Australian Open Opus. Biggest Tennis Book Ever.

[urban]

I read, that The Australian Open has edited a large size tennis book, called: Australian Open Opus, picturing 80 greatest moments of its history. Maybe various editions will be available in the future this year.

There is also a new lavish Tennis volume out, called: Tennis. The Ultimate Book, edited by Stefan Maiwald, Peter Feierabend, Te Neues, Augsburg, New York 2023. It captures fine pictures of Tennis Greats (Best 30 men and women), of coaches and surroundings, extraordinary places and courts. Good is the emphasis on Tennis in the 1920s. Not so good is the omission of Pro tennis pre Open era. And some identifications of players in the pictures are really bad, see articles on Newcombe and Emerson.

 

[Frankc]

Great - thanks for the alert... Super...

Bruce Matthew's "Game, Set and Glory - A History of the Australian Tennis Championships" is a rich earlier look - superb actions pics...
Add Pollard's "Lawn Tennis The Australian Way..."

In case anyone missed some earlier posts - superb action pics in Eugene Scott's "Tennis: Game of Motion" and there is the often mentioned Hedges' "The Concise Dictionary of Tennis."

 

[urban]

Yep, i have the Pollard book. Lawn Tennis. The Australian way. Fine pictures and articles on players, also on those who are not so well known, like Vivien McGrath, the first doublehander, Mervyn Rose and others.

 

[Dan Lobb]

There is a recent video of a good documentary of the Golden Age of Australian Tennis from about 1939 to the 1970s put together and narrated by Adrian Quist.

This is a fine documentary, and Quist does not hesitate to give his own judgments of the players, which are usually interesting and accurate.

 

[Frankc]

Thank you - really superb ... Thanks for the alert...
Wish that we had recorded interviews from many of the greats. Quist saw so, so much - many eras - a pleasure to listen.
( And Mr Quist says it out loud - rightly so: Kramer was the greatest influence on the game of Tennis as we know it...)

Always wished that Gardnar Mulloy had multiple interviews - he saw so much likewise. Fortunately, we have his books...

 

[BTURNER]

I recall a very dated book I read about Australian tennis champions, published maybe in the early 70's mid 70's which had one chapter ( only one chapter at the end, of the entire book) on Margaret with virtually no other Aussie female mentioned, as though she came out of a vacumn, a genderized void of nothingness. I think Goolagong and Evert each got a sentence, maybe two, as new talents Margaret was dealing with. It was almost more insulting to include Margaret as soul representative, than to leave her out. But I did enjoy the focus on the men, especially those that preceded Laver and Rosewall.

I had never even heard of Norman Brookes before. LOL, with his tweed cap on court and distinguished attire off it, Sir Norman represents one of the few proper uses of the word 'dapper' left in our mother tongue. I am a sucker for 'dapper' men with phenomenal touch /angle volleys and an effective varied service. John McEnroe even at his very best day, could not manage to be 'dapper' while he played. He definitely could have used that tweed cap as time went on.