The Racket
On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation – and the other 99%
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Publishing:29th May '25
£10.99
This title is due to be published on 29th May, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£20.00(9781844886401)
THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024
'As elegant and powerful as a Federer backhand ... It’s Kitchen Confidential for tennis.' Ed Caesar
'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
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When Conor Niland was 16, he was chosen 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.
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'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
'Blending a passion for his chosen sport with a realistic study of the traumas of the tour, The Racket offers a brilliant insight from Ireland’s greatest ever tennis player.’ John Boyne
'A brilliant, unvarnished look at a brutal sporting life.' Michael Foley, Sunday Times
‘One of the best Irish sports books of the last decade’ Kieran Shannon, Irish Examiner
'This will rightly join the list of The Best Irish...
As elegant and powerful as a Federer backhand … It’s Kitchen Confidential for tennis -- Ed Caesar
A brilliant, unvarnished look at a brutal sporting life. -- Michael Foley * Sunday Times *
An entertaining behind-the-scenes glimpse at life on the global tour * Telegraph Best 50 Books of the Year *
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 thoughtfully constructed memoir … plenty of self-deprecating humour, poignancy and insight to make this a page-turner * The Times *
A visceral, melancholy and often self-lacerating book … History is usually written by the winners, but this intelligent, unvarnished, emotionally draining memoir shows why an also-ran’s perspective can be just as valuable -- Andrew Lynch * Business Post *
A crushing reminder of the grist from which sporting greatness emerges * The Economist *
One of the best Irish sports books of the last decade -- Kieran Shannon * Irish Examiner *
A fascinating, self-deprecating insight into the life of a tennis professional who isn’t one of the prize-grabbing elite * The Telegraph *
A stone-cold classic. The story of Conor Niland’s life in professional tennis … recently became the third Irish book ever win the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. And deservedly so. -- Malachy Clerkin * Irish Times *
ISBN: 9780241998076
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 15mm
Weight: 200g
272 pages