David Foster Wallace’s unforgettable portrait of tennis player Michael Joyce is as much about the intricate physics of hitting a fuzzy yellow ball, as it is about the physical and emotional sacrifices it takes to be the best in the world at something—and how often even the greatest, most gifted, most hardworking among us are still miles away from perfection. Esquire editor in chief David Granger joins host David Brancaccio to discuss David Foster Wallace and why his 1996 story “The String Theory” remains one of the most exciting, salient, and honest stories about the game of tennis ever written.
