An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
Christopher Clarey is a well established and highly regarded tennis correspondent for the New York Times. As such, he was a witness to Roger Federer’s first ever match at a major, a loss to to Patrick Rafter in the first round of 1999 French Open qualifiers. The following year, he again saw Federer play in person at the Sydney Olympics. Clarey enjoyed frequent and unparalleled access to Federer throughout his career.
Alice Marble is one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of tennis. She was a tennis superstar whose dominance on the court put her in a position to hobnob with some of the biggest names in Hollywood and society. Her private life is the subject of legend and sometimes venture well past the mark of “too good to be true.” The mystery only increases her allure.
Slightly over a decade ago, Venus Williams was the lead author on a book about how athletics has shaped highly successful business leaders. The premise of the book is that athletic competition develops essential life skills including teamwork, problem solving, resilience, time management, and commitment. Those attributes are also important in the boardroom. Some of the leaders featured in the book competed professionally. Other contributors played collegiate and junior sports.
Brad Gilbert is arguably of one of the best tour level coaches ever to work in professional tennis. Under his leadership, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick rose to #1 on the ATP rankings list. Their success was in large part to Gilbert’s philosophy on winning. As it turns out, those ideas on performance are also applicable in a corporate setting. In 2005, Gilbert distilled his coaching wisdom into a very good book targeted at business leaders.
Katrina Adams has a long list of firsts. She was the first African American President of the USTA. She was also the youngest, the first former professional player, and the first person to serve two consecutive terms in that role. To say that she is a trailblazer is an understatement.
Team tennis is a recurring theme in recent interviews with Billie Jean King as she promotes her latest autobiography, “All In.” To this day, she believes that team tennis is a promising format that can ultimately draw new fans to the sport. In Billie Jean King’s vision, tennis is best when women and men compete together.
Elizabeth Wilson is a cultural historian who turned her attention to the game of tennis in ‘Love Game: A History of Tennis from Victorian Pastime to Global Phenomenon.’ The book is a sweeping history of the sport viewed through the lens of the world around it. The result is a brilliant and densely packed intellectual examination of tennis. It is a “must-read” for true tennis enthusiasts.
William Skidelsky is a literary editor for the Observer who stepped away from junior tennis before returning to the sport as an adult. “Federer and Me: A Story of Obsession” is a memoir of his life framed out against his super fandom of Roger Federer. It is a brilliant literary tactic that makes his own story relatable while simultaneously drawing in Federer super-fans who similarly obsess over the player.
I have never personally experienced tennis elbow. I want to attribute that statement to good stroke mechanics and diligent strength training, but it probably has more to do with luck. Previously, when people in my orbit asked me about treatment options for tennis elbow, I really didn’t have much to offer. That all changed when a copy of Tennis Elbow Relief: Serving up solutions for lateral epicondylitis by Emma Green first hit my hands.
Leading up to the release of ‘All In: An Autobiography’ by Billie Jean King last week, this site reviewed many of the previous books about her life. One notable omission was ‘Billie Jean King’ with Frank Deford. It was a simple matter of logistics. A copy of the Deford book did not fall into my hands until shortly after ‘All In’ was released. In retrospect that may have been a stroke of luck. The Billie Jean King biography is arguably best consumed after first reading ‘All In.’