The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century

ISBN: 158244076X

Author: Flink, Steve

Condition: New

The players capture and contain our attention as in no other
sporting event. Within the limited space defined by a single tennis court,
the infinite possibilities of skill and strategy, power and persistence, make
major matches between top flight competitors unique and, at their best,
historic.

The final scores do not fully convey the inherent drama when remarkable
athletic ability and psychological undercurrents are brought to the tennis
court in a confrontation between talented players. The mental calculation,
the probing for weakness, and physical stamina, are tested on surfaces that
vary, before audiences that may be partisan, and in weather that can confound
both predictions and outcomes. The game has evolved from a genteel pastime
for the wealthy into an international professional sport with high stakes and
fierce composition.

Author and tennis historian Steve Flink has examined the developing nature of
the game as it became a popular amateur sport, and then inexorably entered
the realm of professional sports with its large spectator facilities,
television coverage, and big purses.

Flink has illuminated that evolution by selecting thirty supremely
interesting and consequential matches played by both men and women over the
course of the twentieth century. He presents them chronologically and
provides an in-depth description of each match, including what happened to
the adversaries before and after the event.

Flink, in his introduction, tells us how and why he made his choices. In his
match narratives, he provides the background and preparation of each
combatant. The reader will become part of the audience, and will learn how
the outcomes depended upon key points shaped by intuitive intelligence, along
with physical strength and agility. His comprehensive accounts produce both
depth and excitement.

About the Author:

Steve Flink was the editor of "World Tennis Magazine," where he
worked from 1974-91. Currently a senior correspondent for Tennis Week, he
has covered the French Open and Wimbledon for CBS Radio since 1982, and has
appeared as a television commentator on cable networks over the years. He
was present for 32 of the last 35 Wimbledons of the century, and missed only
one U.S. Open in that span.