Reading a lot can be dangerous, and being too smart can lead a person to unhappiness: that is why Serb tennis player-cum-intellectual Janko Tipsarevic hit the brakes.
“I realized that I was reading too much, starting to doubt myself, life, my profession and tennis. I stopped a bit,” Tipsarevic said in an interview ahead of this weekend’s Davis Cup tie against Spain.
“That was a time in my life in which I was really crazy over reading books. I still read many, but not quite that many,” he says.
“But I don’t want to make a big fuss of this or say that I am so deep, or a philosopher. That is a part of my life, something I like doing, like others like Play Station,” Tipsarevic says.
He got into reading Nietzsche, Kant and other philosophers by following the example of his mother.
“She started to read these books, which end up driving you a little mad ... Yes, she suffered a bit,” he says.
“Anyone who reads philosophy knows the word means ‘the search for truth.’ Many of those philosophers had painful and unpleasant lives because they searched for truth. And the truth, in most books, is nothing, it’s depressing,” Tipsarevic says.
“You start to wonder why you are doing this, why you pay US$1,000 for a plane ticket. Am I happy? All those questions,” he says.
Tipsarevic is now sure that “thinking too much is not the answer.”
“Of course I would not rather be stupid. But they say being stupid is a sort of blessing, because you don’t know anything else, you don’t want anything else and you don’t need anything else,” he says.
“I was taking books too seriously,” Tipsarevic explains. “Now I am a little bit older than I was then, and I understand that you should never, ever, no matter how right the author is, read a book and completely change your life.”
“In my opinion, you should always take small things from a book to change life, and not let the book have a 100 percent influence on your life,” he says.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title. “We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish. Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday. The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the
RSS