#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 TimesAndre 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.

The tennis classic from Olympic gold medalist and ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert, now featuring a new introduction with tips drawn from the strategies of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Andy Murray, and more, to help you outthink and outplay your toughest opponents.A former Olympic medalist and now one of ESPN’s most respected analysts, Brad Gilbert shares his timeless tricks and tips, including “some real gems” (Tennis magazine) to help both recreational and professional players improve their game.In the new introduction to this third edition, Gilbert uses his inside access to analyze current stars such as Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal, showing readers how to beat better players without playing better tennis.Written with clarity and wit, this classic combat manual for the tennis court has become the bible of tennis instruction books for countless players worldwide.

Before Federer versus Nadal, before Borg versus McEnroe, the greatest tennis match ever played pitted the dominant Don Budge against the seductively handsome Baron Gottfried von Cramm. This deciding 1937 Davis Cup match, played on the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon, was a battle of titans: the world's number one tennis player against the number two; America against Germany; democracy against fascism. For five superhuman sets, the duo’s brilliant shotmaking kept the Centre Court crowd–and the world–spellbound.But the match’s significance extended well beyond the immaculate grass courts of Wimbledon. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the brink of World War II, one man played for the pride of his country while the other played for his life. Budge, the humble hard-working American who would soon become the first man to win all four Grand Slam titles in the same year, vied to keep the Davis Cup out of the hands of the Nazi regime. On the other side of the net, the immensely popular and elegant von Cramm fought Budge point for point knowing that a loss might precipitate his descent into the living hell being constructed behind barbed wire back home.Born into an aristocratic family, von Cramm was admired for his devastating good looks as well as his unparalleled sportsmanship. But he harbored a dark secret, one that put him under increasing Gestapo surveillance. And his situation was made even more perilous by his refusal to join the Nazi Party or defend Hitler. Desperately relying on his athletic achievements and the global spotlight to keep him out of the Gestapo’s clutches, his strategy was to keep traveling and keep winning. A Davis Cup victory would make him the toast of Germany. A loss might be catastrophic.Watching the mesmerizingly intense match from the stands was von Cramm’s mentor and all-time tennis superstar Bill Tilden–a consummate showman whose double life would run in ironic counterpoint to that of his German pupil.Set at a time when sports and politics were inextricably linked, A Terrible Splendor gives readers a courtside seat on that fateful day, moving gracefully between the tennis match for the ages and the dramatic events leading Germany, Britain, and America into global war. A book like no other in its weaving of social significance and athletic spectacle, this soul-stirring account is ultimately a tribute to the strength of the human spirit.

The Inner Game of Tennis is a revolutionary program for overcoming the self-doubt, nervousness, and lapses of concentration that can keep a player from winning. This classic best-seller can change the way the game of tennis is played.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “An epic adventure about a female athlete perhaps past her prime, brought back to the tennis court for one last grand slam” (Elle), from the author of Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo“A heart-filled novel about an iconic and persevering father and daughter.”—Time“Gorgeous. The kind of sharp, smart, potent book you have to set aside every few pages just to catch your breath. I’ll take a piece of Carrie Soto forward with me in life and be a little better for it.”—Emily Henry, author of Book Lovers and Beach ReadONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, NPR, PopSugar, Glamour, Reader’s DigestCarrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father, Javier, as her coach. A former champion himself, Javier has trained her since the age of two.But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan.At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked “the Battle-Axe” anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.In spite of it all, Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells her most vulnerable, emotional story yet.

To most modern day tennis fans, it was impossible to believe that until the late 1960s pro tennis players—that is those who played openly for prize money—were banned from competing in the world's major tournaments. Before this time, the great contests such as Wimbledon were exclusive to so-called amateurs. Amateur tennis players were meant to compete only for glory. Though this division arose the "pro tour" in the 1930s, and it endured for forty years. In The Pros, The Forgotten Era of Tennis, author Peter Underwood explains why professional players were forced into what was often called the traveling circus where these sporting outcasts played each other during long and rather tatty tours all over the world. Focusing on the eight champions who dominated the pro era beginning in 1930 with the ultimately tragic figure of "Big" Bill Tilden, this book follows each pro champion through the post-1962 Grand Slam pro career of Rod Laver, who then helped usher in the modern-era of pro tennis with the start of the "Open" Era in 1968.

