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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About this listen

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

Inspiring

Witty

Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

As elegant and powerful as a Federer backhand … It’s Kitchen Confidential for tennis (Ed Caesar)

A brilliant, unvarnished look at a brutal sporting life. (Michael Foley)

An entertaining behind-the-scenes glimpse at life on the global tour

Conor Niland may only have managed a career-high ranking of 129 – only? that is some achievement in itself! – but The Racket, his account of how he managed this, is up there with the best half-dozen books on tennis ever written. (Geoff Dyer)

A thoughtfully constructed memoir … plenty of self-deprecating humour, poignancy and insight to make this a page-turner

A visceral, melancholy and often self-lacerating book … History is usually written by the winners, but this intelligent, unvarnished, emotionally draining memoir shows why an also-ran’s perspective can be just as valuable (Andrew Lynch)

A crushing reminder of the grist from which sporting greatness emerges

One of the best Irish sports books of the last decade (Kieran Shannon)

A fascinating, self-deprecating insight into the life of a tennis professional who isn’t one of the prize-grabbing elite

A stone-cold classic. The story of Conor Niland’s life in professional tennis … recently became the third Irish book ever win the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. And deservedly so. (Malachy Clerkin)

Most relevant

This is a very well told story of a personal journey in sport. If you are a tennis parent, player or coach, I feel you should definitely give it a read. As the father of a young tennis player, I empathise with the author and have mixed emotions about a sport my son and I love. I feel more informed about the sport and so am very grateful for a book like this one. Finally, I don't think this is sad or happy story, it is just a story of life with all types of experiences mixed into one another.