Prior to the fall of Baghdad, the most noteworthy existential conflict was the famous Gentlemen’s Doubles competition at Wimbledon in which Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre faced Fyodor Dostoevsky and Franz Kafka in possibly the most important tennis match in the history of modern philosophy. The match was broadcast live on BBC 2 and changed the course of postmodern writing.
Camus and Sartre were heavily favored, having recently beaten François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard in the French Open. However, Camus considered himself an absurdist rather than an existentialist, and chose to not use a racquet. As a result, he was able to postulate that the absurd is the essential concept and the first truth but had difficulty returning a serve.
Sartre was well-known for his revolutionary footwork but was unable to lob effectively, as he refused to acknowledge the existence of the net. After the match, Sartre commented to a reporter from the Daily Telegraph that “consciousness is consciousness of itself insofar as it is consciousness of a transcendent object. And Dostoevsky has a killer forehand."
The third set was briefly delayed because Kafka had turned into a giant insect.
No winner was declared because the line judge, Søren Kierkegaard, considered the match meaningless.
Both pairs were subsequently eliminated from the tournament by logical positivists in matches that are now generally considered low points in post-war existentialism.
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