The best writing on tennis from the best tennis writers in the business.Racquet 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?

In his memoir, written with award-winning journalist John Carlin, tennis star Rafael Nadal reveals the secrets of his game and shares the inspiring personal story behind his success.What makes a champion? What does it take to be the best in the world at your sport? Rafael Nadal has the answers.It begins in Mallorca, where the tight-knit Nadal family has lived for generations. Coached by his uncle Toni from the age of four and taught humility and respect by his parents, Nadal has managed the uncommon feat of becoming an acclaimed global celebrity while remaining a gracious, hardworking role model for people in all walks of life.Now he takes us behind the scenes, from winning the Wimbledon 2008 final -- described by John McEnroe as "the greatest game of tennis" he had ever seen -- to the family problems that brought him low in 2009 and the numerous injuries that have threatened his career.With candor and intelligence, Nadal brings readers on his dramatic and triumphant journey, never losing sight of the prize he values above all others: the unity and love of his family.From RAFA:"During a match, you are in a permanent battle to fight back your everyday vulnerabilities, bottle up your human feelings. The more bottled up they are, the greater your chances of winning, so long as you've trained as hard as you play and the gap in talent is not too wide between you and your rival. The gap in talent with Federer existed, but it was not impossibly wide. It was narrow enough, even on his favorite surface in the tournament he played best, for me to know that if I silenced the doubts and fears, and exaggerated hopes, inside my head better than he did, I could beat him. You have to cage yourself in protective armor, turn yourself into a bloodless warrior. It's a kind of self-hypnosis, a game you play, with deadly seriousness, to disguise your own weaknesses from yourself, as well as from your rival."

An unforgettable, illuminating story of how men live and how they survive, from Abraham Verghese, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Cutting for Stone and The Covenant of Water, an Oprah's Book Club Pick.“Heartbreaking. . . . Indelible and haunting, [The Tennis Partner] is an elegy to friendship found, and an ode to a good friend lost.”—The Boston GlobeWhen Abraham Verghese, a physician whose marriage is unraveling, relocates to El Paso, Texas, he hopes to make a fresh start as a staff member at the county hospital. There he meets David Smith, a medical student recovering from drug addiction, and the two men begin a tennis ritual that allows them to shed their inhibitions and find security in the sport they love and with each other. This friendship between doctor and intern grows increasingly rich and complex, more intimate than two men usually allow. Just when it seems nothing can go wrong, the dark beast from David’s past emerges once again—and almost everything Verghese has come to trust and believe in is threatened as David spirals out of control.

This book tells the story of one of Argentina’s greatest tennis players, the most important of his generation. After winning the 2009 U.S. Open, defeating Roger Federer in a glorious five-set final, del Potro was poised to take over the tennis world. However, wrist problems developed and del Potro endured three surgeries over fifteen months. One of the world's most popular players, del Potro's fan base grew as he made his comeback—watching him win his second Olympic medal in Rio in 2016, where he once lost to Andy Murray, but won the hearts of millions around the world. He followed up by leading Argentina to victory in the Davis Cup. Described as the "Gentle Giant," del Potro has the sensitivity to comfort a ball girl hit during a match, to stop in the middle of the game to gaze at a butterfly, and to accompany a young fan in the last days of his life. However, when he grips the racket, he becomes one of the most destructive strikers of a tennis ball.

Jimmy Connors took the tennis world by storm like no player in the history of the game. A shaggy-haired working-class kid from the wrong side of the tracks, he was prepared to battle for every point, to shout and scream until he was heard, and he didn't care whom he upset in doing so. He was brash, he was a brat. He was a crowd-pleaser, a revolutionary. And he won more tournaments - an astonishing 109 - than any other man in history, including eight Grand Slam singles titles.Only now is Connors ready to set the record straight on what really happened on and off the court. The rivalry with John McEnroe, that frequently threatened to turn violent. His romance with Chris Evert, which made them the sweethearts of the sport. The escapades with his partner in crime, Ilie Nastase. The deep roots of the fierce determination that made him the best player on the planet.This is no genteel memoir of a pillar of the tennis establishment. Unflinching, hard-hitting, humorous and passionate, this is the story of the one and only Jimmy Connors.

