Bringing alive an era

A COUPLE of years ago I asked Ramesh Krishnan, himself the author of an acclaimed autobiography co-authored with his father (and Nirmal Shekhar), what he regarded as the best tennis book he had read.

If memory serves correctly, his pick was A Handful of Summers by Gordon Forbes (HarperCollins). I looked around but it was not available and I forgot about it. Recently in a bookstore, as I flipped through the tiny selection of books on tennis, I was delighted to find a paperback reprint of the book and it was the work of a moment to scoop it up.

Ramesh was right. It is an exceptional memoir. Funny, thoughtful, and full of great anecdotes and jokes about some of the great players of the game. Gordon Forbes is South African and one half of a very successful doubles combination. He played most of his matches at a time when tennis was an amateur sport played by a bunch of gifted players for nothing much more than the pleasures of travel, competing against one another and a small sum of money to cover "expenses". In that era, all those who did not have independent means had to have some other source of income, for their sport could never support them as it does today. Gordon Forbes worked for a lighting company, for example.

But none of this in any way diminished their interest in the game. They were fierce competitors with their Dunlop Maxplys and their standard canvas shoes. Unlike today's pampered stars, the most they could expect by way of free equipment was some clothing from the likes of Teddy Tinling and Fred Perry. But none of this really mattered, for their skills bought the game as powerfully and thrillingly alive as it does today, although today's players have the benefit of television, huge promotions, and the like.

Lew Hoad, Pancho Segura, Cliff Drysdale, Roy Emerson and, later, Rod Laver, Ilie Nastase and Ken Rosewall are the author's peer group and he writes about them with verve, enthusiasm and exceptional skill.

Take, for example, this description of Teddy Tinling at play : "Teddy got the ball well and truly airborne with his left hand, while his right, attached to the handle of his racket, began the devious swing which would, if things went according to plan, bring the head of his racket round in a final sweep to meet the ball on its downward journey. From the very outset, it was clear that the elements were against him. The wind was whistling directly down court so that, serving against it, Teddy found himself bent over backwards, like a bow, while with it, he would be leaning far in court, struggling to keep his feet in contact with the fair territory behind the baseline while hitting the ball without falling flat on his face immediately afterwards.

"With the business of serving over, play became very brisk. Teddy effectively brought his forehand to bear, directing his shots to his opponent's backhand. His opponent, meanwhile, had a good crosscourt backhand, which he employed to get the ball back to Teddy's backhand side, forcing him further and further over to the left.

"Extraordinary reverse crosscourt rallies developed. 'I spent more than half the match with my backside interfering with play on the court next door,' said Teddy later. "

The above passage gives you some idea of why the Times called the memoir "the funniest tennis book ever written."

There are other passages that are equally memorable for the manner in which they describe seriously brilliant matches. A Handful of Summers is a book that no tennis enthusiast should do without. It brings alive an era in which the game rose to heights which, in many ways, have not been equalled before or since.

DAVID DAVIDAR

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