By Liza Horan

New York—Hope your racquet bag has room for a book or two. Book shop shelves are packed with tennis tomes this summer. Here's a sampling of new titles.

For the literary fan
Friends, Writers, and Other Countrymen 
By Sidney Offit
Release Date: June 24
Cover Price: $24.95 (paperback)
Chapter 27 of Sidney Offit's 314-page memoir is rife with the kind of name-dropping that characterizes the author's style: Kurt Vonnegut, Morley Safer, Peter Jennings, Mike Wallace, Peter Maas, Gay Talese. They appear in the same paragraphs as Roland Garros, Midtown Tennis Club, Tennis Port and Central Park, all places where Offit traded his usual currency (words) for groundies.
     Tales of Offit's first tennis days at age seven—"wearing white ducks, white cap, white Keds, and waving a wooden Wilson"—to playing with Don Budge and the names above from 1964 to 2005 make for a rich read. In fact, the chapter is called "Sundays at Ten, Double-Faulting with Artists and Writers and Playing Rorschachs at the Court," and the idea is that you really can tell an inner personality from the way someone plays.
    Offit's 14th book is full of stories of encounters with people like Robert Frost, Alger Hiss, Jackie Robinson and Mickey Mantle. While he once worked as a contributing editor for Baseball Magazine, tennis always has been a passion.
    "Tennis is a big part of my entertainment," Offit told me. "Last summer I went to play at the Central Park courts. It's like a meat market over there!"
    Yes, there are too many tennis players for the number of courts in New York City, but that's not enough to keep Offit away.

For the history buff
The Bud Collins History of Tennis
By Bud Collins
Release Date: June 23
Cover Price: $35.95 (paperback)
Whether you want to build your grey matter or your biceps, pick up this three-pound paperback. It is chockful of everything you wanted to know, and all of what you didn't know that you didn't know about tennis. Even Martina Navratilova said, "If you know nothing about tennis, this book is for you. And if you know everything about tennis—Hah!—Bud knows more, so this book is for you, too!" This edition of the book is 722 pages, not bad considering the version from 15 years ago ran 666 pages.
    There is no doubting that Bud, who is credited as the original tennis journalist—and not just for his colorful vestments—has collected more anecdotes and witnessed more on- and off-court historical happenings than any of us hackers. This edition is freshened up, both in looks and content, and now caught up through 2007. It's a great read for any tennis insider, fan, player, journalist or Jeopardy contestant.

On This Day in Tennis History: A Day-by-Day Anthology of Anecdotes and Historical Happenings
By Randy Walker
Release Date: Aug. 25
Cover Price: $19.95 (paperback)
Call him Bud Jr., if you like, because Walker packs passion for tennis history. Rather than a year-by-year timeline, "On This Day" is like a page-a-day tennis calendar that's about half of the heft of Collins' work—after all, there are only 365 days in a year. The U.S. Tennis Association PR man-turned-publisher is like Hallmark for tennis: Name the day, and he's got a cause for celebration. You may not know that Oct. 16 is "Sweetest Day"—and may not care—but you may be interested to know that Oct. 16 is also the birthday of U.S. Davis Cup player Melville Long of San Francisco. If living legends are more your bag, try this:
"1987: Martina Navratilova celebrates her 31st birthday by defeating Chris Evert 7-5, 6-1 to win the WTA Tour title in Filderstadt, West Germany. Navratilova was given the choice of collecting $36,000 or a Porsche sports car and chose the car."
    And here's fact on this day: June 17 is Bud Collins' birthday! Happy birthday, Bud!




For the great debater
Tennis Confidential II: More of Today's Greatest Players, Matches, and Controversies
By Paul Fein
Release Date: May 1
Cover Price: $27.50 (hard cover)
Like the two above, Fein's book looks back, but also delves into issues of the modern game. Readers will find painstakingly researched pontifications about who is the greatest player ever, Is On-Court Coaching Good for Tennis, and How America Can Produce Tennis Champions Again. Fein lays out all the evidence for his views, but the heavy reading is reserved to "Part 1: The Great Debates."
    "Part 2: People and Trends That Changed the Sport" covers a bit of history—like the different personalities of Bjorn Borg, Ilie Nastase and Jimmy Connors—and chronicles how Maria Sharapova heralded the Russian tennis book and how Andre Agassi evolved into the man he is today. The final section, "Part 3: Compelling Characters Hold Court," tells players' stories through their own quotes, taken from post-match interviews in many cases and from quite a few years ago. Martina Hingis, Jim Courier, Yannick Noah, and Stefan Edberg are among the former pros featured, and Amelie Mauresmo, Jelena Jankovic, and Bob and Mike Bryan are the current players in this book.
    Some of the most enjoyable tidbits ("Fascinating Facts") are scattered throughout Tennis Confidential, on the last page of each chapter, just like the one-liners and blurbs in Reader's Digest. They add levity (or unbelievability!)like this one on page 256: "Inside an attache case that President George H.W. Bush once inadvertently left at a tennis tournament were the keys to America's nuclear arsenal."