A darkly funny sports memoir about a mid-life crisis, exercise addiction, tennis, and how to grow up when you really, really don't want toAt forty-one, Scarlett Thomas was a successful novelist and a senior academic. She'd quit smoking, gotten healthier, settled down in a lovely house with a wonderful partner. She'd had all the therapy. Then her beloved dog died. Her parents started to get sick right around the time she realized she was never going to be a mother herself. For the first time in her life, maintaining her ideal weight had become nearly impossible. She was supposed to grow up, but she didn't know how. So instead she decided to regress, to go back to the thing she'd loved best as a child but had inexplicably abandoned: tennis. Thomas knows she's not the only person to have wondered whether throwing enough money and time and passion at something can make your dream come true. 41-Love is heartbreaking but frequently funny as Thomas finds she'll do anything to win--almost anything.

The tennis virtuoso strikes each ball with a watchmaker's precision. But he's more than a Swiss national hero, enthralling the masses across the world with his elegant play, his groundedness and his resilience. At 37, the father of four is still diligently increasing his stardom. He is considered not just the best tennis player in history, but one of the greatest athletes of all time. This book is a bestseller in Europe and is now available in English for the first time.

This New York Times bestselling biography tells the life story of the most iconic men's tennis player of the modern era.There have been other biographies of Roger Federer, but never one with this kind of access to the man himself, his support team, and the most prominent figures in the game, including such rivals as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Roddick. In The Master, New York Times correspondent Christopher Clarey sits down with Federer and those closest to him to tell the story of the greatest player in men's tennis.Roger Federer has often made it look astonishingly easy through the decades: carving backhands, gliding to forehands, leaping for overheads and, in his most gravity-defying act, remaining high on a pedestal in a world of sports rightfully flooded with cynicism. But his path from temperamental, bleach-blond teenager with dubious style sense to one of the greatest, most self-possessed and elegant of competitors has been a long-running act of will, not destiny. He not only had a great gift. He had grit.Christopher Clarey, one of the top international sportswriters working today, has covered Federer since the beginning of his professional career. He was in Paris on the Suzanne Lenglen Court for Federer's first Grand Slam match and has interviewed him exclusively more than any other journalist since his rise to prominence. Here, Clarey focuses on the pivotal people, places, and moments in Federer's long and rich career: reporting from South Africa, South America, the Middle East, four Grand Slam tournaments, and Federer's native Switzerland. It has been a journey like no other player's, rife with victories and a few crushing defeats, one that has redefined enduring excellence and made Federer a sentimental favorite worldwide.The Master tells the story of Federer's life and career on both an intimate and grand scale, in a way no one else could possibly do.

The tennis star recounts her life and athletic career, from childhood, through her athletic successes, to her life after professional tennis, and discusses the life lessons that she learned at every stage along the way.

Coaching for Life is an autobiographic journey into the mind and heart of a remarkable man. In his own well-chosen words Coach Annacone describes his life as player, coach and the friend of many who love and work in the field of tennis. This exceptional story is full of anecdotes and exciting passages of dynamic play and deep concentration from Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, to name only two of the many intimate portraits revealed here. In the words of Paul Annacone:"Coaching for Life is not about the sport of tennis as much as it is a process-oriented journey based on the sport of tennis. It is the life I have lived, and the front row seat from which I have watched some of the greatest players compete on the most majestic courts in the world. But it is also something that can be applied to our own day-to-day life."In this revelatory book tennis becomes the perfect metaphor for life. In explaining how to play with perseverance, rather than luck, Coach Annacone speaks for all of us--students, teachers, business pros, homemakers, parents, journeymen and women of all kinds, knowledge seekers and athletes on the cutting edge of their chosen game, whatever that game may be.Aristotle once said it this way---"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."We can always do better but it is best to do our best, says the author of this clear and positive paradigm for playing, living and being yourself at your best.The champion's way as clarified by the world greats of tennis always comes down to the basic truth of the following universal Annacone principles:--Work not only hard but smart--Commit and refine your process--Prepare for and accept adversity--Strengthen your game and see it clearly--Take pride in your resilience and reap the reward

Take Your Doubles Game to the Next Level!Whether you're trying to improve your doubles game or are just getting started playing tennis with a partner, The Art of Doubles is the book for you. Author Pat Blaskower is your personal coach, guiding and encouraging you and your partner to play winning tennis by showing you how to: • choose a compatible partner • determine your jobs on the court • learn poaching skills • communicate with each other and opposing teams • maintain mental toughness • use various formations and strategies • pick your shots intelligently • decide where to play: tournaments or leagues • and much, much more! The book also includes detailed court diagrams that show you how to execute offense, defense, and tactical plays; checklists that summarize the most important points of each chapter; and on-court drills to help you improve and refine your skills. The Art of Doubles is loaded with practical, proven tennis strategies that you can put to work immediately to see improvements in your own doubles game!

