2013 and arguably of all time \u2013 all have musical links and loves. The grandson of a professional conductor, Rafael Nadal told GQ Magazine<\/em> last year that his musical loves included both opera and orchestral music, and Novak Djokovic has also revealed a fondness for the opera, adding that only lack of time prevents him going more often. Roger Federer, meanwhile, has been seen attending orchestral concerts and in 2012 took time out to make a video congratulating the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on its 80th birthday. His own violin playing, however, could still do with a little practice\u2026<\/p>\n1. Claude Debussy<\/h2>\n
2. Erik Satie<\/h2>\n
3. Benjamin Britten<\/h2>\n
4. Arnold Schoenberg and George Gershwin<\/h2>\n
5. Sergei Prokofiev<\/h2>\n
6. Wilhelm Peterson-Berger<\/h2>\n
7. Ralph Vaughan Williams<\/h2>\n
8. Henry VIII<\/h2>\n
9. Isaac Stern, Joshua Bell and Pinchas Zukerman<\/h2>\n
10. Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic<\/h2>\n