Tennis Books

Book SynopsisWhile Jeu de paume has been played in France for hundreds of years and was associated with the French and English medieval and renaissance courts, the modern game of tennis dates from 1874, when the rules were defined by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield. Published in association with the All England Lawn Tennis Club (Wimbledon), this book examines the history of the rules of tennis from their first codification to the present day. It also looks at the circumstances of the composition of the first rules, their scope, and afterlife, as they moved from manuscript to publication.

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Book SynopsisAnalyzing how tennis turned pro The arrival of the Open era in 1968 was a watershed in the history of tennis--the year that marked its advent as a professionalized sport. Merging wide-angle history with individual stories of players and off-the-court figures, Greg Ruth charts tennis's evolution into the game we watch today. His vivid account moves from the cloistered world of nineteenth-century lawn tennis through the longtime amateur-professional divide and the battles over commercialization that raged from the 1920s until 1968. From there, Ruth details the post-1968 expansion of the game as it was transformed by bankable superstars, a popular women's tour, rival governing bodies, and sponsorship money. What emerges is a fascinating history of the economics and politics that made tennis a decisive, if unlikely, force in the creation of modern-day sports entertainment. Comprehensive and engaging, Tennis tells the interlocking stories of the figures and factors that birthed the professiTrade Review"Ruth's work is an excellent source for a history of sexism in tennis, while highlighting some of the biggest names on and off the court, who ushered tennis into a profitable sport in the postmodern era." --Journal of American History "This well-researched volume will be a valuable addition to any sports history collection." --Choice "This book is for tennis pros, serious amateurs, hackers, lovers of the game, and anyone interested in sport history. Greg Ruth shows us how tennis evolved from England’s royal court to L.A.'s public courts to the U.S. Open's billionaire courts. Featuring big personalities and terrific storytelling, Tennis shows us how and why the game evolved over the years. This is excellent sport history."--Elliott J. Gorn, coauthor of A Brief History of American Sports, Second EditionTable of ContentsCoverTitle PageCopyrightContentsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction: Tennis Amateurs and Tennis Professionals1. Amateur Associations along the American Atlantic Coast2. The West Coast Game3. The Cause Célèbre of the Pioneering Professional4. Depression-Era Developments in Amateur and Professional TennisPhoto Section 15. Wartime Southern California Professionals6. The Cultural Contexts of Mid-Century Women’s Tennis7. The “Kramer Karavan”8. The World Champion from “The Wrong Side of the Tracks"9. Tennis OpensPhoto Section 210. The Rise and Demise of World Championship Tennis11. The Impact of Sports Agents and Agencies on Professional Tennis12. Women’s Professional Tennis in the Early Open EraConclusion: Professional Tennis as Global EntertainmentNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisDrawing upon his experience on the tennis circuit, William Ralston analyses the key stages on the journey to becoming a more successful tennis player, and includes advice from some of the sport's leading players, coaches and experts. The book provides an in-depth analysis of the techniques, equipment, strategy and tactics used in the modern game.

