TOP OF THEIR GAME Supermodel and philanthropist Natalia Vodianova wins the toss with one of the sport’s greatest ever players, Rafael Nadal, in aid of the Naked Heart Foundation. Vodianova wears jacket by Céline; top by Dolce & Gabbana; pants by Givenchy, all Natalia’s own. Nadal wears his own kit; watch by Richard Mille, £549,000 Anyone For Tennis? It is not every day that the world’s No. 1 offers to show off his skills in an exclusive tennis lesson, but supermodel and philanthropist Natalia Vodianova is a hard woman to turn down – and so, at her most recent fundraiser, it was the chance to knock up with Rafael Nadal that proved the smash hit. PORTER’s Susie Rushton asks why, when it comes to tennis, it really is a case of love all Photography by Phil Poynter

SHOP PORTER WITH THE NET-A-PORTER APP page 169 t’s always been there, that sound of the ultimate individual sport, one in which Sharapova or Caroline Wozniacki, swishy “Miss Azarenka” or “Miss Williams”, while a summer afternoon, drifting from the nationality of the player is rarely in their little skorts, minidresses and the men are called by their surnames. Winner a television set: the rubbery pop a consideration, for the spectator is more peaked caps. Male players tend toward It is only too obvious that top-level tennis of a tennis ball being thwacked likely to choose a personal favorite for the gentlemanly, yet are also impressively is not particularly inclusive. A few rungs takes all between players as they flick and his style, her smile, his sheer power, her constructed, tall and suntanned from below that, the atmosphere of club tennis lob and volley their way through graciousness in victory. I’ll even support a year-round practice; it doesn’t hurt that – all-white kits on court, prohibitive Ia Grand Slam tournament. Providing player for having the best name: Come on, they occasionally have to take their tops membership fees, the list of regulations A money-can’t-buy the bass is the distinctive murmur of Mardy Fish! off to change shirts halfway through etched on a wooden board in the tennis lesson was the the tennis crowd, respectfully clapping, There is no better escape from ordinary a match. locker room – is unapologetically, stiffly prize everyone wanted or oohing, their appreciation rising and life than two or three hours spent Who really knows whether tennis Establishment. Woody Allen hardly need rippling with each jolly-good point won. On watching a tennis match. Now more so players are naturally magnanimous have bothered to satirize it at all in at Natalia Vodianova’s percussion are the grunts and screeches than ever. It is often said that we are and well-mannered and say things like, Annie Hall and Match Point. Love Ball for her Naked of exertion, almost orgasmic, echoing living in a golden age of the sport, and “He just played better on the day, he But don’t let that put you off. Neither Heart Foundation. around the court. To hear those sounds this is an era during which the public deserved to win,” without any artifice – or from losing yourself in the hypnotic And it had the most together, for me, is to feel uplifted and can follow the careers of a handful of whether they’re coached by PR advisors pleasures of an afternoon watching more at ease, knowing that these are the equally-matched players over several to be that way? It doesn’t matter. Tennis a Grand Slam, nor from striding onto a unlikely of bidders… sunlit days of the European clay season years. Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Nadal, presents a better version of ourselves, local court this summer, in optimistic at Roland Garros in Paris or of grass at Djokovic, Maria Sharapova, Venus and an exemplar of good behavior, and of imitation of your tennis heroines. here can be few more desirable fantasy tennis partners than Rafael Wimbledon in London, or the last warm Serena Williams – their incredible, record- style, too. If all sport is a version of war, There’s nothing so satisfying as hitting Nadal. Not only is the world No. 1 one of the most charming players weeks of August on Flushing Meadows’ breaking winning streaks, from teenagers then tennis is the most civilized of duels. a clean forehand, nice and low, and on the international circuit, but the Spaniard’s game, a swashbuckling hard courts in New York. T power play of passion and flair, is one of the most thrilling to watch. And yet, even on the Left: Maria Sharapova So when Natalia Vodianova, Russian supermodel and philanthropist, biggest tennis occasions, at the 2013 French persuaded Nadal to offer a tennis lesson as an auction lot for her charity at certain moments silence Open final, which she will fall. The scoreboard lost to Serena Williams. the Naked Heart Foundation’s fundraiser, the Love Ball, in Monaco last July, showing a row of spent Right: Roger Federer’s it was always going to emerge as a star prize. