常玉發明了匹克球？The Forgotten Invention: Sanyu, Tennis Ping-Pong, and the Origins of Pickleball
匹克球現在美國大為風行。上網查了匹克球（Pickleball）：又稱泡菜球，是一種集網球、乒乓球、羽毛球於一體的球拍擊球隔網對抗性球類運動， 1965年起源於美國西雅圖班布里奇島，喬爾・普里查德和比爾・貝爾發明了匹克球。
我嘆了一口氣。
在寫長篇小說《天才的印記-常玉外傳》時，蒐集有關藝術家常玉的文獻，有報導指出，愛運動的他曾發明一種新型運動，他名之為「網球乒乓」，花了不少精神與金錢，到處推廣，還與巴黎地方報的體育記者交上了朋友。
到了紐約後，顯然未忘情這項他自創的運動，繼續推行，卻徒勞無功。
我在小說〖1950年，紐約〗篇章，有幾段想像中的描述：
（305頁）…他對繪畫卻愈來愈提不起勁兒，來紐約後根本不想作畫，一方面是因藝術市場的低迷，一方面是因他已不知為何，為誰而戰？他煩透了那一套的人際虛偽，藝術界的自吹自擂。遂把重心轉移到推展他發明的「網球乒乓」運動上。揮着球拍，扭腰移步，心跳加速，大汗淋漓，聽到那一聲聲擊中球的悶響，是多麽的扎實，打球時，他感到自身的真實存在，那一刻忘卻所有的煩憂。
……(他把客廳)三面牆塗成大紅色，再以白線畫框定中線，闢出了室内球場。在巴黎定制的球拍和球，也随畫和雕塑運來了……一個人打着牆，倒也玩得不亦樂乎。他開始積極推廣這項他認為美妙得無與倫比的運動，寫信給報社體育版記者，結果就像他的單打，總是碰壁。
他始终不明白，這種「混血兒」的運動，如同歐美的有色人種，是無法全然被主流接受的。藝術如此，運動亦然。一項運動的形成，絕非一人單打獨鬥能闖出局面，後頭行銷配套是個利益結構的大網，網住人和，便可開創「天時與地利」。
（309頁）飯後，陸瑜（我給常玉的化名）示範他的網球乒乓，這陣子才上「球場」練了没多久，腰身那圈贅肉就不見了，臉部線條也緊實了。亦梵看着陸瑜跳動輕盈的步伐，除了頭髮灰白些，仍是二十年前的模樣。陸瑜的運動神經發達，打起這個他自創的球，動作優美帥氣。
「很好的運動，只不過…」亦梵語帶惋惜地說。
「只不過甚麽？」
「這個運動怕是旣不被網球界接受，也會被乒乓愛好者排斥。」
「我想開發第三種群眾。」
「這是在夾縫裏求生存。當人們有選邊的機會，就會尋求已獲大多數認可的那一方。」亦梵理性地分析。
「那是因為人們没有機會看到更好的。」
「即使他們看到了，仍會自動加入那個次好的大多數，」亦梵苦口婆心地勸：
「瑜，不要不信邪。這就是人性。」
讀到這裏，你是不是也同感唏嘘？也對文章開頭引述維基的那段話，起了一點懷疑。常玉，這位中國藝術家在西方主導的語境下，充其量只被視為「東方的馬蒂斯」，「東方的莫迪尼亞尼」;這兩個寓褒於貶的標籤，不論其當代身價，始終撕不下來。
在《天才的印記》這部無法證實的「外傳」裏，我根據他的真實紀年、畫風、與生活足跡，大膽提出一個假設：或許，在某個因缘巧合裏，他的畫也被西方的藝術家看見了，造成了某種程度的影響？
然而，就如同他早在1950年代即已發明的「網球乒乓」是否就是今日「匹克球」的前身，我們無法證實。
誰才是原創，重要嗎？有人抓住契機崛地而起，有人卻掉進時代的裂缝，悄然無息。起碼我起了懷疑，還寫了本小說，翻案 ？蚍蜉撼樹。
註：1. 常玉出生的年份，有謂1895年，也有記錄是1900年。卒年1966則是確定的。
2. 根據維基，匹克球起源於1965年西亞雅圖。到了1967年，第一個永久性匹克球場在“發明者”--國會議員喬爾·普里查德的後院建成。
匹克球出現與球場建立的時間點，正好是常玉卒年前後。
長篇小說《天才的印記—常玉外傳》爾雅出版社
（第一章 試閱： https://arttiaobooks.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post_3.html#more
ChatGPT 英譯：
The Forgotten Invention: Sanyu,
Tennis Ping-Pong, and the Origins of Pickleball
Pickleball has taken America by storm.
