The Racket

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 * Sunday Times * An entertaining behind-the-scenes glimpse at life on the global tour * Telegraph Best 50 Books of the Year * 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 * The Times * 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 * Business Post * A crushing reminder of the grist from which sporting greatness emerges * The Economist * One of the best Irish sports books of the last decade -- Kieran Shannon * Irish Examiner * A fascinating, self-deprecating insight into the life of a tennis professional who isn’t one of the prize-grabbing elite * The Telegraph * 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 * Irish Times *