The incredible life of an astonishing athleteDylan Alcott has never let his disability get in the way of what he wanted to achieve. His family treated him no differently to any other kid, and it was the best thing they ever did. Growing up, Dylan always had a positive attitude to life. So when he discovered sport, he'd have a go at anything and could always be found at the centre of the action, giving his best and playing to win. Then he tried wheelchair basketball and tennis and was hooked.Fast forward ten years or so, and the now three-time Paralympic gold medallist, Order of Australia recipient, Grand Slam tennis champion and philanthropist combines elite sport with a love for music (he's a triple j radio announcer and is famous for his crowd surfing). But Dylan's greatest passion is changing the way those with disabilities are perceived, and to inspire young people - whether they have disabilities or are able-bodied - to achieve their dreams. It's a passion that drives him every day of his life.In Able, Dylan shares his story. It's the tale of someone who's proud of who he is, who has a go, does everything with heart and soul, who always sees the upside and never takes himself too seriously. As inspiring, honest and funny as its author, Able proves that for every one thing you can't do, there are 10,000 other things that you can.

"Splendid" —New York Times"Mind-bending." —Wall Street Journal"Brilliantly original. The best new novel I've read this year." —Salman RushdieA daring, kaleidoscopic novel about the clash of empires and ideas, told through a tennis match in the sixteenth century between the radical Italian artist Caravaggio and the Spanish poet Francisco de Quevedo, played with a ball made from the hair of the beheaded Anne Boleyn.The poet and the artist battle it out in Rome before a crowd that includes Galileo, a Mary Magdalene, and a generation of popes who would throw the world into flames. In England, Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII execute Anne Boleyn, and her crafty executioner transforms her legendary locks into those most-sought-after tennis balls. Across the ocean in Mexico, the last Aztec emperors play their own games, as the conquistador Hernán Cortés and his Mayan translator and lover, La Malinche, scheme and conquer, fight and f**k, not knowing that their domestic comedy will change the course of history. In a remote Mexican colony a bishop reads Thomas More’s Utopia and thinks that it’s a manual instead of a parody. And in today’s New York City, a man searches for answers to impossible questions, for a book that is both an archive and an oracle.Álvaro Enrigue’s mind-bending story features assassinations and executions, hallucinogenic mushrooms, bawdy criminals, carnal liaisons and papal schemes, artistic and religious revolutions, love and war. A blazingly original voice and a postmodern visionary, Enrigue tells the grand adventure of the dawn of the modern era, breaking down traditions and upending expectations, in this bold, powerful gut-punch of a novel.Game, set, match.“Sudden Death is the best kind of puzzle, its elements so esoteric and wildly funny that readers will race through the book, wondering how Álvaro Enrigue will be able to pull a novel out of such an astonishing ball of string. But Enrigue absolutely does; and with brilliance and clarity and emotional warmth all the more powerful for its surreptitiousness.”—Lauren Groff, New York Times-bestselling author of Fates and Furies"Engrossing... rich with Latin and European history." —The New Yorker"[A] bawdy, often profane, sprawling, ambitious book that is as engaging as it is challenging.” —Vogue

