urine-day: erumpent, a leap of exponents
He’s never looked better on court or on monthly O.N.A.N.T.A. paper. He is erumpent. He has made what Schtitt termed a ‘leap of exponents’ at a post-pubescent age when radical, plateaux-hopping, near-J.-Wayne-and-Show-caliber improvement is extraordinarily rare in tennis.
Context
Hal's ascent stated in the institution's own metrics: he looks best "on monthly O.N.A.N.T.A. paper," is "erumpent," and has made "a leap of exponents" — a post-pubescent, plateaux-hopping jump toward Show caliber that the developmental doctrine says almost never happens this late. The ranking sheet is where the improving body becomes legible; Schtitt's phrase makes the leap sound mathematical, a boy's whole athletic promise expressed as a change in the exponent on a printed page.