Tennis Hits the Books
The Fiend at Court spousal unit gave me a really thoughtful birthday gift this year. Per the usual, I asked him if he wanted to know what he was getting me in advance of the date or if he preferred to be surprised this year. It is a very workable solution for the apparent fact that I am hard to shop for.
In “Tennis Literary Time Machine,” I wrote about a list of tennis books that was available for purchase from the USTA in 1980. I waxed nostalgic over Watch the ball, Bend your knees, That’ll be $20 please! by Ed Collins. That essay sparked a quest to find a copy of that book. Thus it became a very thoughtful birthday gift.
Usually when I write about a book each Thursday, I include a link to amazon where it can be purchased. This post is absent that information. The simple fact of the matter is that Watch the ball, Bend your knees, That’ll be $20 please! has been out of print for a long time. Additionally, used copies are somewhat hard to find in the secondary market. There isn’t a stable amazon link to provide.
My long and protracted quest for the book sparked a realization that there have been multiple revisions of this title. This was reflected in a title change associated with each update that traces the evolutionary history of the price of a tennis lesson. For example, the cost of a tennis lesson reflected in the title started at $5. If this book was to be revised for the current era — and I wholeheartedly endorse the idea that it should — the last part of the title would be along the lines of “That’ll be $80 please.”
Ed Collins was a noted tennis teacher and author. He wrote a nationally syndicated tennis column, First One In, back in the seventies. It is kind of astonishing in the modern era to recall that there was once a point in recent history when a newspaper column on tennis was in national syndication.
Watch the ball, Bend your knees, That’ll be $20 please! is organized as a series of tennis lessons. Each lesson is succinctly and conveniently presented on two facing pages. There are 100 lessons total in the book. I actually counted them out before flipping back over to the cover to remember that the number is directly indicated there. I am like that sometimes.
In my initial thumb through of the lessons, I believe that most of the content is still relevant and accessible in the current era. More critically, the humor and entertainment value of the book still works in the modern context. I am delighted to have a copy in my hands again.
Even thought I have my own copy safely secured in my possession, I now have a heightened awareness of the scarcity of this title. I will be on the lookout for copies at second hand book stores and on the secondary market. I suggest that every serious student of the game do the same.