WASHINGTON POST BEST NONFICTION OF 2023KIRKUS REVIEWS' BEST BIOGRAPHIES OF 2023SHORLISTED FOR THE 2023 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR“A captivating book that brilliantly reveals an American sports legend long overlooked. Sally Jacobs tells the riveting story of Althea Gibson, my personal shero, who overcame daunting odds – on the tennis court and off - to stand at the world pinnacle of her sport and became an inspiration to many.” ― Billie Jean KingIn 1950, three years after Jackie Robinson first walked onto the diamond at Ebbets Field, the all-white, upper-crust US Lawn Tennis Association opened its door just a crack to receive a powerhouse player who would integrate "the game of royalty." The player was a street-savvy young Black woman from Harlem named Althea Gibson who was about as out-of-place in that rarefied and intolerant world as any aspiring tennis champion could be. Her tattered jeans and short-cropped hair drew stares from everyone who watched her play, but her astonishing performance on the court soon eclipsed the negative feelings being cast her way as she eventually became one of the greatest American tennis champions.Gibson had a stunning career. Raised in New York and trained by a pair of tennis-playing doctors in the South, Gibson’s immense talent on the court opened the door for her to compete around the world. She won top prizes at Wimbledon and Forest Hills time and time again. The young woman underestimated by so many wound up shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth II, being driven up Broadway in a snowstorm of ticker tape, and ultimately became the first Black woman to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the second to appear on the cover of Time. In a crowning achievement, Althea Gibson became the No. One ranked female tennis player in the world for both 1957 and 1958. Seven years later she broke the color barrier again where she became the first Black woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).In Althea, prize-winning former Boston Globe reporter Sally H. Jacobs tells the heart-rending story of this pioneer, a remarkable woman who was a trailblazer, a champion, and one of the most remarkable Americans of the twentieth century.

It is possible to play pain-free tennis for the rest of your life. One of the prerequisites is improving your fitness. However, it is not just any fitness. It needs to be mindful, purposeful, and perfectly suited for you. Nobody can tell you what is perfectly suited for you, only your body can. Listen to it because it will ask for what it needs. In your pursuit for maximum fitness and tennis performance, you need to be aware, patient, and disciplined. Carry this little book with you always and reread the chapters often. Each time you will discover something new. Learn to understand your body. Every exercise you do should be performed with the goal of increasing awareness of your body, and gradually building a new relationship with it. Learn how to free up the tightness and how to balance your strengths. The less pain you experience, the healthier and more functional you are, and the more your energy will increase. Treat the moments of stretching and myofascial release as time for meditation, relaxation, and introspection. Create daily routines that fit your lifestyle and treat them as essential for your fitness, well-being, and tennis performance. Think of your health and fitness in the long term. Be patient and disciplined in applying the new ways of exercising and treating your body. Remember that even modest effort applied over the long term will bring excellent results. Therefore, do not postpone your fitness until tomorrow and start today, even if it is just a little bit. Treat your body with respect and love. Treat the fitness as one of the necessary elements of your tennis game. Become fit for tennis and you will become fit for life, and tennis will be in your life forever. Practice your tennis fitness, for the love of it

An instant classic of American sportswriting—the tennis essays of David Foster Wallace, “the best mind of his generation” (A. O. Scott) and “the best tennis-writer of all time” (New York Times)Gathered for the first time in a deluxe collector's edition, here are David Foster Wallace's legendary writings on tennis, five tour-de-force pieces written with a competitor's insight and a fan's obsessive enthusiasm. Wallace brings his dazzling literary magic to the game he loved as he celebrates the other-worldly genius of Roger Federer; offers a wickedly witty disection of Tracy Austin's memoir; considers the artistry of Michael Joyce, a supremely disciplined athlete on the threshold of fame; resists the crush of commerce at the U.S. Open; and recalls his own career as a "near-great" junior player.Whiting Award-winning writer John Jeremiah Sullivan provides an introduction.

A riveting, revealing portrait of tennis champion and global icon Serena Williams that combines biography, cultural criticism, and sports writing to offer “a deep, satisfying meditation” (The New York Times) on the most consequential athlete of her time.There has never been an athlete like Serena Williams. She has dominated women’s tennis for two decades, changed the way the game is played, and—by inspiring Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff, and others—changed, too, the racial makeup of the pro game. But Williams’s influence has not been confined to the tennis court. As a powerful Black woman who struggled to achieve and sustain success, she has emerged as a cultural icon, figuring in conversations about body image, working mothers, and more.Seeing Serena chronicles Williams’s return to tennis after giving birth to her daughter—from her controversial 2018 US Open final against Naomi Osaka through a 2020 season that unfolded against a backdrop of a pandemic and protests over the killing of Black men and women by the police. Gerald Marzorati, who writes about tennis for The New Yorker, travels to Wimbledon and to Compton, California, where Serena and her sister Venus learned to play. He talks with former women’s tennis greats, sports and cultural commentators—and Serena herself. He observes Williams from courtside, on the red carpet, in fashion magazines, on social media. He sees her and writes about her prismatically—reflecting on her many, many facets.The result is an “enlightening…keen analysis” (The Washington Post) and energetic narrative that illuminates Serena’s singular status as the greatest women’s tennis player of all time and a Black woman with a global presence like no other.