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Book SynopsisA writer and tennis player seeks insights and inspiration by traveling across Switzerland in the footsteps of Roger Federer.Roger Federer could live anywhere in the world, but he always returns to the place he loves most: Switzerland. Dave Seminara is a mad traveler and tennis lifer who has written about Federer for The New York Times and other publications. A pair of autoimmune diseases and a knee surgery kept Dave from playing tennis for years, but as he inched toward recovery, he had a bright idea: why not start his tennis comeback on hallowed ground—courts that his hero Roger Federer graced in Switzerland. Footsteps of Federer is a funny, novella-length account of Seminara’s travels across seven Swiss cantons in search of insights into Federer’s character, which is inextricably linked to his deep roots in, and love for, his country. Seminara timed his unique pilgrimage to the 2019 Swiss Indoors, where he had a chance to ask Roger a number of offbeat questions before and after Federer hoisted his record tenth title there. Seminara’s Federer pilgrimage took him to Switzerland’s most important abbey, where he prayed with Abbot Urban Federer; to the vineyard of Jakob Federer from Berneck, where the Federer clan originated from; to the stunning villa where Roger and Mirka were married; and to many of the neighborhoods and tennis clubs where Roger has lived and trained at over the years. Earphones Award Winner.Trade Review“Footsteps of Federer is a brilliant book, a creative idea, a travelogue, a why-tennis-matters manifesto, a thoughtful essay on Roger Federer, and a personal story of why things matter to us and what matters most. Stay for the goosebumps-inducing end.” –Greg Bishop, Sports Illustrated"The crux of this story is one writer's devotion to the most beloved tennis athlete in history. To me it was also a beautiful trip down memory lane. I played in the German Bundesliga for years after retiring from the tour and Dave's description of the little tennis clubs he visited on his journey captures the joy of post match dinners and draft beer that I remember so fondly." –Cliff Drysdale, Hall of Fame tennis player and ESPN broadcaster"With a fascinating mixture of intimacy, perspective and humour, Seminara shows on this Swiss pilgrimage why Roger loves his country so much and in what special way his rather reserved compatriots return this love. A pleasure to read, even for Federer and Switzerland connoisseurs." –Rene Stauffer, author of Federer: The Biography "A charming new book about all things Federer that concludes with a plot twist worthy of one of Hercule Poirot’s drawing-room denouement." –Simon Briggs, Daily Telegraph"Dave Seminara has deftly combined his love of travel with his love of tennis to tell us how one of the world’s most beautiful countries produced one of the world’s most popular athletes." –Thomas Swick, author of The Joys of Travel"Author and journalist Dave Seminara set out on a quest to understand Roger Federer, his tennis hero, by visiting various regions, or cantons, in Switzerland where Roger grew up, got married, played, vacationed, or just hung out. The result is the charming and delightful Footsteps of Federer, an absolute must for tennis fans frustrated by the pandemic’s limiting of their ability to attend matches in person and see King Roger in the flesh." –Michael Levin, New York Times bestselling author"You would think that everything has already been written about Roger Federer, the greatest tennis player of all time. But Seminara's redemptive travels around Switzerland introduce us to sights, courts, and characters that reveal new layers to the Federer story. His sense of humor, love of tennis, and willingness to ask anyone anything make Seminara's pilgrimage a fun ride you'll want to take." –Megan Fernandez, Indianapolis Monthly"Retracing Roger Federer's roots is an entertaining—and revitalizing—road trip for mad global traveler and massive Fed fanatic Dave Seminara" –Richard Pagliaro, TennisNow.com"A great new book that...gets to the heart of the Swiss soul." –Diccon Bewes, author of Swiss Watching

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Book SynopsisStanding in Line is a humorous memoir, based on a variety of experiences in The Queue, one of sport's most fascinating traditions. Told through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy becoming a 39-year-old man, it is a love letter both to Wimbledon and to the wonder of British summertime. Watching the Championships is a national pastime, and this book is full of the ups and downs out on court, as well as the memorable pop-cultural moments off it. It is set against the desperate wait for a British Gentlemen's champion, viewed against the global reality show Wimbledon has become - transcending sport and class, yet still embracing tradition. Illustrated with drawings from renowned artist and author Zebedee Helm, the book observes both the changing world around us and the behaviour of the half-million fans who cram themselves into this leafy corner of London for two weeks every year. Standing in Line is a joyful, gently nostalgic read for anyone who has found themselves gazing for hours on end at coverage of Wimbledon.

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Book SynopsisJohn Lloyd was the poster boy of British tennis - a former British number one, Grand Slam finalist, Wimbledon mixed-doubles champion and Davis Cup captain. Remarkably, he and his two brothers, David (of leisure club fame) and Tony, all played in the singles championship at Wimbledon in the same year: a testament to the parents who believed in their sons' dreams as the boys batted tennis balls against a garage wall in Essex. Told with humour and honesty, John's autobiography is filled with intimate insight and captivating tales of Hollywood celebrities, tennis icons, broadcasting greats and loves lost - from his marriage to the legendary Chris Evert and dealings with Donald Trump to his sobering battle with cancer and drug addiction at the heart of his family. As the story unfolds, the John of today sends letters of advice to his former self in a yearnful act of 'if I only knew then what I know now'. What we now know for certain is that John Lloyd has lived an extraordinary life.

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Book SynopsisThe official, licensed story of one of the biggest sporting events of 2019, full of stunning imagery and gripping text.

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Book SynopsisSasha Abramskygrew up in London and now lives in Sacramento with dual UK-US citizenship. He is a freelance journalist, writer, public speaker and university lecturer at U.C. Davis. He has written thousands of articles and is the author of eight published books includingInside Obama's Brain (Penguin, 2009),The American Way of Poverty (Nation Books, 2013)andThe House of Twenty Thousand Books (Halban, 2014).

