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Oct/16

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Have you heard of the classic tennis book “World Class”?

116 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios

I received a copy of WORLD CLASS from a friend. It’s “A Novel About The People And The World Of Professional Tennis” by Jane and Burt Boyar, published in the 1970’s by Random House and again in 2012 by Marbella House.

The Boyars spent a couple of years on the professional tennis tour learning about the top players and their very long, unique journeys to become champions. They learned the stories of top players who were discovered early and then developed to be world class champion players. Each story is different but true, based on reality. The kid whose parents sacrificed everything for tennis. The poor British street rascal who impressed an elite with his desire and drive and then was taken in to live on his estate and devote to tennis and training. The life lessons the kids learn to become successful adults. Four hundred pages or excellent reading.

Excerpts: “Dad, I like that guy. And I didn’t need to hate him. I played better tennis than he did. That’s why I won. I’m the better player. I always accepted what you said, but it’s meaningless to hate a guy you’re playing. On the court I don’t even see him. You know what I see? I see a big serve, or a weak serve, or a backhand I can fool around with. That’s all I see.”

“I further my tennis. I face the important questions in my life and look for the answers. Or I use the time for pleasure.”

“Never lie. It’s cowardly and pointless. We’re not responsible for where we start in life, only where we ultimately bring ourselves.”

“I’m interested in building a tennis champion. I offer you the opportunity of unlimited money spent on coaching. Hard work, but with a goal. Have you the courage to take it?”

***

I did an email interview with the author Burt Boyar who also wrote “Yes, I Can” the story of Sammy Davis Jr.:

First Memory Of Tennis? My first memory of tennis was rallying with my wife on a public court on Long Island.

Why Do You Love Tennis? I love tennis because other than Doubles, it is a one on one challenge. You are out there alone and you win or lose by your own guts and mentality. And it is great fun.

What inspired you to write WORLD CLASS? My wife and I were inspired to write World Class, when, after Yes I Can was so successful we were visiting Sammy Davis, Jr. in Puerto Rico where he was performing at the Hotel El San Juan. My dear wife, Jane, and I were looking for heroic characters for a novel we wanted to write and there was a tennis tournament taking place across the street. As we were the only people awake early at that gambling resort hotel we wandered over there one morning and watched the players practicing: Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Dennis Ralston, Butch Buchholz, Mike Davies, Pierre Barthes and Andres Gimeno. They were magnificent: good looking, fit, wholesome, playing as hard as they would if it were the Wimbledon finals. They embodied everything we wanted for our book. We’d found our heroes. It was a fantastic two years being up that close and friends with the best in the world.

Favorite Players To Watch? I had no favorite player to watch. I loved parts of many players’ games: Mike Davies had the most beautiful toss. Lew Hoad’s half-volley return of serve, Pancho Gonzales’ big serve, Ken Rosewall’s “unimpressive” serve – but try to return it. Laver’s amazing topspin backhand. Those were the players we travelled with for two years so I am familiar with their games as we watched them every day.

Did being around all these players help your game? It MADE my game. Just watching those gorgeous strokes day in and day out was like going to tennis camp, but better. Especially when Butch and Dennis Ralston came onto the court to physically fix my serve, and playing mixed with Rod and Mary Laver. Unreal.

***

I’d call WORLD CLASS a masterpiece, and in the league of A HANDFUL OF SUMMERS and LEVELS OF THE GAME and HARD COURTS by John Feinstein. Simply superb.

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116 comments

  • catherine bell · October 28, 2016 at 8:50 am

    Scoop – I made a brief comment summing up my feelings about Hana at the end of the Kyrgios thread – also about your seeing her daughter playing at Eddie Herr’s and a son I believe she has as well.
    Yes – Hana was certainly fed up with the press but she didn’t play the media game quite as well as Martina and Chris.
    The UK press cut her a lot of slack though at one time, and Chris as well. They can be partial. Didn’t write certain stories.

  • Hartt · October 28, 2016 at 5:36 pm

    I just saw Mischa Zverev’s win over Wawrinka. Mischa won the first set, Stan came to life in the 2nd but Zverev the Elder took the third easily. It was such a delight to see his serve-and-volley style. I adored Edberg and thought would never get to see much serve-and-volley again. But Mischa shows it is possible to serve-and-volley even in this era of slow courts and advanced technology.

