A Champion's Mind

Author: Pete Sampras
Publisher: Crown Archetype
ISBN: 0307410331
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
Pete Sampras is arguably the greatest tennis player ever, a man whose hard-nosed work ethic led to an unprecedented number one world ranking for 286 weeks, and whose prodigious talent made possible a record-setting fourteen Grand Slam titles. While his more vocal rivals sometimes grabbed the headlines, Pete always preferred to let his racket do the talking. Until now. In A Champion’s Mind, the tennis great who so often exhibited visible discomfort with letting people “inside his head” finally opens up. An athletic prodigy, Pete resolved from his earliest playing days never to let anything get in the way of his love for the game. But while this single-minded determination led to tennis domination, success didn’t come without a price. The constant pressure of competing on the world’s biggest stage—in the unblinking eye of a media machine hungry for more than mere athletic greatness—took its toll. Here for the first time Pete speaks freely about what it was like to possess what he calls “the Gift.” He writes about the personal trials he faced—including the death of a longtime coach and confidant—and the struggles he gutted his way through while being seemingly on top of the world. Among the book’s most riveting scenes are an early devastating loss to Stefan Edberg that led Pete to make a monastic commitment to delivering on his natural talent; a grueling, four-hour-plus match against Alex Corretja during which Pete became seriously ill; fierce on-court battles with rival and friend Andre Agassi; and the triumphant last match of Pete’s career at the finals of the 2002 U.S. Open. In A Champion’s Mind, one of the most revered, successful, and intensely private players in the history of tennis offers an intimate look at the life of an elite athlete.

Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited

Author: Steve Flink
Publisher: New Chapter Press
ISBN: 9781937559946
Category : Tennis players
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
In this career biography of Sampras, the author recaptures the magic of the man, recalling the supreme hold he had on his era, bringing this isngulary gifted player vividly back to life.

Open

Author: Andre Agassi
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007281439
Category : Jugadores de tenis
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Book Description
A stunning memoir by one of the world's most beloved athletes-a nuance portrait, an intensely candid account of a remarkable life, and a thrilling inside view of the pro tennis tour.

New Passages

Author: Gail Sheehy
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307763765
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 529

Book Description
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Millions of readers literally defined their lives through Gail Sheehy's landmark bestseller Passages. Seven years ago she set out to write a sequel, but instead she discovered a historic revolution in the adult life cycle. . . People are taking longer to grow up and much longer to die. A fifty-year-old woman--who remains free of cancer and heart disease-- can expect to see her ninety-second birthday. Men, too, can expect a dramatically lengthened life span. The old demarcations and descriptions of adulthood--beginning at twenty-one and ending at sixty-five--are hopelessly out of date. In New Passages, Gail Sheehy discovers and maps out a completely new frontier--a Second Adulthood in middle life. "Stop and recalculate," Sheehy writes. "Imagine the day you turn forty-five as the infancy of another life." Instead of declining, men and women who embrace a Second Adulthood are progressing through entirely new passages into lives of deeper meaning, renewed playfulness, and creativity--beyond both male and female menopause. Through hundreds of personal and group interviews, national surveys of professionals and working-class people, and fresh findings extracted from fifty years of U.S. Census reports, Sheehy vividly dramatizes these newly developing stages. Combining the scholar's ability to synthesize data with the novelist's gift for storytelling, she allows us to make sense of our own lives by understanding others like us. New Passages tells us we have the ability to customize our own life cycle. This groundbreaking work is certain to awaken and permanently alter the way we think about ourselves. "SHEEHY CLEARLY STATES IDEAS ABOUT LIFE THAT HAVE NEVER BEFORE BEEN AS CLEARLY STATED." --Los Angeles Times Book Review "AN OPTIMISTIC ANALYSIS OF ADULT DEVELOPMENT IN PESSIMISTIC TIMES. . . It is grounded in the economic and psychological realities that make adult life so complex today." --The New York Times Book Review

