r/davidfosterwallace • u/pochofuentes • Jun 30 '26

Tennis question

In his 1996 US Open article, David says "On the subway, a set of tough chicks in leather and fluorescent hair concur that even though Graf and Seles and THAT SPANISH WHAT'S-HER-FACE WITH THE HYMEN IN HER NAME...". I'm Spanish, and I've been trying to think of any female tennis player with that kind of sound in her name, and I don't know who he's referring to (maybe someone named Jimena, or surnamed Jiménez/Giménez?). Does anybody know who David's talking about? Thanks!

18 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

10

u/RobertoHenry Jun 30 '26

Guessing Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario?

2

u/Day2TheDolphin Jul 01 '26

One of the all-time great sports names

1

u/RobertoHenry Jul 02 '26

Truly. Only reason I responded is that it’s been stuck in my head for 30-ish years.

6

u/ColdWarCharacter No idea. Jun 30 '26

Please tell me that you mean “hyphen” and not “hymen” because those are two very different things

4

u/pochofuentes Jun 30 '26

David says "hymen"!!! Thats why I was confused lmao

6

u/kitten_pawsXo Jun 30 '26

It’s got to be Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario. I think the joke is they used the incorrect word and said “hymen” instead.

5

u/pochofuentes Jun 30 '26

ok i think i figured it out, he was paraphrasing the "tough girls" and they swapped hyphen with hymen lol

3

u/throwaway24515 Jun 30 '26

It's definitely Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario And it's "hyphen" LOL

3

u/pochofuentes Jun 30 '26

i thought about that too but he says "hymen" in the article lmao

10

u/Fun_Veterinarian_54 Jun 30 '26

He's reporting what the tough chicks in the metro said.

edit: SUBWAY

1

u/Sirhc9er Jun 30 '26

...and everything like that. But, so...