Changeover: A Young Rivalry and a New Era of Men's Tennis

(Hardback)

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* A BLOOMBERG 10 BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER 2025 *

The story of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and their epic new rivalry, as told by "the best tennis writer in America" (Brian Phillips, The Ringer).

For more than two decades, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer dominated mens tennis so thoroughly that it became difficult to imagine how the game would keep its shine once they retired.

Then came 2024the first year since 2002 that none of them won a Grand Slam tournamentand a technicolor future was revealed. The major titles were divided between a pair of prodigies in their early twenties: the effervescent showman Carlos Alcaraz, whose infinite variety of shots won him the French Open and Wimbledon; and the relentlessly cool Jannik Sinner, whose power and precision secured him the Australian Open and US Open even amid a doping controversy. Though other young contenders jostled for the spotlight, and Djokovic tried to hold his ground, the transcendentally gifted Alcaraz and Sinner just kept installing their new regime.

Punctuated with humor, brimming with insight, and rooted in a true fans love of the game, this work of elevated sports journalism is a captivating primer to the rivalry poised to define the next decade of the sport.

Reviews

Giri Nathan is the best tennis writer in America. When too many of us are busy looking back at the era that's ending, he's written a book that looks forward, with optimism and insight, to the era that lies ahead. Changeoveris an absolute joy.
BRIAN PHILLIPS,New York Times bestselling author of Impossible Owls and senior staff writer at The Ringer

What strikes and delights me about Changeover is the tenderness with which Giri Nathan speaks on the page. The book is warm, inviting, curious, and abundantly caring.
HANIF ABDURRAQIB,New York Times bestselling author of There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension

Atour de forceas dazzling as any Sinner-Alcaraz match. Stylish, smart, funny, and humane. I'll return toChangeoveragain and again."
LOUISA THOMAS,New York Times bestselling coauthor of Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football and staff writer at The New Yorker

Giri Nathan is our best young tennis writer: Avid, shrewd, droll, culturally attuned, searching. Changeover is Nathan in full flight.
GERALD MARZORATI,author of Seeing Serena and Late to the Ball

Deftly weaving between awestruck wonderment and playful irreverence, Nathan breathes fresh life into tennis prosejust as Sinner and Alcaraz have done on court, and with just as many jaw-dropping highlights.
BEN ROTHENBERG, author of Naomi Osaka

A riveting exploration of the most electrifying new rivalry in tennis.Nathan brings to the page a rare giftsome writerly blend of Alcaraz's creativity and Sinner's precision. Changeover is a triumph.
BEN TAUB, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New Yorker

Given how ubiquitous Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have become, its easy to forget the speed with which these players have come to dominate mens tennis Nathan, a co-founder of the sports siteDefector, captures the phenomenon astutely. His propulsive book is the first to chronicle the two athletes in such depth.
BLOOMBERG, The 10 Best Books of Summer 2025

Author Bio

Giri Nathan is a staff writer and cofounder at Defector Media. His writing has appeared in New Yorkmagazine,The Washington Post,The Guardian, The New York Times,National Geographic,The New Yorker, and The Believer. He is the senior correspondent at tennis outletThe Second Serve. In 2022, he received the Tom Perrotta Prize for Tennis Journalism. His work was selected for the 2025 editions ofThe Years Best Sports Writing andThe Best American Food and Travel Writing.Follow him on X @GiriNathanfor his latest stories.