Reader question:

Roger Federer said he wants to win another Wimbledon more than any other Grand Slam title, saying “Wimbledon is the holy grail.” What does “holy grail” mean?

My comments:

Roger Federer is a tennis player.

Federer, in case you don’t follow the game of tennis, is not just any other player. He’s in fact one of the greatest to ever pick up the racket, as they say.

If not the greatest outright. He’s won, among other achievements, 17 Grand Slam titles, more than anyone ever.

Grand Slam titles, by the way, refer to the championships of the four major professional tournaments in the world, i.e. Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

Among the great four, Wimbledon is played on grass and has the longest history. Wimbledon is crown jewel, often considered the best of all.

Federer has won at Wimbledon a record seven times. However, at the age of 35, the great man from Switzerland is nearing the end of his career. In other words, the window is closing. Besides, the younger generation led by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have latterly made life very difficult for the Swiss.

Still, Federer remains among the very best in the world and is capable of winning championships.

Which brings us back to our story. If he is to win one more grand slam, what will he prefer it to be? Wimbledon, Australian, French or US Open? Wimbledon is Federer’s answer, because, he says, “Wimbledon is the holy grail.”

Literally, to Federer, the Wimbledon championship trophy, in the shape of a cup, is the greatest cup or grail (Latin for a bowl) of them all.

The grail in “holy grail” originally refers to the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper. Legends have it that the grail was brought to Britain, which centuries later enticed a great search among medieval kings and knights.

To fully understand the holy grail, of course, you need to read more, a lot more actually about Jesus and his followers, King Arthur and his knights, etc.

For now, let’s just make sure we understand that the grail is made holy by Jesus and that the search for the holy grail was important for King Arthur and other enlightened men.

Yes, if we leave out the religious part, Jesus, King Arthur and others involved were seeking enlightenment, or a kind of spiritual awareness that enables men to break free from the shackles of ordinary human existence, i.e. the daily grind, the miserable humdrum.

Let’s make sure we understand that the holy grail stands for the truth, the big prize, or anything people covet the most – but something not so easy to obtain.

Something highly sought but not at all easy to get.

All right, here are recent media examples of people who view different objects or objectives as their holy grail:

1. A new diet and exercise regime has been described as ‘the Holy Grail’ of losing weight - while putting on muscle.

But scientists say it’s ‘gruelling’ - and definitely not for everyone.

Researchers at McMaster university found that adhering to a low-calorie, high-protein diet - while exercising six days a week - leads to more weight loss than using a low-calorie diet, combined with exercise.

The researchers followed 40 young men for a month as they exercised six days week - while eating 40% fewer calories than they normally would.

One group ate low calorie food, one group ate low-calorie, high-protein food.

The group who ate more protein lost more weight overall - but still gained muscle.

Dr Stuart Phillips of McMaster University said, ‘It’s a tough program and not something that’s sustainable or for those looking for quick and easy fix.

‘We wanted to see how quickly we could get them in shape: lose some fat, but still retain their muscle and improve their strength and fitness.’

‘Exercise, particularly lifting weights, provides a signal for muscle to be retained even when you’re in a big calorie deficit.’

‘We expected the muscle retention, but we were a little surprised by the amount of additional fat loss in the higher protein consuming group.’

- This Diet And Exercise Regime Is The ‘Holy Grail’ Of Losing Weight, Scientists Say, Yahoo.com, January 29, 2016.

2. Bill Gates is apparently balancing his fear of “super intelligence” with an almost unbridled enthusiasm for the future of artificial intelligence.

“No doubt in a 19-year time frame there will be more robots doing physical jobs,” said Gates at the Code Conference on Wednesday.

Gates foresees them driving (autonomous cars) in warehouses and even cleaning up rooms.

The former Microsoft CEO and founder has, apparently been reading up on AI. Gate’s wife, Melinda Gates, who runs the Gates Foundation with him, explained that she always knows what’s on Bill’s mind just by looking at his book bag. Recently, she said, it's been filled with AI books.

“So while you think he’s working on philanthropy, he’s also working on AI,” she said, laughing.

Gates didn’t deny it and named a couple of AI books he thinks we should all be reading, including The Master Algorithm.

“The dream is finally arriving. This is what it was all leading up to,” enthused Gates.

It may be that Gates is trying to catch up with the sudden rapid progress in the development of AI for the masses (virtually every company that took the Code stage this week talked about AI).

“We’ve made more progress in the last five years than at any time in history,” Gates said.

While Gates sees the coming changes in how we work and live thanks to AI as a very positive thing, he’s well aware of the challenges.

As robots and AI take over repetitive tasks, there will be an excess of labor resources.

“How do you retrain?” said Gates and added that the other concern, long-term, is question of purpose and control.

Even those concerns did not dampen Gate’s enthusiasm for AI. He called it the “holy grail” as he envisions a future “with machines that are capable and more capable than human intelligence.”

- Bill Gates: AI is the holy grail, June 2, 2016.

3. ONE News revealed yesterday that sporting organisations were told by their international governing bodies to put athletes on standby because widespread and systematic doping throughout Russian sport is set to be revealed that would rule all of their athletes out of the upcoming Olympics.

If that occurs it will free up space for athletes around the globe including New Zealand sportsmen and women who may have missed out on Olympic qualification.

That includes the three Kiwi crews who narrowly missed qualification at the first time of trying.

They were out training this morning on Lake Karapiro, eager to make the most of a possible second chance at going to the Olympics.

“The Olympics is the holy grail for us. At this moment it’s worth the risk of an extra three or four weeks training for that reward at the end,” said New Zealand rower George Bridgewater, a bronze medal winner in Beijing.

The men’s and women’s quad and men’s four are the crews in contention.

- ‘The Olympics is the holy grail for us’ - Kiwi rowers leaving nothing to chance ahead of possible Russian drugs ban, TVNZ.co.nz, June 29, 2016.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：張欣 編輯：丹妮）