For the doubles fan
American Doubles ...the Trials ...the Triumphs ...the Domination
By Marcia Frost
Release Date: May 15
Cover Price: $26.95 (paperback)
Where the previous book skims the surface of the Bryan's success through 2004, this one blows it out: The Bryan brother are featured on the cover—not in the typical chest-bump shot, but a more intimate moment between points—in their own chapter ("The Bryans Rule") and throughout the book. However, the brothers are only a part of American Doubles*, which showcases that this country has a strong heritage in doubles. Even the author, who has covered tennis for nearly 20 years, said she was astonished to learn how prevalent Americans were among the championship ranks of doubles at the junior, college, pro and wheelchair levels.
    It's not all about results, though. The book explores the relationships of doubles partners through sibling pairings and the tough choices of whether to stick together or pursue a career in singles.
    This book is full of names—from legends like Billie Jean King and Stan Smith to junior and college players who will be future pros—that works as a quick look back and a big look forward for American success. It's full of great ammo for those debates about when the next great American tennis champions will appear. Some of them are already here—on the doubles court—and the curtain's about to rise on others.

For the fan of legends
A Champion's Mind: Lessons from a Life in Tennis
By Pete Sampras and Peter Bodo
Release Date: June 10
Cover Price: $24.95 (hard cover)
Many men have tried to get inside Pete Sampras' mind and failed. They just couldn't break him. Even in the most physically trying moments and on the most mentally pressure-filled points, Sampras looked cool and nailed an ace. No one knew how he did it, and he never told.
    Well, now he's telling. This may not be a blueprint on how to beat Pistol Pete, but if anyone could conjure the words and set the context to explain to the rest of us what we didn't know or understand about Sampras, it is co-writer Peter Bodo. No one has been associated with TENNIS Magazine longer than Bodo, which means he's held one-on-one interviews throughout Sampras' entire career with more access and consistency than most. (Bud Collins is another.) The result is an interesting look at how Sampras set about winning and became a legend.
    Sampras never seemed worried that fans thought he was boring or inexpressive (especially in the earlier years) because he wasn't.  In this book, Sampras admits that maintaining a low profile and keeping to himself was part of his M.O. It enabled him to keep his edge on the court. 
    He makes no excuses and doesn't defend himself, he simply explains it by bringing the reader into his world. And Sampras has relished that world.
    Only the player who believed they were No. 1 made it to No. 1. That competitiveness manifests itself in different ways, but Sampras reveals his incomparable single-mindedness in this book, which he promises, "will tell you who I really am."

Pressure is a Privilege: Lessons I've Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes
By Billie Jean King
Release Date: Aug. 12
Cover Price: $19.95 (hard cover)
King is a legend's legend, but she is a people person that puts no one—most of all herself—on a pedestal. While this book's release was timed to coincide with the 35th anniversary of her Battle of the Sexes match against Bobby Riggs, King's motivation always has been for equality for all—not just gender-based equality. That event was a statement and a start, of course, but it hasn't ended.
    Even on the momentous evening of her Women's Sports Foundation's hall of fame celebration at the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center at the Sports Museum of America last week (June 9), one attendee related how he had done lawyerly work for the Foundation in efforts to insure that Title IX is being upheld. Yes, it became law in 1972 and in 2008 it is being challenged in some parts.
    The story of such politics might not sound like the stuff of a personal story, but big issues always have been King's personal story. From the age of 12, she told me. King said she knew her destiny was to change things. How she fits all of her inspiration and experience in 192 pages promises to be a feat in itself, not to mention uplifting.
    Her story isn't over either. Even though another milestone was reached last week—as the Foundation celebrated opening its hall of fame for women in sports after 28 years since it institute the awards—there's work to be done. A tennis fan's first step: Reading Pressure is a Privilege.
    
*Full disclosure: TennisWire.org's parent company, Media Moxie, handles media relations for this title.

 

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