From beginnings on a gravel court on a farm in rural South Africa, Gordon Forbes went on to travel the world with his long-time tennis partner Abe Segal during the late 1950s and early 60s: the glory days of Fred Perry, Roy Emerson and Virginia Wade. In this delightful insider’s account of tennis on the international circuit, Forbes looks back with laughter at his tennis playing years through a varied, successful and often outrageous career on the world’s courts.

This newly published edition of A Handful Of Summers brings back a cult classic, revealing an era populated by the most colourful tennis players of all time. More about the hilarious escapades of players than the game itself, the book begins with a short series of vignettes from Forbes’s childhood on an Eastern Cape farm in South Africa, then takes the reader on a tennis tour – into locker rooms and restaurants, narrow streets and small hotels, and onwards to the lawns of Wimbledon and the caramel coloured clays of Roland Garros.

A player of international repute, Gordon Forbes has managed to capture the irresistible charm of an era while telling the story of a young man striving to follow signposts on the winding roads of life.

For much of the past decade, William Skidelsky has not been able to stop thinking about Roger Federer, the greatest and most graceful tennis player of all time. It's a devotion that has been all-consuming.

In Federer And Me, Skidelsky asks what it is about the Swiss star that transfixes him, and countless others. He dissects the wonders of his forehand, reflects on his rivalry with Nadal, revels in his victories and relives his most crushing defeats. But this is more than just a book about Federer. In charting his obsession, Skidelsky explores the evolution of modern tennis, the role of beauty in sport and the psychology of fandom, weaving his own past into the story.

Thought-provoking and beautifully written, Federer And Me is a frank, funny and touching account of one fan's life.

An intimate self-portrait encompassing the life, times, and career of one of the most transformative individuals--let alone athletes--of recent times.

Journeying from a blue-collar childhood to shatter tennis's exclusive country-club culture, Billie Jean King paved the way for a more open, inclusive, and equal sports environment. In her memoir, she takes us behind the scenes of the pro tennis tour, through her five years as the top-ranked woman in the world, her twenty Wimbledon championships, her thirty-nine grand-slam titles, and her watershed defeat of Bobby Riggs in the famous "Battle of the Sexes."

With her ever-present candour, King also describes the high personal price of public greatness. We see how she struggled to live authentically and the challenges she grappled with beneath the mask of fame, including entrenched sexism, an eating disorder and struggles with her sexual identity until her "outing" by a former lover led her to embrace her true self. We come to understand how, through it all, her unshakeable integrity, resilience, and sense of purpose allowed her time and again to overcome her obstacles, and, at a few dire moments, to rebound from near ruin.

Hers is the story of a pathbreaking fighter for equality, world-class athlete, and an indomitable spirit.

He is one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court – but from early childhood Andre Agassi hated the game.

Coaxed to swing a racket while still in the crib, forced to hit hundreds of balls a day while still in grade school, Agassi resented the constant pressure even as he drove himself to become a prodigy, an inner conflict that would define him. Now, in his beautiful, haunting autobiography, Agassi tells the story of a life framed by such conflicts.

Agassi makes us feel his panic as an undersized seven-year-old in Las Vegas, practicing all day under the obsessive gaze of his violent father. We see him at thirteen, banished to a Florida tennis camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning fast return.

And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world's best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight he becomes a fan favorite and a media target.

Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match, and every public relationship. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals, Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals the depression that shatters his confidence, and the mistake that nearly costs him everything. Finally, he recounts his spectacular resurrection and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one.

In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf.

With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be read and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate readers who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi's game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed and power.

An intimate, original biography of tennis legend Rafael Nadal, and the first to cover his entire career.

After his award-winning look at Roger Federer, Christopher Clarey, one of the world's pre-eminent tennis writers, focuses his lens on Nadal, the Spanish force of nature. When he arrived on the scene in 2005, the record for men's singles titles at the French Open stood at six. Nadal more than doubled that total to a mind-blowing fourteen titles: one of the greatest sporting achievements in history.

Nadal won big and won often on all of tennis's surfaces: securing two Wimbledon titles on grass and six on the US Open and Australian Open hard courts. But clay, the grittiest of the game's playgrounds, is where it all came together best for his whipping forehand and warrior mindset.

Clarey, who has covered Nadal since he was seventeen, draws on interviews over twenty years with Nadal, his team and rivals like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Brimming with behind-the-scenes insight, The Warrior tells the story of a global sporting icon, interlacing man and place in a unique, must-read account of the evolution of excellence.

Formerly reserved for the elite, tennis has become a popular sport over the years. And even if you don't play yourself, the tennis lifestyle exerts a certain fascination. It's not uncommon at Grand Slams like Wimbledon to find it more interesting who's watching from the stands than who's down on the court. However, famous tennis personalities are also a source of conversation - just remember John McEnroe's infamous outbursts. This, the ultimate tennis book is dedicated to the stories on and off the court, it explains the history of the sport, shows the most important courts and tournaments, the most exciting competitions and legendary athletes. Tennis fashion and equipment are also covered, and who knows, maybe after reading this entertaining tennis compendium you will feel the need to pick up a racket. Text in English and German.

