My logic is simple: why stop…

I am trying to translate into Greek a statement in English made very recently by the famous tennis player, Novak Djokavic about why he continues playing tennis at the age of thirty eight. He said:” "So my logic is, why not keep going as long as I have that fire, flair and quality, and the motivation, to do so?"
My attempt, bearing in mind that such efforts are a trap for the unwary, is:-

Η λογική μου είναι απλή: γιατί να σταματήσω όσο έχω ακόμη τη φλόγα, τη φινέτσα, την αρίστευση και την εμψύχωση;
Colleagues, please feel free to alter it and make it good Greek. A Greek newspaper or news website translates it thus:-

«Γιατί να αποσυρθώ όταν η φλόγα του πάθους καίει ακόμα μέσα μου;»
Για τον Τζόκοβιτς, ο λόγος για να συνεχίσει είναι απλός: γιατί να αποσυρθεί όταν εξακολουθεί να έχει τη φινέτσα, την ποιότητα και ιδιαίτερα τον συναρπαστικό ενθουσιασμό του να μπαίνει στο γήπεδο μπροστά στους ενθουσιώδεις οπαδούς του;

My somewhat slipshod attempt (between calls ):

Το σκεπτικό μου είναι: γιατί να μη συνεχίσω [no need to go with αποσυρθώ=retire] από τη στιγμή που έχω ακόμα τη φλόγα […*], την ποιότητα και το κίνητρο;

Flair is a tricky one. I know more or less exactly [sic] how it’s used in sports, and although there is some overlapping with your admittedly really good suggestion φινέτσα, it doesn’t really cut the deal, though I cannot think of any preferable alternative at the moment… On the other hand, φλόγα might actually cover both flame and flair… or maybe not…

Thanks, m_a_a for drafting this in between calls! You use ποιότητα as in the press article and κίνητρο which he is more likely to say in a Greek context. I used both φλόγα and φινέτσα as a deliberate alliteration for ‘fire’ and ‘flair’ to match his ‘fire and flair’.

As I was reading the OP just a moment ago, my immediate instinct for flair was ταλέντο. My immediate translation for the rest of the statement was exactly the same as m_a_a's.

Thanks, cougr. All grist to the mill!

cougr said:

my immediate instinct for flair was ταλέντο

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Yeah, dictionaries agree with you, cougr, but that's not exactly how the word is used in sports, at least not in football.
There are loads of players with talent, but merely a handful of them (proportionately speaking) have flair.
A "flair player" does have talent, but not necessarily overwhelming. The main intrinsic connotation is unpredictability, combined with (possibly inconsistent) finesse, and a fair share of audacity...

Let it play from 6:18 to 7:09

Yet neither have I found any satisfactory equivalents in Greek, nor do I I have any way of knowing whether Novak actually used the word in this sense...

That’s partly why I used φινέτσα. The word ταλέντο was is one of the newspaper articles. It seems a trifle arrogant to say ‘I have flair’ but he does have oodles of it but modesty usually prohibits boasting about oneself. The Greek tragedians were all too familiar with ὕβρις.

Yep. I wasn't suggesting that ταλέντο was its precise counterpart. Given the vast array of its connotations and nuances I don't think there's a direct equivalent in Greek.

Edit: I hadn't seen the above post by Theseus. It had been posted as I was writing.

έχω ακόμα τη φλόγα, την «τρέλα», την ποιότητα και το κίνητρο να συνεχίσω might be worth considering...


And on that note, I'm wishing you a good night (or day). Cheers!

Φαντασία, ίσως, για το flair?

Έχω ακόμα τη φλόγα, τη φαντασία στο παιχνίδι μου, την ποιότητα και το κίνητρο να συνεχίσω???

m_a_a_ said:

And on that note, I'm wishing you a good night (or day). Cheers!

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Καληνύχτα!