TENNIS: Myth and Method

Thirties' tennis champ Vines and journalist Vier pick--and pick apart--the ten best players in the game's history. On their list, in order: Budge, Kramer, Gonzales, Laver, Segura, Riggs, Rosewall, Hoad, Sedgman, and Trabert, each one of whom gets a chapter for a stroke-by-stroke analysis of his tennis genius. The authors feel they can dispense with today's stars in a few pages--which may be a mistake, judging from the cult-status that some of them enjoy. But that decision, one supposes, allows room to provide tips on grip, footwork (""with any good tennis player, the weight has shifted before ball contact has been made""), backhand volley (""the key to this shot is punching from the elbow""), return of serve, handling dink shots, and so on. The tips are nice, but you really have to be an aficionado to plow through the days-gone-by bits.