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime eye-catching, on-court sets, the crowd holds couture in 2009. opportunity,” she says. And when M.C., British comedian James Corden, its breath as one player Below: Billie Jean King kicked off the bidding, the reaction was frenzied, soon turning to humor bends their knees, leans You can’t wins Wimbledon after when guests realized the identity of the man set on winning. Egged on by back into their serve and defeating Australian Judy Tegart in 1968 tablemates Bono and Princess Charlene of Monaco, was a certain Novak tosses the ball high in the look away. Djokovic – Nadal’s nemesis and currently world No. 2 – who had earlier air. Quiet. As the match mingled over cocktails with Karl Lagerfeld, Prince Albert of Monaco and moves into its climax, That’s when Left: Serena Williams’ Mario Testino. The prize, now upgraded to a game of doubles with Nadal those silences between French Open victory you know in 2013. Above: John and Djokovic, finally went to both Djokovic, for €100,000, and the Russian thwacks become painfully McEnroe pictured with long; will they return it? you’re Björn Borg in 1981 just commissioner of the Kontinental Hockey League, Alexander Medvedev, Can they? How? All eyes a fan before he went on to who bid €150,000, making an impressive total of €250,000. THE STARS OF turn to the screen or, if beat the Swede and Cut to April this year, at a beautiful clay tennis court in the Lavazza family THE GLAMOROUS claim his first Wimbledon LOVE BALL you’re lucky enough to be Men’s Singles victory. home in Cap d’Ail, an exclusive enclave in the south of France. Looking on From top: Novak watching live, downwards Right: René Lacoste are Princess Charlene, a now-heavily pregnant Vodianova with her three Djokovic bids for into the court. You can’t playing in longs at children and boyfriend Antoine Arnault, Pierre Casiraghi – and Djokovic, the top prize; look away. That’s when Wimbledon in 1925 Natalia Vodianova who due to a wrist injury has to stay on the sidelines, as Nadal takes to the and Mario Testino; you know you’re a fan. clay with Russian No. 1 Mikhail Youzhny. Vodianova, Djokovic Tennis, the best of all spectator sports, into their early thirties, have turned them It is in part to bathe in the reflected glory seeing it land just beyond your and Bono’s wife, has a way of sucking you in, even if you into global brands, but their staying power of this display of grace under pressure opponent’s reaching racket. Just don’t Nadal is a natural entertainer and when his Uncle Toni, umpiring the Ali Hewson enjoying never knew you were interested before. has also allowed us to get to know them, that draws crowds to see the live event give away your inward pleasure as first few games, is deposed to shouts of “Favoritism!”, he grins, gesturing the stylish fundraiser It begins with the metronomic rhythm to feel we’ve grown up with them. Even itself. Despite the long queues, a day spent you hit an ace: no fist-pumping, or theatrically at the rapt crowd. Meanwhile of a rally. Then you’ll notice the fluid the most casual observer can remember at one of the major open tournaments whooping; keep it to yourself. It’s not Vodianova, whose foundation is celebrating way a player strokes a backhand winner those players’ style evolution, the brands leaves the spectator with a feeling of about winning. Remember the Rudyard its 10th anniversary later this year, is down the line. Uh-huh. Pretty good. they align themselves with, their various having witnessed something athletic, Kipling quote, reproduced on a plaque beaming and it is no wonder. The event You stop what you’re doing, sit down, haircuts. This sport is not just a fling – honorable and emotionally uplifting over the entrance to Wimbledon’s famous is just one in a long list of her charity’s eyes on the screen, to see if he can do it a one-summer thing, like World Cup (though that could have been the Centre Court, the last thing players see incredible achievements, which includes again. Before you know it, you’ve taken soccer or the Olympic Games – but a long- champagne, or the hot sun). before stepping out: If you can meet dozens of family support centers and sides; watching tennis, it’s very hard not running affair. Admittedly, at times, the famous with Triumph and Disaster/ And treat services for children with learning to. You might like both Novak Djokovic Tennis brings out the starry-eyed politesse of tennis seems a little quaint. those two impostors just the same. and Rafael Nadal (who doesn’t), but the adolescent fan in all of us, and the The umpire’s comically preppy blazer, While it may be impossible to glide disabilities, as well as play parks across gladiatorial, one-on-one nature of the biggest names of the modern game are trimmed with white; the “ladies and through life with such composure, this Russia for underprivileged children. game makes it impossible to favor two true pin-ups: clean-cut, friendly and yet gentlemen, quiet please”; the lopsided summer, for a few short months, let’s just “So, it wasn’t Novak and Rafa in the end,”

players equally during a match. Tennis is alluring. Think of the grace and beauty of way female players are formally addressed Photographs Getty Images; Rex Features; Bettman/Corbis imagine we can. she smiles. “But it was still a perfect day.”

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