See your tennis game as you never have before. See what it takes to improve consistency and performance on the court. Tennis Anatomy will show you how to ace the competition by increasing strength, speed, and agility for more powerful serves and more accurate shots. \nTennis Anatomy includes more than 72 of the most effective exercises, each with step-by-step descriptions and full-color anatomical illustrations highlighting muscles in action. \nTennis Anatomy goes beyond exercises by placing you on the baseline, at the net, and on the service line. Illustrations of the active muscles for forehands, backhands, volleys, and serves show you how each exercise is fundamentally linked to tennis performance. \n You'll also learn how exercises can be modified to target specific areas, improve your skills, and minimize common tennis injuries. Best of all, you'll learn how to put it all together to develop a training program based on your individual needs and goals. \n Whether you’re a serve and volleyer, baseliner, or all-court player, Tennis Anatomy will ensure that you step onto the court ready to dominate any opponent.

Levels of the Game is John McPhee's astonishing account of a tennis match played by Arthur Ashe against Clark Graebner at Forest Hills in 1968.It begins with the ball rising into the air for the initial serve and ends with the final point. McPhee provides a brilliant, stroke-by-stroke description while examining the backgrounds and attitudes which have molded the players' games."This may be the high point of American sports journalism"- Robert Lipsyte, The New York Times

Increase strength, power, agility, and quickness and take your game to a much higher level. Complete Conditioning for Tennis details how to make the most of your training time with exercises, drills, and programs designed to\n-assess your fitness level,\n-improve footwork,\n-increase speed and flexibility,\n-enhance stamina,\n-boost mental focus, and\n-prevent common injuries.\nAdditionally, the 90-minute DVD takes you on court and into the gym to demonstrate the drills and exercises used by the pros. \nEndorsed by the United States Tennis Association, Complete Conditioning for Tennis is simply the best guide to developing the highest level of athleticism for success in the sport.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKA “thoroughly captivating biography” (The San Francisco Chronicle) of American icon Arthur Ashe—the Jackie Robinson of men’s tennis—a pioneering athlete who, after breaking the color barrier, went on to become an influential civil rights activist and public intellectual.Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1943, by the age of eleven, Arthur Ashe was one of the state’s most talented black tennis players. He became the first African American to play for the US Davis Cup team in 1963, and two years later he won the NCAA singles championship. In 1968, he rose to a number one national ranking. Turning professional in 1969, he soon became one of the world’s most successful tennis stars, winning the Australian Open in 1970 and Wimbledon in 1975. After retiring in 1980, he served four years as the US Davis Cup captain and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985.In this “deep, detailed, thoughtful chronicle” (The New York Times Book Review), Raymond Arsenault chronicles Ashe’s rise to stardom on the court. But much of the book explores his off-court career as a human rights activist, philanthropist, broadcaster, writer, businessman, and celebrity. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ashe gained renown as an advocate for sportsmanship, education, racial equality, and the elimination of apartheid in South Africa. But from 1979 on, he was forced to deal with a serious heart condition that led to multiple surgeries and blood transfusions, one of which left him HIV-positive. After devoting the last ten months of his life to AIDS activism, Ashe died in February 1993 at the age of forty-nine, leaving an inspiring legacy of dignity, integrity, and active citizenship.Based on prodigious research, including more than one hundred interviews, Arthur Ashe puts Ashe in the context of both his time and the long struggle of African-American athletes seeking equal opportunity and respect, and “will serve as the standard work on Ashe for some time” (Library Journal, starred review).

Step onto the court confident, focused, and prepared to dictate the match and dominate your opponent. \n In Championship Tennis, world-class coach and regular Grand Slam clinician Frank Giampaolo and long-time Tennis magazine editor Jon Levey bring you expert instruction and professional insights to eliminate unforced errors, increase winning percentage, and improve your overall game. \n Inside, you’ll learn how to \n • assess individual skills, evaluate practice sessions, and analyze performance; \n • identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement; \n • customize your training and conditioning to your skill set, experience, and style of play; \n • increase the consistency and accuracy of your shots; and \n • control your emotions and mentally prepare for every match. \n You’ll also find the most effective, unparalleled drills for mastering groundstrokes, serves, volleys, and specialty shots as well as invaluable advice for improving anticipatory skills and recognizing, neutralizing, and countering your competition’s strengths and playing styles. \n Add a copy of Championship Tennis to your bookshelf and turn errors into winners and three-set losses into straight-set wins. This is a must-have resource for players and instructors seeking to maximize potential as quickly as possible.

