Elmore Leonard did his research!

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

In his book *The Switch* by Elmore Leonard [crime fiction novelist], a teenage boy complains about his loss to a pusher. The lines could have been drawn straight from TT [except for the fact that it was published in 1978]:

"I understand your opponent wasn't too aggressive."

"'aggressive'? He played like a girl. All he wanted to do was lob. He didn't have any backhand; he pushed at the ball, ya know? Like he was playing ping pong. He'd hit it up in the air with a little spin on it. The ball would come down, it would just hang there; you'd have so much time, you know? You want to kill it. What was I supposed to do? Keep hitting lobs?"

[The complainer lost 5-7 1-6 if you're interested.]

 

[monfils is my homeboy]

Sounds like Raphael " The Golden Retiever " Nadal! Lol

 

[NLBwell]

Given this was '78, it was the Harold Solomon - Eddie Dibbs - Bjorn Borg era.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Given this was '78, it was the Harold Solomon - Eddie Dibbs - Bjorn Borg era.

I wonder how he did his research: did he just gather a bunch of juniors and listen to them vent? Most aspects of tennis have actually not changed so I'm betting the gripes back then were similar. In fact, they probably complained about pushers soon after the first invention of the game.

"I say, old chap: good shot! You are much more pleasant to play with than Lord Greystone. He just sort of…"

"'pushes" the ball?"

"'push'! That is the precise word I was searching for. I daresay you're correct!"

 

[NLBwell]

I wonder how he did his research: did he just gather a bunch of juniors and listen to them vent? Most aspects of tennis have actually not changed so I'm betting the gripes back then were similar. In fact, they probably complained about pushers soon after the first invention of the game.

"I say, old chap: good shot! You are much more pleasant to play with than Lord Greystone. He just sort of…"

"'pushes" the ball?"

"'push'! That is the precise word I was searching for. I daresay you're correct!"

Sounds pretty accurate to me.

 

[West Coast Ace]

Elmore Leonard, national treasure. RIP. Read all his books.

Hollywood really screwed up most of his books when they tried to turn them into movies. The one with pretty boy Clooney was horrific. Loved 'Get Shorty' and the all star cast.

 

[DNShade]

Elmore Leonard, national treasure. RIP. Read all his books.

Hollywood really screwed up most of his books when they tried to turn them into movies. The one with pretty boy Clooney was horrific. Loved 'Get Shorty' and the all star cast.

Out of Sight was "horrific"?? Must've seen a very different film than I saw. Love that film. And it was the film that brought Soderbergh out of director jail and made Ocean's Eleven and the second act of his career possible etc. It also made Jennifer Lopez and actual star in Hollywood terms and is by far her best performance.

Get Shorty was a lot of fun -- but as a film I much prefer Out of Sight - even though both scripts were written by Scott Frank. And very cool that Michael Keaton played the same character in Out of Sight and Jackie Brown based on Rum Punch. Jackie Brown is probably my favorite adaptation of Leonard's work. Mr. Majestyk and the series Justified are quite good as well.

 

[LeeD]

Don't forget Brad Gilbert.

 

[West Coast Ace]

Out of Sight was "horrific"?? Must've seen a very different film than I saw.

The book was much, much darker. The movie was basically George Clooney, funny pretty boy. