Two Wooden Legs

Today, when I was playing tennis after lifting the car, those six boys on my calf machine and so on, I didn’t have the strength in my legs to take even one further step. Both my legs were like two wooden things, absolutely numb, with no sensation at all. I played mechanically, using only my will power. Even then the boys didn’t win. I won 9 games and they won one. God alone knows when my bragging will end.

—21 September 1986