#1 New York Times Bestseller ● A Peacock Original TV Series–Now Streaming! ● "Gripping."―Oprah.com● From Liane Moriarty, the bestselling author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, comes Apples Never Fall, a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest.The Delaney family love one another dearly―it’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other . . .If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?The four Delaney children―Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke―were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure―but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.

Tennis for the Rest of Us is a guide book for any new or inexperienced player, but with a lot to offer to more experienced players. Explaining why you are so bad in the beginning and why and how you'll get better, It offers hope in those frustrating early days in the sport. The book simply covers all the fundamental strokes and strategies for singles, doubles and mixed doubles. It also answers your questions on equipment, lessons, injuries, leagues, getting your kids involved, tennis pros, fashion and all in a humorous style that is informative while fun to read.

Tennis is a sport for a lifetime. It really is a game that you can enjoy long-term, both as a player and a spectator. Played all over the world on surfaces ranging from concrete to clay the game of tennis is exciting to watch and even more fun to play. \nWhether you’re an adult looking for a new challenge or a parent starting your kids off, Tennis For Dummies provides a terrific introduction to the sport. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, if you who want to start playing the game of tennis, but don’t have the motivation or information to do so, this book can show you the way. If you’re already into the game, you’ll find out how to take your skills to the next level. This easy-to-understand guide will introduce you to the basics of the game and show you what it takes to improve each time you step on the court. Tennis For Dummies also covers the following topics and much more: \nEquipping yours elf with the right apparel, racket, and accessories Polishing your strokes—from your serve to lobs Finding out how the game is scored Shaping up with physical conditioning Dealing with common tennis injuries such as shin splints and tennis elbow Sharpening your mental game Exploring the finer points of tennis etiquette, both on the court and in the stands Discovering how to find the best tennis instructor for you \nWhether you’re interested in playing singles or doubles, on hard court or clay, Tennis For Dummies will inspire you get out on a court and play. Featuring detailed photos, illustrations, and court diagrams this book can help you discover how the game of tennis is played and show you how to get the most out of yourself each and every time you pick up a racquet.

“In Robert Weintraub’s exhaustive biography, The Divine Miss Marble, he transports the reader into Marble’s vibrant world. It’s a dreamy, indomitable life worth reading about as today’s tennis tries to return to form.”—The Washington Post“An intriguing book about a fascinating woman…highly recommended.”—Library Journal (starred review)“Delightful and engrossing, this is a must for tennis fans.”—Publishers WeeklyThe story of 1930s tennis icon Alice Marble, and her life of sports, celebrity, and incredible mystery.Who was Alice Marble?In her public life, she was the biggest tennis star of the pre-war era, a household name like Joe DiMaggio and Joe Louis. She was famous for overcoming serious illness to win the biggest tournaments, including Wimbledon. She was also a fashion designer and trendsetter, a contributor to a pioneering new comic called Wonder Woman—and friend to the biggest names in Hollywood and society, like Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies, and members of families named Bloomingdale, Loew, and du Pont. She helped integrate tennis with her support of Althea Gibson, and even coached two young women who became stars in their own right: Billie Jean King and Sally Ride.Yet her private life provoked constant speculation while she was alive, and her own memoirs added layers of legend upon stories. According to Alice, she married a man who was killed in the skies over Europe during World War II. But who was the man she loved, and had he even existed? She was widely known for her patriotism during World War II. Had she really nearly given her life for her country as a spy, shot during a wild car chase fleeing foreign espionage agents?In The Divine Miss Marble, bestselling author Robert Weintraub traveled the country to uncover her fascinating story. And the more he learned about her, the more her mysteries and contradictions deepened. Alice was a powerful woman who knew her worth, demanding equal pay to men decades earlier than other female athletes; yet she was held in sway by a domineering, highly successful coach with whom she had a volatile relationship. She was renowned for her California style, and had a brilliant mind and the guts to overcome a lifetime of physical trauma.For the first time here, we come closer than ever before to the truths of this unforgettable life, and somehow it’s a story even more extraordinary than everything we already know about the divine Alice Marble.