A quick search tells us that the game—sometimes called “pickle ball”—is a
curious hybrid of tennis, table tennis, and badminton. It was invented in 1965
on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, by Joel Pritchard and Bill Bell.
And yet, I find myself sighing.
While gathering materials for my novel The Mark of
Genius: A Sanyu Apocryphon, I came across accounts that suggested the
Chinese artist Sanyu—better known for his bold nudes and floral still lifes—was
not only a painter, but also an inventor of games. Passionate about sports, he
is said to have created a new racquet sport he named “Tennis Ping-Pong.” He
invested time, money, and hope in it, even befriending a Parisian sports
journalist in an attempt to promote his invention.
Later, in New York, Sanyu remained committed to the
idea. But the effort went nowhere.
In my novel, in the chapter titled New York, 1950,
I tried to imagine this forgotten pursuit:
…Painting no longer stirred him. In New York, he had no
desire to pick up a brush. The art market was sluggish, but more than that, he
no longer knew what he was fighting for—or for whom. He was weary of social
pretenses, weary of the art world’s endless self-congratulation. And so, he
turned instead to his invention: Tennis Ping-Pong. Swinging his racket,
shifting his steps, his pulse racing, sweat pouring down—every thud of the ball
brought him back to himself. In those moments, he felt real, the burdens of
life stripped away.
He painted three walls of his living room bright red,
drew a white center line, and turned it into a makeshift court. The custom
rackets and balls he had commissioned in Paris arrived along with his canvases
and sculptures. Alone, hitting the ball against the wall, he could almost
convince himself he was not alone. He wrote letters to sports reporters,
convinced that his invention was incomparable, even sublime. But like his
solitary volleys, every attempt met a wall.
Sanyu never seemed to understand why this “mixed-blood”
game, like people of mixed race in Europe and America, could never be fully
embraced by the mainstream. So it was with art; so it was with sport. No game
survives on a lone man’s passion. Behind every successful sport lies a web of
commerce and promotion. Without that net to catch people in, timing and
circumstance are never enough.
Later in the novel, Sanyu—renamed Lu Yu—demonstrates
the game to a friend. His waist has grown lean, his face taut. His movements
are light, graceful, even stylish. The friend watches, and says:
“A wonderful sport. But…”
“But what?”
“It will not be accepted by the tennis world. Nor will
the devotees of table tennis welcome it.”
“Then I will create a third audience.”
“That is survival in a crack. When people can choose
sides, they will always drift toward the majority already sanctioned.”
“That’s only because they haven’t yet seen something
better.”
“And even if they have,” the friend replies, “they will
still choose the lesser game—if only because it belongs to the greater crowd.
Don’t fool yourself, Yu. That is human nature.”
At this point, do you not feel the sting of
recognition? Do you not wonder, too, about that confident entry on Wikipedia?
Sanyu, in the Western narrative, was at most “the
Oriental Matisse” or “the Oriental Modigliani”—labels that flatter and diminish
in equal measure. No matter how highly valued his canvases are today, those
tags cling stubbornly, refusing to fall away.
In The Imprint of a Genius, this “apocryphon” that cannot be proved, I dared to
imagine otherwise: that perhaps, by chance, a Western painter had encountered
his work, and been moved by it. Perhaps, in some hidden way, he left his mark.
And as for Tennis Ping-Pong? Could it have been a
precursor to Pickleball, invented more than a decade earlier? We cannot know.
Does it matter who was first? Some seize the moment and
rise; others slip through the cracks of time, falling into silence. I, at
least, was not content to let the question pass. I doubted, and so I wrote. To
overturn the record—yes, a mere ant shaking a tree.
Notes
- Sanyu’s
birth year has been variously given as 1895 or 1900; his death in 1966 is
certain.
- According
to Wikipedia, Pickleball originated in Seattle in 1965. By 1967, the first
permanent court was built in the backyard of its “inventor,” Congressman
Joel Pritchard.
The sport’s debut coincided, almost to the year, with
Sanyu’s death.
