The Racket: On Tour with Tenniss Golden Generation and the other 99%

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Description

A contemporary of Federer, Nadal and the Williams sisters brings us inside the strange and fascinating world of pro tennis When Conor Niland was 16, he got the chance to hit with Serena Williams at Nick Bollettieri's famed tennis academy. Conor, the Irish junior number one, was feeling a bit homesick. Serena, also 16, already owned her own house beside the academy. Conor Niland knows what it's like when Roger Federer walks into the dressing room ('Ciao, bonjour, hello!'), and he has had the exquisitely terrible experience of facing Novak Djokovic in the world's biggest tennis stadium - while suffering from food poisoning. But he never reached the very top. The Racket is the story of pro tennis's 99%- the players who roam the globe in hope of climbing the rankings and squeaking into the Grand Slam tournaments. It brings us into a world where a few dozen super-rich players - travelling with coaches and physios - share a stage with lonely touring pros whose earnings barely cover their expenses. Painting a vivid picture of the social dynamics on tour, the economics of the game, and the shadows cast by gambling and doping, The Racket is a witty and revealing underdog's memoir and a unique look inside a fascinating hidden world.

Reviews

If it's not a contender for Sports Book of the Year, the world has gone mad. -- Fionn Davenport * Off the Ball *
A brilliant, unvarnished look at a brutal sporting life. -- Michael Foley * The Sunday Times *
The Racket is as elegant and powerful as a Federer backhand a rich, mordant, affecting portrait of the occasional triumphs and frequent indignities of the low-ranked professional tennis player. I really loved it. Its Kitchen Confidential for tennis -- Ed Caesar
His funny, sometimes painful, memoir, is a brilliant insider's look at the brutally competitive world of tennis as well as a meditation on moments missed by inches. * Sunday Independent *
The Racket is as elegant and powerful as a Federer backhand a rich, mordant, affecting portrait of the occasional triumphs and frequent indignities of the low-ranked professional tennis player. I really loved it. Its Kitchen Confidential for tennis. -- Ed Caesar
Conor Niland may only have managed a career-high ranking of 129 only that is some achievement in itself! but The Racket, his account of how he managed this, is up there with the best half-dozen books on tennis ever written. -- Geoff Dyer
A really wonderful read ... Conor Niland has delivered an all-timer for tennis and sports journalism -- Ashlee Vance
Genuinely such a brilliant book, a brilliant read -- Ciarn Murphy * Second Captains *
I ate this book up ... reveals the sacrifices, commitment and decidedly unglamorous side of life on the tennis circuit -- Sinad Moriarty
Well worth a read if you want the inside track on life on the lower rungs of the tennis circuit. Warts and all. -- Judy Murray
Unsparing in his depiction of the drudgery of tennis -- Mike Jakeman * The Spectator *
One of the best Irish sports books of the last decade -- Kieran Shannon * Irish Examiner *
Compelling * Tennis365.com *
Brilliant book, I inhaled it -- Jonathan Drennan * Sydney Morning Herald *
This is terrific - devoured it in a day. If you want to understand life on the tennis tour at the level where you're your own manager, agent, coach, travel agent, physio, and trainer, this is the one. I've read many tennis autobiographies: this is one of the very best -- Charles Arthur
Thoroughly enjoying this engrossing read; sure to become a must read of the tennis literature canon -- Paul Perry
Witty and insightful an homage to the game he clearly still loves -- Anna Carey * Irish Times *
Blending a passion for his chosen sport with a realistic study of the traumas of the tour, The Racket offers a brilliant insight from Irelands greatest ever tennis player. -- John Boyne
This will rightly join the list of The Best Irish Sports Books Ever Written. A superb insight into professional tennis from the ground up. -- Paul Howard
An honest and droll memoir from the top-ranked Irish male player of the Open Era to have spent his career "reliant on Tennis Ireland" -- Laura Slattery * Irish Times *

Author Bio

Conor Niland grew up in Limerick, and was Ireland's top-ranked tennis player for much of his youth and all of his adult career. As a youth player he beat Roger Federer - and he still has his coach's notes on the match. His career peaked in 2011, when he reached the main draw of both Wimbledon and the US Open. He lives in Dublin with his wife and two children.