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Ep 91: Book Club: A Handful of Summers by Gordon Forbes
The Tennis Abstract Podcast
English - January 20, 2021 05:00 - 47 minutes - 1 Byte - ★★★★★ - 22 ratingsSports tennis analytics stats statistics tactics wimbledon us open australian open roland garros roger federer Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Carl and I recap the podcast's first book club selection, Gordon Forbes's well-regarded 1978 memoir of 1950s and 1960s amateur tennis. We talk about what we learned about pre-Open Era tennis, what set Rod Laver apart from his peers, how Forbes stacked up as a player, and whether the lifestyles of amateur and pro players were really so different. We also address the tricky subject of how to read a memoir with very of-the-time attitudes toward women, barely an acknowledgement of apartheid, and a 2017 prologue that has nothing to say about either issue. Despite those reservations, there's much in the book to appreciate.