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The game of tennis has been around since the time of European monasteries (Where monks played a form of it with a rope tied across a courtyard). Throughout the years, it has evolved into a game of sharp strategies and powerful hits. Tennis is a sport that is as international as it comes, with star athletes hailing from any country in the world. The four major tennis competitions are the Opens (US, French, Australian, and Wimbledon). Here is where tennis athletes prove themselves; winning an Open is equivalent to winning the Super Bowl in tennis lingo. This past January held the Australian Open, a hard court tournament. The Finals match was epic beyond belief, with a near 6 hour match between the number 1 and 2 in the world…. Novak Djokivic and Rafael Nadal. So, naturally with the match being one of the most watched events of the month, blogs popped up all over the Internet about it. One of these was from the New York Times by Craig O’Shannessy. He responded to tennis fanatics desire to know every gritty detail of the match, every possible strategy in Djokovic’s game to beat the animal Nadal. His blog also offered some strategy advice to Nadal; some aspects maybe that he could change to beat the new animal in the zoo. New York Times Blogger Craig O’Shannessy breaks down the monumental match in an effective blog; informing tennis fans of the match using diction, authority in use of tennis terms, and appealing to logic with use of statistical evidence from the match.
Diction is important in any piece of rhetoric; and this being a sports piece; of course, the diction must reflect athleticism, speed, and triumph. O’Shannessy uses words like: “Heroic victory”, “engine room for victory”, and “aggressor” to illustrate the tennis match between Djokovic and Nadal. These words and phrases (as well as many others) are positioned throughout the blog to show the hard work and sweat put into this match. This match was one between the two top male tennis players in the world. Both have very different strategies; with everyone knowing that it would be a hard match to win for both. Readers needed to know these strategies in detail. O’Shannessy wrote how the strategies included Nadal’s typical plan to attack the net with powerful volleys and overheads. Reader’s found out that his typical attack was thwarted by Djokovics’s aggressive serve return. This is one of his major weapons, and it forced Nadal to stay behind the baseline running to lob balls back over the net. Djokovic got Nadal moving, forcing him to play every ball and never end the point. Djokovic ended points with big shots that shocked Nadal. “Aggression”, “dominating”, and “rewards” show tennis followers that the match was indeed one that stood up to everyone’s expectations. Part of the purpose of the blog was to offer advice to Nadal on how to overcome Djokovic in future match-ups. O’Shannessy needed to show this in his blog through his diction. With phrases like “Answers are simple”, “involve courage”, and “out of his comfort zone”, he offers advice to Nadal that he needs to get out of his comfort zone and attack. He needs to be the aggressor to be rewarded in the game of tennis. This effective aspect of rhetoric helps fans realize the effort invested into this match, all for the win that brings the glory.
Along with great diction in the blog comes an authority that only one who really knows tennis can portray. This authority is seen in the way O’Shannessy uses real tennis terms. “Return”, “ground stokes”, and “serve motion” were all aspects of the game that O’Shannessy analyzed for fans. Tennis fans reading this blog loved this! As I was reading this for example, I really got into it. I knew that O’Shannessy knew his tennis stuff because he used phrases that I have used ever since I started playing tennis like “baseline rallies”, and “attacking the net”. Tennis players know all these strategies and saw them in the match between Djokovic and Nadal. So, we had to see them be analyzed in the blog. And O’Shannessy delivered, showing us his tennis knowledge. He goes into great detail of Djokovic’s wicked return. He refers to it as his “first strike weapon”, and attributed Djokovic’s win to this aspect of his game. He says that Nadal needs to adapt to this style of play and work at overcoming it if he is ever going to win against Djokovic. This is another aspect of the blog that readers loved, the advice that was offered to Nadal on what to do against Djokovic next time. Tennis fans all over the world know that this will not be their last meeting. With O’Shannessy’s advice, he just builds the anticipation for the next match. Tennis fans will be waiting.
O’Shannessy also appeals to logic by providing statistical evidence to readers. This numerical evidence of the match is used throughout the blog: counts of body serves compared to down the middle serves, percentages of serves in, numbers of forehands compared to backhands, the list goes on. With 36 groundstroke winners from Djokovic, 5 return winners, and 34% of hits from inside the base line, this evidence proves to readers that Djokovic was the clear winner. This statistical evidence presented by O’Shannessy to blog-reading, tennis-playing fanatics appeal to the logic of the match. Fans want to see the stats, want to know that the numbers actually show the winner. Obviously, Djokovic should have won because his stats were that much better. He came out on top of the match; resulting in the win and the title of the Australian Open.
Blog writer Craig O’Shannessy wrote about the Australian Open finals match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, using diction, authority, and logical appeals to convey to his readers the drama of the match and to offer Nadal some pointers. This blog was effective in its purpose to inform readers of the match and weaknesses and strengths in the two player’s tennis games. Tennis is a game of skill and precision, speed and power. This blog effectively portrays that, and invites readers to stay updated on more of the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry!
