大象传媒

2 July 2018

Steeped in tradition, Wimbledon has become synonymous with its well-kept grass, players' dress code and strawberries with cream. To celebrate the world’s oldest championships the Booksellers Association has suggested some must-read titles with a tennis twist to enjoy this summer.

The Outsider is the autobiography of former US tennis champion and the original bad boy of tennis, Jimmy Connors. His aggressive style of play shook up tennis in the 70s and turned his matches with John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, and Ivan Lendl into electrifying battles.

He continued to compete against much younger players and had one of the most remarkable comebacks for any athlete when he reached the semifinals of the 1991 US Open at the age of 39.

This is also an account of his life off the court, including his romance with tennis legend Chris Evert, his battles with gambling and his long-lasting marriage to Playboy playmate Patti McGuire.

Connors was not a popular player neither on or off the court and this is his viewpoint of what life was like for him. Told with the honesty and insight you’d expect from the former number one The Outsider makes for a very interesting read.

Recommended by Sheila O’Reilly of Dulwich Books.

Another US tennis champion, McEnroe, came out of nowhere to make the Wimbledon semifinals at the age of just eighteen. He lost to Jimmy Connors but just a few years later was ranked number one in the world.

This is a no-holds look at the player who uttered the immortal line 'you cannot be serious' before subjecting the centre court of Wimbledon to an angry tirade.

Recommended by Sheila O’Reilly of Dulwich Books.

Gordon Forbes was a professional tennis player from South Africa and this is his account of what life was like on the men’s circuit in the late 50s and early 60s.

Travelling with his long-time tennis partner, Abe Segal, he tells of the characters who populated the amateur tennis world. The book is more about the escapades of players than the game itself. Full of anecdotes, bursting with vitality and humour, and written with unflagging zest and panache it is an insight into the locker room of an era that is long gone.

The story begins with a short series of stories from Forbes' childhood on a Cape farm, then takes the reader on a tennis tour – into locker rooms and small hotels, then onwards to the lawns of Wimbledon and the clays of Roland Garros.

Recommended by Sheila O’Reilly of Dulwich Books.

You can’t think of Wimbledon without the timeless Wombles from the children's classic by Elisabeth Beresford popping into your head. They live in burrows, wombling free but help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in creative ways.

The Wombles is the first ever Wombles book and introduces us to all the characters we know and love. There's the stern but kindly Great Uncle Bulgaria, Orinoco, who is particularly fond of his food (and forty winks) and Tobermory, the ultimate in upcyclers who can turn almost anything that the Wombles find on Wimbledon Common into something useful.

We also meet Madame Cholet, who cooks delicious foods to keep the Wombles happy and contented, and last but not least, Bungo, one of the youngest and cheekiest Wombles of all, who is due to venture out on to the Common on his own for the very first time.

Recommended by Jim and Natasha at Chicken and Frog Bookshop, in Bentwood.

A version of this article was published in July 2017.