The role of metaphor in tennis reports and forums

Abstract

Abstract The present paper describes the role of metaphor in the commentary generated after Wimbledon's 2008 final and articulated in two genres within tennis discourse: post-match reports and the online forums opened after them. The starting assumption is that metaphor is sensitive to the discourse context(s) where it is used, and should be approached accordingly. In this regard, genre provides a good vantage point to gain insight into how metaphors are used and, more interestingly, enriched, re-elaborated, and, presumably, entrenched within a given community through repeated use. By focusing on the role of metaphor in discussing such engaging topics as a tennis match and the players in it, the paper attempts to shed some light into the empathetic and evaluative potential of metaphor as a discourse strategy as well as the importance of communicative interaction and language in the elaboration, expansion, and entrenchment of certain metaphors in discourse communities such as the one built around tennis.

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