RALPH’S IDEA OF A GOOD START to the day is to get up at 6:00 a.m. and run up the Dale Ball trails with his dog Casey. That makes him all the more eager to teach tennis and manage a club for the next 10 hours. He truly is delighted about it.
His gift and talent make his students play just over their ability – and make them believe that that is where they should live. That he will be a little saddened if they don’t.
Ralph deeply loves the game. I asked about David Foster Wallace’s hypothesis that heaven must have a tennis court, with an endless succession of perfect days.He didn’t respond; he stopped (unusual for him), thought about it, then gestured to the mountains and the blue sky.
Heaven can wait.
What’s the best part of teaching tennis?
I’ve always been able to see somebody hitting, and right next to them see exactly the perfect stroke. I could do that when I taught skiing. I could see somebody skiing and know exactly what the perfect skier would look like next to them. It’s like I’m hallucinating.
There’s such a sense of joy when I see people that have started tennis, and then four months later, on a court playing. I have this group of novice ladies who take clinics together, and they couldn’t really play a couple of months ago, and now they can play. That gives me incredible amounts of joy.
Tennis is a brutally individual sport.
You’re out on that half of the court by yourself. It’s like you’re on an island. Probably the closest sport is, believe it or not, boxing. It’s just you against the other person. You’re not getting physically hit, but you’re hitting a ball then they’re hitting a ball, and it’s one on one. You are laid bare.
You take your fitness and diet very seriously.
I can tell if I gain five pounds, I can feel it on the tennis court. I’m 66 years old, I try to watch what I eat. I may have a little sugar addiction that I try to keep under control. I’m so lucky that my body has not abandoned me yet. I still can play tennis. I still can teach tennis. I still can feel good while doing it. I’m lucky. I’m willing to work at it. I am willing to work at it to stay lucky.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten slower. By trying to maintain decent shape, I won’t stop the aging process, but I try to at least slow it down.
You are ridiculously optimistic. Do you think it comes about from having that connection to your body?
I’m so optimistic because I let certain things slide off my back. There’s some funny aspects to this. I can get negative, I’m not perfect. But the things we worry and stress out about, three days later, you look at those things, and they mean nothing. I try to know that. My grandfather was once interviewed for a newspaper. He was about 65 or 70 at the time. He said, every day is so good. He gets up early, just to make the day last longer. He likes living so much. I’m so fortunate, I like living so much.
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