This week, in the latest installment of the TENNIS.com Book Club, online editor Kamakshi Tandon and I are discussing “Break Point,” the 2006 tour diary by Vince Spadea with Dan Markowitz. Your comments are welcome as well.
Hi Steve,
Ah yes, the burning question (as you asked in the Lost Post): Is Vince cool?
Hmm. I do know that being cool requires not caring whether people think you’re cool, but I also know that’s not enough – what you do with that rare autonomy counts too.
Of course, I also know that one of the best things about tennis is its diversity – of playing styles, venues... and personalities. A rapping, thirty-something baseline grinder wearing his own line of silver shorts may or may not be cool, but if that’s what he wants to do, it’s okay by me. (Just as long as it doesn’t start spreading...)
Here’s where Spadea might be coming from on the persona thing:
Another thing I know – I’d rather be discussing whether Spadea is cool than whether Dennis Rodman is cool.
Still, one thing I do think is cool is an active player writing a book. The only others that come to mind are Pam Shriver’s Passing Shots and Nathalie Tauziat's ‘the Underside of Women’s Tennis’ (though I would have gone for ‘Underneath the Clothes of Women’s Tennis’ as the English title – the literal translation was ‘the Undergarments of Women’s Tennis.’) As we said about Mike Agassi’s book, it doesn’t have to be literature – if it’s readable and gets his perspective and two cents into the collective record, it’s worth a perusal on that basis alone.
At the same time, though, you can’t rely on an autobiography to tell a completely rounded picture. Though Spadea makes a good case for himself as someone who should have been on the US Davis Cup team for the 2004 final against Spain on clay, he leaves out the part where he walked on court for the opening ceremonies despite not being one of the nominated players, embarrassingly leaving the US team with five bodies and only four chairs.
(The larger point might be that he never got to play a Davis Cup match during the 2003 – 2004 period, when the team was still in flux and Spadea was making a slow and steady climb from the Top 30 to the Top 20. It’s tough to recall all the factors in play each time, but the September 2003 tie in Slovakia on clay seems to be most obvious example – Spadea was ranked slightly lower than Mardy Fish, but is definitely more competent on clay. Hard not to conclude that the deciding factor was probably that Fish and Roddick are best buddies while Spadea and Roddick have an ambiguous relationship at best.)
The book’s stream-of-consciousness style also means we’re left with some interesting themes that don’t get explored. Spadea talks about his relationship with his father, which you discussed, but he doesn’t seem to have any compunction about the coaches he works with – they include Pete Fisher, Pete Sampras’ old mentor who's since served time for child molestation, and Jim Pierce, banned from WTA events and always dogged by accusations of violence against Mary.
But there is a bright side to those intrinsic weaknesses – even with more and more players starting to write blogs and diaries, you and I might still get to keep our jobs.