    Think he will play Cilic next. Can’t wait to see the match. 🙂

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 28, 2016 at 5:46 pm

    Incredible breakout by Zverev the Elder – gosh you can just never count out any player in pro tennis –

  • Andrew Miller · October 28, 2016 at 7:26 pm

    I think Mischa was doing well and had injuries, then saw his brother do incredible and got inspired to pull off his half year marathon up the ranking ladder. He’s the only player comparable to harry in terms of his comeback and bested harry.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 28, 2016 at 9:34 pm

    Zverev was up 4-love in the third to Fritz in third round of Aus Open qualies and lost six straight earlier this year – that’s a brutal loss but he righted the sinking ship nicely –

  • catherine bell · October 29, 2016 at 3:03 am

    Hartt –

    Serve and volley will never die ! Great to see some of the younger guys succeedng with it – now maybe some WTA players ? (vain hope 🙂 )

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 29, 2016 at 8:05 am

    Cathrine: I saw the Brazilian WTA player T Pereira serve and volley vs Ivanovic in Key Biscayne – that’s the last S&V I saw by a WTA player this season 🙂

  • catherine bell · October 29, 2016 at 10:23 am

    Scoop – keep your eye out for these rare sightings 🙂

    Actually I prefer what you’d call the all-court game I suppose. Very rare for a woman to play strict s/v even back in the day (quite a few men). Except of course for BJK – remember Gene Scott saying to me when we talked that BJ ‘had almost refined the game out of existence.’

    Was watching some action from Singapore and despite the high level of skill on show I keep finding myself wanting that sudden rush to the net and the put-away volley moment 🙂 !

  • Andrew Miller · October 29, 2016 at 11:51 am

    Dommie Cibulkova is making me eat my words. She’s put on quite a show lighting up the courts and the media with her outspoken-ness. Maybe Simona Halep ought to hang out with her so it rubs off on her.

  • Andrew Miller · October 29, 2016 at 11:56 am

    Anyone else concerned on the tennis betting? I know most of this site’s worries are over doping when it comes to the game’s problems, but that’s kind of a big deal when the majority of betting problems spotlight the sport. Probably because it’s probably a lot easier to co-opt a player or get insider information from a coach, supporting coach, or someone down the chain who can capitalize on the knowledge.

    Whatever it is, this news from the Europeans isn’t good – tennis accounting for 84 percent of all sports-related suspicious betting alerts for the last quarter. Sorry to say I think there may even be some players with a decent name who do this.

    Not Kyrgios, I think Kyrgios is just a motivation thing, rebellion against parents, etc. Remember, this is a guy who beat Nadal at Wimbledon to prove his mom wrong who didn’t think he could do it.

  • Andrew Miller · October 29, 2016 at 11:59 am

    On that note, I’m shorting Raonic. Nothing short of pitiful this autumn season on a surface that favors him. Wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls from the ATP finals.

  • catherine bell · October 29, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    Andrew –

    It’s Kerber Simona should hang out with – encourage her to see that you can develop after 25 🙂 with hard work and application. Kerber’s a different player this year.

    Not sure if Simona really needs any more ‘outspokenness’ after her last excursion in that area…

    Betting – yes, I’m sure a lot of it goes on. Probably in minor tournaments with low level players. Not sure how easy to prove. Very prevalent in cricket on the subcontinent – couple of Pakistan players went to prison a few years ago when caught on England tour.

    It’s ‘spot fixing’ – not so much throwing matches I would imagine.

  • Jg · October 29, 2016 at 12:17 pm

    Zverev also lost in challengers in the beginning of the year to a bunch of Americans including Tiafoe, he now totally looks like a different player. He didn’t come to net as much before, he must have really re retooled.

  • Hartt · October 29, 2016 at 3:06 pm

    Andrew, you are being very hard on Raonic. He is in a slump it’s true, but that can happen to most players. He is in that unfortunate cycle of needing match play but is not winning matches to get that match play. If he plays poorly in Paris I will be very disappointed but since he has been either No. 4 or No. 5 lately so see no reason why he would not play in London.

  • Andrew Miller · October 29, 2016 at 9:05 pm

    Hartt fair point. Just think parting ways with McEnroe mistake. Wonder what went down. $?

