Gordon Forbes was a tennis player from South Africa who competed during the 1950s and 1960s. He won the French Open Mixed Doubles title in 1955 while partnered with Darlene Hard. Forbes also reached the men’s doubles finals at that same tournament in 1963. His playing career came mostly during the golden days of the amateur era before Open tennis forever changed the sport.
A Handful of Summers is Forbes’ memoir of his life with tennis. He is a gifted writer who maintained a personal journal and also wrote for Gladys Heldman’s World Tennis publication while he was competing. Original entries from his diary are interspersed throughout the book, providing the “in the moment” perspective that enhances his recollections shaped by hindsight.
Forbes was a journeyman in the sport during a time when almost all the players arguably bore that same distinction. Before big money came to tennis during the Open era, the players subsisted on “expenses” provided by the tournaments. At times, Forbes’ playing career was interrupted by the need to generate income.
A Handful of Summers describes Forbes’ friendship with Ted Tinling, the player who is better known as an iconic tennis fashion designer. He also rubbed elbows with many other key figures of the time, and his first-hand observations in his memoir are both entertaining and historically valuable. He was close with Torben Ulrich, whose eccentricities serve as artistic fodder for Forbes’ own observations about the nature of tennis.
Forbes also wrote on the topic of Jimmy Van Alen. He joked that Van Alen tried to explain the tenth revision of his “Simplified Scoring System” to him but that it was too complicated for anyone to understand. That is a fascinating glimpse into player perception of Van Alen’s efforts at innovation in the sport.
While Forbes is a talented writer, some of the coming-of-age stories in this book would be considered raunchy if not for his elegant prose. Consequently, I would not recommend this book for the eyes and ears of younger children. On the other hand, some of his passages on the nature of tennis are so profound and beautiful that excerpts should be read by all current and future tennis enthusiasts.
Perhaps because his only Grand Slam title came in mixed doubles, or maybe because his younger sister also competed in the sport, Forbes genuinely appreciated women’s tennis. At the same time, the book is interspersed with annoyance at women’s matches that dragged on too long, delaying the start times of the men’s events.
He credits Billie Jean King, Margaret Court, Maria Bueno, Virginia Wade, and his Grand Slam Mixed Doubles partner, Darlene Hard, with transforming the sport for their gender. He considered “the girls” to be an important part of tennis history.
A Handful of Summers is an important first-hand account of life on tour during the final golden days of the amateur era of tennis. It is also a beautiful testimonial to the sport. I highly recommend it to all tennis enthusiasts.
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