Billie Jean King didn’t want to play Bobby Riggs. He baited and begged her for months while she ignored his catcalls and challenges. But after Margaret Court’s ignominious defeat in the so-called Mother’s Day Massacre, Billie knew what she had to do despite the personal and professional risks: take on the self-proclaimed male chauvinist pig and slay the myths about women and weakness. And so it was that King’s acquiescence led to the Battle of the Sexes, one of the most wildly surreal moments of the decadent 1970s. The worldwide event, showcasing three sets of tennis in a raucous Houston Astrodome, forever changed the social landscape for women.In A Necessary Spectacle, Selena Roberts, one of the country’s finest sportswriters and the only female sports columnist in the New York Times’ history, has created a masterful and entertaining journey through the 1970s and beyond, capturing the color and passion, tackiness and anger, prejudice and progress of an American culture in transition. At the heart of the story lies the intersection of two complex characters: Billie Jean King, the daughter of a homemaker and a firefighter who grew up in the Norman Rockwell tradition of the 1950s; and Bobby Riggs, the gambling son of a fundamentalist minister who won everlasting fame as a card-carrying sexist—not because he believed women to be inferior, but because he craved attention.Roberts enjoyed unprecedented access to the characters in this story, including numerous in-depth interviews with Billie Jean King and her former husband, Larry, as well as the friends and family of Bobby Riggs, who died in 1995. Essential details and insights also were provided through hours of conversation with key figures in the women’s rights movement and Title IX fight, including Gloria Steinem and Donna de Varona, and with tennis legends of the 1970s, such as Chris Evert, Margaret Court, Rosie Casals, and others. This book reveals the outsize personalities of Billie and Bobby; the intensity and intricacy of the Kings’ longtime marriage; the simmering social revolution that pitted chauvinists against feminists and tennis players against each other; and a wrenching coming-out story recounted in intimate detail by Billie Jean King for the first time. By the end of the book, Roberts has traced the cultural continuum of Billie and Bobby’s night at the Astrodome. She relates its significance to the day Richard Williams began hitting bald tennis balls to his pigtailed daughters, Venus and Serena; to the glorious afternoon when more than 90,000 fans watched as the U.S. women’s soccer team won the 1999 World Cup; and, ultimately, to the present day’s second-generation battle to keep Title IX alive. The book’s poignant last scene between Billie and Bobby serves to remind us how much of an effect that 1973 match—and the passion it fueled for change—continues to have on American society, showing how necessary it was, and how necessary it remains.1973. The Battle of the Sexes.It was the match that changed everything. In this riveting book by New York Times sports columnist Selena Roberts, the whole spectacle returns, larger than life and more important than ever. This story reaches beyond two outsize and utterly fascinating personalities who emerged during a simmering social revolution that pitted chauvinists against feminists. It also chronicles the complex, longtime marriage of Billie Jean and Larry King; the cavalcade of issues that rocked the 1970s, from equal pay to abortion rights; and a wrenching coming-out story recounted in intimate detail by Billie Jean King for the first time.

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • An inspiring and intimate self-portrait of the champion of equality that encompasses her brilliant tennis career, unwavering activism, and an ongoing commitment to fairness and social justice.“A story about the personal strength, immense growth, and undeniable greatness of one woman who fearlessly stood up to a culture trying to break her down.”—Serena WilliamsIn this spirited account, Billie Jean King details her life's journey to find her true self. She recounts her groundbreaking tennis career—six years as the top-ranked woman in the world, twenty Wimbledon championships, thirty-nine grand-slam titles, and her watershed defeat of Bobby Riggs in the famous "Battle of the Sexes." She poignantly recalls the cultural backdrop of those years and the profound impact on her worldview from the women's movement, the assassinations and anti-war protests of the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and, eventually, the LGBTQ+ rights movement.She describes the myriad challenges she's hurdled—entrenched sexism, an eating disorder, near financial peril after being outed—on her path to publicly and unequivocally acknowledging her sexual identity at the age of fifty-one. She talks about how her life today remains one of indefatigable service. She offers insights and advice on leadership, business, activism, sports, politics, marriage equality, parenting, sexuality, and love. And she shows how living honestly and openly has had a transformative effect on her relationships and happiness.Hers is the story of a pathbreaking feminist, a world-class athlete, and an indomitable spirit whose impact has transcended even her spectacular achievements in sports.