Schtitt confides in the damaged listener; tennis-as-tragic

pivotal · YDAU present

• When: YDAU present, habitual warm evenings; one ice-cream walk to Allston.
• What: Mario is the one person at E.T.A. whose company Schtitt seeks and to whom he speaks candidly; over pipe-smoke Schtitt unfolds his tennis philosophy (the self as the true opponent, tennis as tragic). A "born listener" whose visible damage makes people forget he's there and drop their guard, Mario keeps trying, unsuccessfully, to voice his question — the difference between vanquishing the self and destroying it, between tennis and suicide.