C’era una volta il (mio) tennis

Claudio Pistolesi knows the world tennis limelight like few others, and in this long, freewheeling account he shares with readers the thousands of stories that have seen him as a protagonist or witness during his career on and off the court. Amidst tournaments, locker rooms, training sessions and trips to the four corners of the globe, face to face with the greats and greats of professional tennis (and here they are almost all there, starting with Adriano Panatta), his memories bring to the surface the enthusiasm, tensions, hopes and disappointments that this extraordinary sport brings with it, together with the profound changes that have changed the dynamics of the game over the last thirty years. And amidst the many emotions experienced at first hand, there is also room for more light-hearted and amusing anecdotes: like the time when he had to – as coach – hearten Federer for losing a final against ‘his’ athlete, or when at the US Open in NYC (in front of 20,000 spectators), as a young tennis player and opponent of the US legend Connors, he was mistaken for one of his fans and promptly blocked at the entrance to the court.