One symbolic shoe (2012 Belgian Champ Edition), suspended in time, gently levitates over a symbol of antiquated power (1968 Wilson T-2000).
The Wilson T-2000 created in 1968, gripped, no, gracefully held by Ann Hayden-Jones in her 1969 victory over Billie Jean King at Wimbledon. The Beatles stopped recording “Golden Slumbers” to listen to her victory on grass.
Gilbert earns the DMT-Belgian slippers in 2011. In 2012, on the slopes of Wallonian hills, the shoes collected grit and grime and no victories.
The T-2000 later defies the material supremacy and feats of carbon fiber as Jimmy Connors plays with it through the 1980’s. Through victory Connors enobles the bound-steel racquet. He reminds us that man first stirred fire with a stick.
Gilbert’s Belgian slippers rely on one moment in time in 2011; victory one year eclipsed by the losses of another.
Now he wears the World Champion stripes on another set of DMT’s. They are yet to be defined beyond Cauberg.
