But this historic rivalry, one of the best in any sport, is also a friendly rivalry, despite all the power and spin these two well-mannered men use against each other when they are on opposite sides of a net.
Probably the easiest racket sport to start playing, badminton has two opponents standing either side of a 1.55m net that divides a rectangular court in half.
And in the Dziga-Vertov film of 1971 called "Vladimir and Rosa," about the Chicago Seven, with its intentionally only half-intelligible conversation between Godard and Gorin pacing up and down on either side of a tennis net, Godard seems to be posing a notion still more perplexing to him than anything in Descartes.
First, it was a tall wooden box to the side of the net, a hurdle that drew gasps.
Two years earlier, he had horseshoe pits installed to supplement the swimming pool and a full-size tennis court that affords players on one side of the net a dead-on view of the Washington Monument.
Facing the likes of forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marian Hossa, Zetterberg swiped away a shot by Crosby at the side of the net, blocked a slap shot by defenseman Sergei Gonchar, won a face-off and controlled the puck up the ice, robbing the Penguins of their prime opportunity.
"Crazy, nuts," Anderson said of being on the celebratory side of a full-blown Nets fiasco.
On one side of the net was a player bang in form with a series of encouraging results on grass behind her and the home crowd willing her to compete.
But it's funny to imagine Margaret Court on the other side of the net, in her A-line mini-shirtdress, with her Spalding wood racquet, trying to return Serena's serve.