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Book SynopsisRacquet was founded in 2016 to be the voice of a new tennis boom. When the popularity of tennis peaked in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the sport was populated by buccaneering talents with outsize personas, such as Borg, Evert, McEnroe, Navratilova, Gerulaitis, Austin, King, and Connors. The game was played in every park, and tennis clothes became appropriate attire for cocktails as well as for a match. With success, however, came polish, and tennis—if not the game itself, then how it came to be represented in the culture—got boring. Having a big personality was no longer a virtue. Tennis went back to being a bastion of the elite. Racquet is a place for those who knew all along that the spirit of the tennis boom was alive. Tennis has always been present in the arts, in the popular culture, in the skateboarding, hip-hop, and fashion worlds. That side of tennis was—and is—obscured by the tightly controlled messaging of the athletes, the corporate glean of the major tournaments, and the all-white attire of the country-club scene. Racquet was launched to represent the latent, diverse, and large constituency of tennis that has not been embraced by the sport writ large. Featuring the work of some of today’s finest writers, the quarterly independent magazine highlights the art, culture, and style that are adjacent to the sport—and just enough of the pro game to keep the diehards satisfied. This collection features some of the best writing from the first four years of Racquet and tackles such immediate topics as: How should tennis smell? What’s the deal with Andre Agassi’s private jet? What can a professional tennis player learn from Philip Roth? Why is tennis important in Lolita? How was Arthur Ashe like Muhammad Ali? And, crucially, what lessons have we learned from the implosion of that first tennis boom?Trade Review"Racquet mag has that feeling of a Labor Of Love. In that way It reminds me of self printed xeroxed music fanzines from the 90s. But the layout, graphics, photography betray a sense of style, and a knowledge of magazines from the art/fashion realm. If tennis is your 'kink' you will relate to this mag.""I love Racquet's in-depth variety of stories across all elements of our sport.”“Absolutely thrilling.”

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Book SynopsisA classic memoir, A Handful of Summer is the hilarious account of the tennis travels of South African doubles partnership George Forbes and Abe Segal, and of the riotous characters who populated the amateur tennis world in the 50s and 60s as it stumbled towards professionalism.Trade Review'A riotously extroverted memoir. I can't get out of my mind some of the funny series that Mr Forbes paints'CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT, New York Times 'Mesmerising, the most jingly-jangly hilarious sporting memoir that can ever have been written'GUARDIAN 'If you want to know what it is like to play on the tour, read 'A Handful of Summers'‘ROD LAVER 'Forbes spares few, least of all himself, in this honest, at times hilarious, at times almost whimsical, account of the weird and wonderful world of the tennis star'SUNDAY TIMES 'Rollicking, outrageous, raucous and riveting – I laughed my head off'SUNDAY EXPRESS

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Book SynopsisThe amazing life story of the enfant terrible of tennis in the 1970s and 80s – winner of two Grand Slam titles, three Grand Slam doubles titles and twice a Wimbledon finalist.Trade Review'Full of rollicking anecdotes…a splendid book’ Mail on Sunday

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Book Synopsis#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Far more than a superb memoir about the highest levels of professional tennis, Open is the engrossing story of a remarkable life. • Agassi’s memoir is just as entrancing as his tennis game.” —Time “Honest in a way that such books seldom are.” —The New York Times  Andre Agassi had his life mapped out for him before he left the crib. Groomed to be a tennis champion by his moody and demanding father, by the age of twenty-two Agassi had won the first of his eight grand slams and achieved wealth, celebrity, and the game’s highest honors. But as he reveals in this searching autobiography, off the court he was often unhappy and confused, unfulfilled by his great achievements in a sport he had come to resent. Agassi writes candidly about his early success and his uncomfortable relationship with fame, his marriage to Brooke Shields, his growing interest in philanthropy, and—described in haunting, point-by-point detail—the highs and lows of his celebrated career.

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Book SynopsisOne of the greatest tennis players of all time, Martina Navratilova offers a motivational and inspirational guide to tennis and beyond, drawing on her own life and career.Trade ReviewIt's an inspirational guide to fitness, mental focus and overcoming the odds. * SLIMMING WORLD *Martina's performances in competition with leading professionals less than half her age are living proof that her programme works, and this book provides a good blueprint for others to follow. * ACE TENNIS MAGAZINE *The fact that Martina is able to look this good as she approaches her 50th birthday should be inspiration enough to buy this book and learn from the top. * FUSION *Worth reading just for the insights into this amazing woman's life, this will help you shape yourself and make your own comeback. * HEALTH & FITNESS *

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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