The Racket

"Conor was on the tennis circuit. He rubbed shoulders with the greats of the game, like Roger Federer and so on, but he never quite made it. He had his moments in the spotlight, but it’s a grinding life being on the lower rungs. If you know somebody who’s got a kid who’s thinking of making tennis their career, they should read this book first because it’s not fun. Conor studied English literature at university and he applies a literary brain to all his experiences. There’s humour in the book, a lot of self-deprecation and insight. He’s quite open and honest. That’s one of the key things that the judging panel liked about it. He doesn’t hide anything. He clearly loves his family a lot, but they do come over as quite pushy and he accepts that you won’t achieve anything in individual sport without a pushy parent. That’s well-known. If you look at the people who win in tennis, they’re the ones who started the, ‘Oh, you have to train on Christmas day’ thing because they knew one of their competitors somewhere, aged 11, was also competing and training. You don’t have a day off at all. The Racket won, I think, because it has a little bit of everything in it. As chair of the judging panel, it does invariably cross my mind. ‘What will people think? Is this going to be a shock winner? Will people like it?’ So many people have said to me that they absolutely love this book. People who’ve read all the books on the shortlist say they hoped it would win. People who have picked it up or given it to someone because they like tennis have said, ‘Wow.’ It really is a book that spreads across the community and it’s not just for someone who’s a tennis nut. In Conor Niland you will recognize someone who has to work really hard and never quite gets there; you will understand. Yes, the Andre Agassi book probably should have won. It might have come out at the wrong time of year. That sometimes happens: a book feels like it’s been around forever and loses its freshness. But tennis books have featured on the longlist and shortlist a lot."