A great technique is not enough. To succeed in tennis, each day you must overcome challenges that affect where and how you play. Playing Tennis like a Pro addresses these challenges with its clear focus on empowering you to make the decisions that are right for you and your game. Drawing upon his personal experience on the tennis circuit, William Ralston analyses the key stages on the journey to becoming a more successful tennis player, combining his own knowledge with that of some of the sport's leading players, coaches and experts. While guiding you through the trickier aspects of the sport, Playing Tennis like a Pro helps you to find answers to those all-important doubts that can so often hold you back from realizing your potential. With colour photos and explanatory illustrations, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the techniques, equipment, strategy and tactics used in the modern game.If you are a keen player at intermediate level or beyond and looking to raise your game with invaluable insights into the methods of the pros, this is the book for you.

Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2021 One of The Times 50 Best Sports Books of 2021 Little Wonder tells the epic, and until now largely unchronicled, story of Lottie Dod, the first great heroine in women's sports. Dod was a champion tennis player, golfer, hockey player, tobogganist, skater, mountaineer, and archer. She was also a first-rate musician, performing numerous choral concerts in London in the 1920s and 1930s, including in a private performance before the King and Queen. In the late 19th century, Dod was almost certainly the second most famous woman in the British Isles, bested only by the fame of Queen Victoria. She was fawned over by the press, and loved by a huge fan base - which composed poems and songs in her honor, followed her from one tournament to the next, voraciously read every profile published on her and every report on her sporting triumphs. Yet, within a decade or two of her retirement from sports, Dod was largely a forgotten figure. She lived, unmarried and childless, until 1960, and for the last half of her life she was shrouded in obscurity. In this new book, Sasha Abramsky brings Lottie's remarkable achievements back into the public eye in a fascinating story of resilience and determination.

The long-awaited sequel to the bestselling classic memoir, A Handful of Summers. Gordon Forbes played for the South African Davis Cup team in the 50s and early 60s and returned to the circuit as a writer and observer. In 'Too Soon to Panic' he takes the readers behind the scenes at the big tournaments - Wimbledon, Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows; Germany, Spain and Italy - and introduces them to many of tennis's most extraordinary and dynamic characters, including Mark McCormack, Rod Laver, Jim Courier and Andre Agassi. Crammed with riotously funny anecdotes and vivid evocations of the innocence and camaraderie of the game in Forbes's day - when tennis as still a gentlemanly, amateur and often rather ramshackle affair - and insightful observations on today's glamorous game - where money reigns and sheer strength sometimes seems to conquer skill - Forbes explores the remarkable changes that have come over the sport in the last forty years.

The Sunday Times bestselling autobiography from the greatest tennis player of his generation.

No tennis player since Andre Agassi has captivated the world like Rafael Nadal. He's a rarity in today's sporting arena - a true sportsman who chooses to let his raw talent, dedication and humility define him. Rapidly closing in on his friend and rival Roger Federer's record haul of 16 grand slam victories, Nadal is an extraordinary competitor whose ferocity on court is made even more remarkable by his grace off it. This book takes us to the heart of Nadal's childhood, his growth as a player, and his incredible career.

It includes memorable highs and lows, from victory in the 2008 Wimbledon final - a match that John McEnroe called the 'greatest game of tennis ever played' - to the injury problems that have frequently threatened his dominance of the sport, to becoming the youngest player of the open era to complete a career Grand Slam in 2010. It transports us from Nadal's lifelong home on the island of Majorca to the locker room of Centre Court as he describes in detail the pressures of competing in the greatest tournament in the world.

It offers a glimpse behind the racquet to learn what really makes this intensely private person - who has never before talked about his home life - tick. And it provides us with a story that is personal, revealing and every bit as exciting as Nadal himself.

He's been called the best in the world at the mental game of tennis. Brad Gilbert's strokes may not be pretty, but looks aren't everything. He has beaten the Tour's biggest names - all by playing his ugly game. Now in Winning UglyGilbert teaches recreational players how to win more often without necessarily even changing their strokes. The key to success, he says, is to become a better thinking player - to recognize, analyze and capitalize. That means outthinking your opponents before, during and much after a match; forcing him or her to play your game. Winning Ugly is an invaluable combat manual for the court, and its tips include some real gems. Ultimately, Winning Uglywill help you beat players who have been beating you.

The pristine grass and white uniforms of Wimbledon and the aggressive hard courts of the U.S. Open have inspired tens of thousands of amateur tennis players in North America. Millions of people watch the tournaments each year on television and the stars of recent decades are household names, but relatively few people know the history of the game. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance it was a ""jeu de paume,"" a game played at French and English royal courts with hands rather than rackets. The modern game, however, dates from 1874, when Major Walter Clopton Wingfield developed a variation on the game for the amusement of his house guests in Wales. After he laid out the basic rules, the game spread quickly--the first championship at Wimbledon was held in 1877, followed soon after by the first American tournament in 1880.

Published in association with the All England Lawn Tennis Club--better known as Wimbledon--this attractive, collectible book examines the history of the rules of tennis from their first codification to the present day. Included is a fascinating introduction by John Barrett, the BBC's now retired "voice of tennis" who played in twenty-one consecutive Wimbledon Championships, that looks at the circumstances of the composition of the first rules, their scope, and evolution. "The Original Rules of Tennis "is a must for spectators and players alike.""

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.