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 30, 2016 at 8:33 am

    I think betting happens on all levels of pro tennis but I really don’t care because if they are doing it it is hard to detect and if it’s out of mind it does not matter – Who knows but the Kyrgios loss/tank to Zverev could have been a disguised betting fix – you never know –

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 30, 2016 at 8:34 am

    Catherine: always on the lookout for players who play a lil bit differently 🙂

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 30, 2016 at 8:37 am

    Raonic is in a funk that is for sure – How many coaches does he have now? Having three coaches is almost a sign of weakness or desperation which says ‘I don’t have confidence in myself enough so I need three coaches to help me’ – Certain great players have played the Tour with NO coach – Perhaps Raonic should part ways with Piatti and Carlos moya and go it alone and figure it out for himself as he is a very bright guy –

  • catherine bell · October 30, 2016 at 9:04 am

    Andrew –

    It’s my turn to eat my words – Simona should be hanging out with Cibulkova as of a few minutes ago.

    5’3″ is the new height in women’s tennis 🙂 🙂 !

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 30, 2016 at 9:07 am

    Love Cibulkova’s fire and intensity –

  • Hartt · October 30, 2016 at 12:00 pm

    Raonic has 2 coaches – Piatti and Moya. I think that is a successful team – he certainly did very well for the first half of the season despite his problems with injuries.

    I think McEnroe was helpful over the short term, but I would agree that 3 coaches are too many. Can’t see how it could be long term with McEnroe’s commentating duties and I think it is a clear conflict of interest when a commentator is both coaching and commentating on a player.

    The big test will be how Milos does in Paris, so we shall see.

  • Hartt · October 30, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    Mischa Zverev is getting lots of attention now. The ATP site has a nice piece about him where he talks about how hard it was, both physically and mentally, to come back from several injuries, especially the 2014 wrist surgery. He was down in the rankings to No. 1067.

    Mischa talks about his relationship with Sascha and credits his younger brother’s positive attitude, saying of course Mischa would get back to the top 100, with helping make his comeback. Also, he likes hitting with Sascha and as Sascha got better, he had to improve his own game to try to keep up.

    A recent SI Tennis podcast is also an interview with Mischa, done during the Stockholm tourney. It was soon after the Kyrgios match, so it was interesting to hear Mischa’s take on that. He comes across as a very balanced guy, or to use his term, “rational.”

  • Andrew Miller · October 30, 2016 at 3:13 pm

    Mischa is the German Harry. Glad to support him.

    Hartt I agree conflict of interest, but consider Gimelst b with Isner. With Ginemstb Isner finds his game and makes good runs in ’15. Without Gimelstb Isner becomes u.s. third, maybe fourth best player quite a drop. Johnson and Sock now swapping 1+2 spots. Truly a drop without the flawed yet obviously well suited coach to play to Isners game.

    Without that presence Isners about to slide to a career worst year.

  • Andrew Miller · October 30, 2016 at 3:19 pm

    Catherine yes agree! Simona and Dcibulkava and maybe Puente from Puerto Rico ought to hang out and swap stories of their glorious runs. Kerber is in it for the long haul but to me Simona should show some urgency win her slam in style then pull a sharpie clisjters and take some time out!

  • Andrew Miller · October 30, 2016 at 3:23 pm

    With DCibulkiva reminds me of Amanda coetzer in the 5’ish dept. Solid players who needed to make their own luck like the Rochus boys! I like Coetzer. Just dont get Dommies dislike of sharpie. Or players dislike of Genie Bouchard. When I saw her seemed female players liked her fine, they practiced with her. Broadys sister and Mladenovic both hit some with Genie, yet some Canadian reporters said Genie wont practice with other players. Seems false.

  • Hartt · October 30, 2016 at 7:31 pm

    Gimelstob and Isner seemed to work well together. During the time he worked with Isner, he could have stopped commentating on the tourneys Isner might play. Cahill has found a balance. While he is coaching Halep he is not commentating on WTA matches, just ATP ones.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 30, 2016 at 8:31 pm

    It really does not matter if a coach of a player is also a commentator and he works his player’s match on TV – what is the big deal? What the coach/commentator says is going to be interesting regardless of what he says – he also can share special exclusive insights which are a bonus benefit for the TV viewers –

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 30, 2016 at 8:34 pm

    Hartt: I never met a Russian tennis player who was not very intelligent – I was told by a former Russian star athlete that Russia’s education system is excellent but the problem is people when they become adults are limited in what they can do – they are not allowed to do anything – it’s a very restricting culture – But Russian people are very intelligent and educated –

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 30, 2016 at 8:36 pm

    Andrew: I enjoyed listening to Gimelstob commentate about Isner – felt it was a special bonus for us in TV land to hear what he had to say about Isner – I think the ‘conflict of interest’ allegations you speak of are overrated – if BG takes over to coach Kyrgios I’d till love to hear BG working for ESPN especially for matches with Kyrgios –

