tennis
Why suburban ladies really play tennis
Because my mother is always telling me everything will be all right if I join a tennis club, I’ve joined…
Toby Young: I’ve been unmanned by a tennis brute in bright pink
As regular readers will know, Caroline has developed a fanatical interest in tennis and is currently captain of the ladies…
It will amply satisfy all your comeuppance needs: Battle of the Sexes reviewed
Battle of the Sexes recreates the famed, culture-changing 1973 tennis match between 55-year-old Bobby Riggs, a self-proclaimed chauvinist, and 29-year-old…
No balls
Borg vs McEnroe is a dramatised account of one of the greatest tennis rivalries of all time — between Bjorn…
My wife’s revenge has me at break point
Fifteen years ago, when I was The Spectator’s drama critic, Caroline used to complain that she had become a ‘theatre…
Match made in heaven
Tennis is best played with a wooden racket on a shady lawn somewhere close to Dorking. There is no need…
Always the Superbrat
John McEnroe’s father calls. In fact, he calls McEnroe’s manager’s phone, presumably because dad doesn’t have a direct line to…
High life
Write about things you really know was the advice Papa Hemingway offered wannabe writers, so here goes: the French Open…
High life
New York I went downtown to Katz’s the other day and had a pastrami sandwich that made me want…
How to do better at darts – and life
I have always been intrigued by the scoring systems for different sports, and the degree to which they contribute to…
High life
My old friend and one-time doubles partner Ray Moore has stepped down as chief executive of the Indian Wells Tennis…
Stop calling me ‘Goat’
The title of Tim Parks’s 17th novel is false advertising, because Thomas and Mary: A Love Story is barely a…
Don’t cry for John Terry
Just when you were thinking that the Premier League had become a much nicer place without José Mourinho in it,…
Game over
If sport loses the public’s faith – and it’s starting to – then all its power and glory will fade
The Davis Cup will be one final flourish for Andy’s Barmy Army
There’s nothing quite like a sporting celebration, but the lash-up after Britain’s (almost) inevitable victory in the Davis Cup tennis…
High life
Serena Williams, according to some commentators the greatest woman who has ever graced this earth of ours, will complete the…
Australia’s comeback kids
I have never met an Aussie I didn’t like, but, crikey, their sporting indefatigability is exhausting. Don’t they ever give…
On Wimbledon grunters
What a pleasure it was to watch the men’s final at Wimbledon contested with a minimum of grunting, exclaiming and…
Long life
I have always been what I suppose one could call a weed, and a cowardly one at that. I never…
Confessions of a Fedhead
Good writing about sport is rare — and good writing about tennis is that much rarer — so it’s conspicuous…
A cheerleader to swear by
It wasn’t that long ago when the most exciting event in any British tennis fan’s life was whether Jeremy Bates…
High life
Gstaad The very end of 2014 laid an egg, and an expensive one at that. I missed David Tang’s bash…
Death of a team
Englishmen used to be deported to Australia as a punishment. Now they get sent back to England as an act…
Sir Viv and me
Sir Vivian Richards came to watch me play cricket the other day. That’s the sort of sentence you wait a…