Tennis Maestros

Author: John Bercow
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1849547653
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Book Description
ROGER FEDERER. RAFAEL NADAL. NOVAK DJOKOVIC. At the highest echelons of tennis, a few names stand out. Dominating the rankings, these famous big hitters are unarguably among the finest players in the world, with multiple Grand Slams to their credit. But how do today's champions compare with those of earlier eras? From 'Big' Bill Tilden and Pancho Gonzalez to Rod Laver and Pete Sampras, who makes the grade as the greatest male singles player of all time? Better known as the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow has enjoyed a successful dual career in the tennis world as competitive junior player and qualified coach. Ideally placed to argue the merits of the maestros, in this fascinating guide he sets out to determine just who is the greatest of the greats. It is no easy task. Court surfaces and ball speeds have changed, racket technology has revolutionised the game, and trying to distinguish the best from the rest is as challenging as it is enjoyable. Drawing on published records of past glories, and offering his own analysis and reasoning, Bercow describes the accomplishments of twenty all-time tennis heroes and suggests a hall of fame from the unashamed vantage point of the lifelong enthusiast. Let the debate begin...

The Master

Author: Christopher Clarey
Publisher: Twelve
ISBN: 1538719258
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 474

Book Description
This New York Times bestselling biography tells the life story of the most iconic men's tennis player of the modern era. There have been other biographies of Roger Federer, but never one with this kind of access to the man himself, his support team, and the most prominent figures in the game, including such rivals as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Roddick. In The Master, New York Times correspondent Christopher Clarey sits down with Federer and those closest to him to tell the story of the greatest player in men's tennis. Roger Federer has often made it look astonishingly easy through the decades: carving backhands, gliding to forehands, leaping for overheads and, in his most gravity-defying act, remaining high on a pedestal in a world of sports rightfully flooded with cynicism. But his path from temperamental, bleach-blond teenager with dubious style sense to one of the greatest, most self-possessed and elegant of competitors has been a long-running act of will, not destiny. He not only had a great gift. He had grit. Christopher Clarey, one of the top international sportswriters working today, has covered Federer since the beginning of his professional career. He was in Paris on the Suzanne Lenglen Court for Federer's first Grand Slam match and has interviewed him exclusively more than any other journalist since his rise to prominence. Here, Clarey focuses on the pivotal people, places, and moments in Federer's long and rich career: reporting from South Africa, South America, the Middle East, four Grand Slam tournaments, and Federer's native Switzerland. It has been a journey like no other player's, rife with victories and a few crushing defeats, one that has redefined enduring excellence and made Federer a sentimental favorite worldwide. The Master tells the story of Federer's life and career on both an intimate and grand scale, in a way no one else could possibly do.

So You Want to Be a Tennis Pro?

Author: Noel Blundell
Publisher: Lothian Children's Books
ISBN: 9780850916669
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 182

Book Description

Golden Boy

Author: Larry Hodgson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780953651641
Category : Tennis players
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
A biography of one of tennis' most famous figures, Lew Hoad. Taking as its starting point Pete Sampras' visible distress as he learns of the death of his idol, the book traces Hoad's progress, from humble beginnings in a Sydney Suburb to his inexorable rise to sporting legend.

The Meaning of Sport

Author: Simon Barnes
Publisher: Short Books
ISBN: 1780720750
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
Takes you on a journey from the Olympic Games in Athens to the World Cup in Germany - via the Ashes series, the Ryder Cup, Wimbledon, and more. This book examines why sport holds us all in such thrall, how it uplifts and crushes us - and can seem to matter more than life itself.

Break Point

Author: Vince Spadea
Publisher: ECW Press
ISBN: 1554902703
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Book Description
Spadea gives a riveting and often hilarious account of the ultra-competitive world of pro tennis. Along the way, he analyses Agassi, Roddick, Federer, Navratilova, Sharapova et al in more colourful and personal terms than you've ever seen before!