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 30, 2016 at 8:38 pm

    Amanda Coetzer was undersized but he had a totally different on court spirit than Cibulkova – Cibulkova is basically Lleyton Hewitt level intensity and fire while Coetzer was as emotional as Victor Hanescu –

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 30, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    X and O and tactics wise I believe Gimelstob is an excellent coach and should get another gig with an American player next year – He has a lot to offer –

  • catherine bell · October 31, 2016 at 3:44 am

    Andrew –

    I’m still waiting for Simona’s glorious run 🙂

    Seriously – 2017 will be an important year for her – if she gets down to work and tackles Slams not just minor tournments the results can come. In Singapore she didn’t to me look particularly happy and seems to have lost weight but maybe that’s just an impression.

    Then take some time out but please not for the reason Sharpie has !!

    Cilbukova shows not just that height doesn’t matter but age either – 27 not young in tennis. Example for players who want it all by 21 or so.

  • catherine bell · October 31, 2016 at 4:09 am

    Oh and here’s a chance for a whine about something which really gets on my nerves 🙂

    When did all this stuff about ‘offense’ and ‘defense’ start in tennis discussion ? Tennis isn’t American football. Both tactics are often combined and good players mix their styles in a match. You can’t separate them out that way.
    (Steve Tignor on tennis.com is a major offender here)

    Sometimes I think it’s convenient shorthand to avoid more detailed/informed analysis.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 31, 2016 at 7:31 am

    Halep needs a coach who actually won a GS –

  • catherine bell · October 31, 2016 at 8:44 am

    Scoop –

    Do you mean just for Halep ? Any suggestions ?

    She certainly needs someone who can get through to her about the mind-set for GS events and cut the OCC dependence at other tournaments. And force some variety/initiative – nothing to lose.

    But seems she’s locked in with Cahill for’17.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 31, 2016 at 8:55 am

    It’s not working with Cahill is it? I’d go with Pierce or Davenport or Peter Lundgren –

  • catherine bell · October 31, 2016 at 9:20 am

    Don’t know much about todays’ coaches TBH but I suppose a lot depends on their availability, travel etc (especially women) – who has Pierce coached before ?

    I mentioned Martina earlier as a bit of a joke but I don’t suppose she’d be that keen after her experience with Radwanska.

    I’d give Cahill to the AO – if that’s a bust then no, I’d say it’s not working.
    (Someone’s got to get her shortening those rallies that are exhausting her – and therefore, changing her style a bit.)

  • Hartt · October 31, 2016 at 9:20 am

    I am not optimistic about Halep having a better career than what she is doing now, solid (14 titles) but not spectacular. She is 25 now, not a young up-and-coming player. How much can a coach impact her mental mindset at this point in her career? I think the change needs to come from her. Would love to see her do well at the Slams next season but am not holding my breath.

  • catherine bell · October 31, 2016 at 9:35 am

    Hartt –

    Sad to say I agree with you – but I also feel 2016 was not a good year for her, a few awful defeats, and I’d like to see her rise a little bit higher before bowing out.

    She’s like Hana – sort of tugs your heartstrings in a way more accomplished players don’t.

    Is Milos like that ?

    (on an earlier thread I suggested Simona is bit young for her age – perhaps the right coaching environment could help with her maturing)

  • Hartt · October 31, 2016 at 9:39 am

    Does anyone know anything about the young Norwegian player Casper Ruud? He is still 17 years old and is ranked No. 233. Pretty impressive for such a young guy.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 31, 2016 at 9:45 am

    Hartt: Caspar Ruud is the son of former ATP pro Christian Ruud – I met Christian at the Eddie Herr tourney in Bradenton two years ago and again last year – Caspar had a big year last year and I think he’s done even better this year in ITF Futures – Not a very big player but he’s technically sound – I will have to look back at the archives to see what he said they were working on – I do remember he said Caspar had a Spanish coach and has spent a lot of time in Spain –

  • Hartt · October 31, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    Scoop, thanks for the info on Ruud. Based solely on his rankings at such a young age, I added him to one of my youngsters to watch lists. He and Denis Shapovalov are close, Denis is at 239. Casper is just a few months older than Denis, so perhaps they will have a rivalry in the future.

  • Hartt · October 31, 2016 at 12:28 pm

    Catherine, I agree with you about Halep. I don’t know just what it is but there is something appealing about Simona, makes you root for her.

