The Racket Audiobook By Conor Niland cover art

The Racket

On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation – and the other 99%

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The Racket

By: Conor Niland
Narrated by: Conor Niland
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Brought to you by Penguin.

When Conor Niland was 16, he got the chance 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.

©2024 Conor Niland (P)2024 Penguin Audio Sports Tennis Witty
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I’m a casual tennis fan, general sports fan and enjoy a good sports biography and this was one of my favourites. He doesn’t try to portray a certain image, it’s a very honest book. His degree in literature was put to good use as it is very well written.

Very honest and interesting

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a very well-written book. It tells the s side of the tennis world that we are all oblivious to.

Well written and insightful

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This book provides excellent insight into how gruelling life on tour is for tennis professionals outside the top 100. As someone very interested in the sport, it provides a unique view into the travel, work, and finances that go into trying to make it big as a tennis player. Engaging throughout and very well narrated by Connor Niland.

Fantastic book about life behind the scenes of a tennis pro

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The path to enter a Grand slam tournament requires intensive dedication and discipline and the rewards on that journey can be painfully paltry.

A very hard life

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Conner Niland provides such a heartfelt and realistic description of what lower level professional tennis players must endure as they try to climb up the rankings ladder and make a living at the thing they have been training for nearly their entire lives. There are really two story lines - how he grew up playing tennis in Ireland (a country not known for tennis) and how he (and others) chased their dreams of a professional career in tennis. The travel, loneliness, lack of financial support, grueling schedules, etc. endured in pursuit of the dream. A great explanation of it all, told in a sincere, and sometimes funny, way. A must read/listen for any junior or parents of juniors who aspire to play professionally.

Hats off to the 99%!

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