PETER WALKER, a high-grade tennis player and higher grade musician, is joining Tennis Diary as our newest contributor. His unique slant on the game is most welcomed to our platform-which he would call a stage. He plays guitar and air-racquet-guitar with similar passion.

-Zach Kleiman, Tennis Diary

COURTING MUSIC

tennis is often talked about as a very solitary experience;Agassi felt that isolation most of his career. and in a funny way, so is taking the stage in front of thousands of people: it's all up to you. on the stage:the lights strong; i often cannot even see the audience-the opponent i am supposed to connect with, and though tennis takes more than one person to play, you are alone in your responsibility. you can hit a winner on the baseline or you can smack it into the net, and everything in between. i prefer to go into a match -or a gig-knowing that i'm going to do my thing and only my thing. and even above that simple credo, i'll milk the fun out of every second no matter what the audience response is.

stepping on the tennis court to play a match is a lot like stepping on a stage to play a show. my tennis racquet, strung to perform, easily mirrors a guitar. (and don't so many of us have those childhood pictures where we're dancing around, strumming a tennis racquet stratocaster?) along with the axes come the cherished accessories like grips, picks, tennis bags, road cases, earplugs, wristbands and of couse the prerequisite clothing. i guess the microphone would be the ball, the thing that i step up to between breaths and through which i put myself out there across the net. ultimately the ball is what takes our actions from side of the court to the other.

my purpose as a performer is to move the listener, to make them feel something. my purpose as a tennis player is to move my opponent from side to side until they're ragged, and make them feel the pain as i drop volley to end match point.

i'll be thinking about the players' pre-gig rituals and game faces as they take the stage in the desert these next two weeks.

To view Peter's latest video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPBrLEypVvk

To purchase Peter's latest album:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/here-anonymous/id313200893

http://www.amazon.com/Here-Eulogies/dp/B001T46U7I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1268248848&sr=1-1

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