Tennis Hits the Books
After my recent reading of John McPhee’s Levels of the Game, I came to the realization that I needed to brush up on my knowledge of the tennis career of Arthur Ashe. His memoir Days of Grace seemed to be an obvious place to start. Additionally, since February is Black History month, the timing is perfect. As a bonus, a hardcover edition of Days of Grace was already languishing on a shelf in my family room.
The books that live in my family room are in that location as a part of the decoration. I like books as accent pieces. They create a warm and cultured feeling. At the same time, the titles on display in my family room have been carefully curated because they are a semi-public reflection of myself and our family. The thing is… until last week, I hadn’t yet gotten around to actually reading Days of Grace. I’m trying to not think too hard about what that might actually mean.
I was midway into my reading of Days of Grace when I had the realization that it is not a book about tennis. In actuality it is a book about a person who happens to be a tennis player. When Days of Grace was written, Arthur Ashe had been diagnosed with AIDS and was most certainly aware that he was likely to die in the near future. In fact, he passed away before the book was published.
Days of Grace details Ashe’s tenure as the US Davis Cup Captain and dishes up scintillating detail about what it was like to attempt to wrangle the strong personality that was John McEnroe. Jimmy Connors rarely played for the US in the Davis Cup, but the two occasions when he did was under Ashe’s captaincy. From a strictly tennis perspective, the book is valuable for the Davis Cup insights alone.
Ashe was widely thought of as sensitive and reserved. Days of Grace reinforces that persona while pulling back the curtain on his own self reflections. He succinctly distilled his personal outlook early in the book. “I learned not so much to turn the other cheek, as to present, wherever possible, no cheek at all.”
Days of Grace is a powerful account of what it was like to be diagnosed with AIDS when the disease first emerged and effective treatments did not exist. There was tremendous social stigma of an AIDS diagnosis because the disease was primarily ravaging homosexual males. The public innuendo swirling around any victim was that “immoral” behavior had probably led to the infection. Ashe strongly denied being a closeted homosexual while at the same time outlining the tragedy that the victims of the disease were compelled to make such declarations.
Currently another infectious disease is spreading and impacting lives on a global basis. This makes Ashe’s observations about the politics of discovering and developing treatments seem both current and relevant. For example, the leading expert on AIDS in the United States at the time was one Dr. Anthony Faucci. I’ve heard of him. Faucci’s thought and insights on treatment of AIDS spans a few pages in Days of Grace.
Ultimately Arthur Ashe’s memoir is a thoughtful and insightful account of how society deals with infectious disease. The themes stand up effectively to the test of time and resonate within the context of current events. I have no better summary than Ashe’s own observation made toward the end of the book.
Too many people seem determined to forget that although we are of different colors and beliefs, we are all members of the same human race, united by much more than the factors and forces that separate us.
Arthur Ashe, Days of Grace
It is the kind of book that stays with you forever. My copy of Days of Grace has been returned to its rightful position on the family room bookshelf. It is the embodiment of what we all should aspire to be.
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