    Obviously I am a big Milos fan but am not sure he is a player who tugs at your heartstrings. Although the fact that his hair has its own twitter account shows he has at least a few devoted fans!

    Milos is very earnest, which I actually find appealing. He says that, as the son of 2 engineers, he is very analytical. To combat that numbers orientation he has developed an interest in modern art. Even by tennis player standards he is extremely bright, finishing high school at 16. And if you want to see his lighter side, get him talking about basketball – he is like a little kid. Or playing games with the young kids with physical difficulties his foundation assists. Once again, he is like a kid himself.

  • Andrew Miller · October 31, 2016 at 1:08 pm

    Hartt two names re improvement, KERBER + PENNETTA. Winners of 3/5 last slams. No ones pick for slam winners. Halep has plenty of room 4 improvement if not the appetite literally and figuratively.

    Why fire Cahill. If anything maybe a communication issue like he needs a travel coach to implement or help Simona hardwire some Cahill tasks. But if Simona is lukewarm to the ideas or simply more like the coach a rama or coaching carousel a la Kvitiva who knows. For sure she should never have considered Serena her competitors as obviously more like Muguruza Kerber Cibulkiva etc. They and Puente took home all this years hardware off the grass. Pliskiva stock rises too.

    I’d hire the sv player from Wimbledon past. Jana Novatna. She got over the stage fright and probably could be what Simona needs, credible champ who she’d listen to vs Cahill who is looking like he’s getting annoyed with his charge. Maybe scoping for a new charge on the ATP.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 31, 2016 at 1:38 pm

    Good call Andrew on Novotna – perfect choice – Or how about Hana Mandlickova? Cahill is an undisputed super coach but it does not look like he can get Halep all the way to the Mountain Top –

  • catherine bell · October 31, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    Hartt –
    Milos sounds well-rounded and charming. Maybe lacks that tunnel vision ? So would be great to see a cultured and intelligent player cart off some major silverware, showing it can be done – to have both I mean.

    Andrew – my last sighting of Jana Novotna was on the Centre Court at W’don collapsing in tears into the arms of the Duchess of Kent 🙂
    Haven’t heard of her as a coach though.
    Simona definitely needs some s/v input, especially as she rarely plays doubles. And perhaps a female presence might help although I’m not sure why.

  • Hartt · October 31, 2016 at 2:03 pm

    Andrew, of course Simona can still improve. I like her as a player and hope she does well. Kerber is an excellent example. But my point is that the main impetus has to come from Simona herself. Kerber has said that at the end of last season she decided to change the way she played and worked hard to accomplish that. But it sounds like she decided that herself, not depending on a coach or anyone else to motivate her to change.

  • Hartt · October 31, 2016 at 2:16 pm

    Regarding Halep and Cahill, apparently Simona can understand Cahill’s Aussie accent better now. So she should stick with him so that is not wasted! 🙂 Seriously, I think it is too soon to pull the plug on Cahill. Simona went through coaches at quite a rate so she needs to stick with someone for a while. They seem to like working together, and who knows if she would do better with someone else. If, after a few more months she is not doing better, then make a change.

  • Hartt · October 31, 2016 at 2:25 pm

    Catherine, Milos definitely does have tunnel vision. He has been very clear that his goal is to win Slams and perhaps get to No. 1 during his career. His coaches say that, if anything, he works TOO hard and they have to reign him in. One of Moya’s goals was to get Milos to lighten up off the court, not be so intense all the time. But it is probably hard for Milos to change that, although he does credit Moya with helping him in that regard.

    One Milos story that I like is a couple years ago L’Equipe asked him which other player he would like to be and Milos replied Gulbis, but with Federer’s career. (A serious guy himself he tends to like the characters who make him laugh.)

  • catherine bell · October 31, 2016 at 4:12 pm

    Hartt –

    It’s not I don’t think Milos has what it takes to concentrate on his game – more that he has other interests and that is not terribly common at the higher levels of the sport. A good balance.

    Yes – Simona probably needs a bit more time with Cahill – maybe by the summer we should have a better picture. Your ref to Kerber is apposite and maybe what Simona should aspire to, but Angie is a bit older and strikes me as more mature and able to make decisions and initiate change for herself.

    What would bother me about S and fairly obvious in Singapore, is her dependence on Cahill during a match and what was revealed at one point in her OCC. He said ‘you know what to do’ when it was clear that either she didn’t know what to do or she did know and couldn’t do it. Some message isn’t getting through.

    Cahill should stop OCC. Cut that cord. After all she can’t have it at a GS.

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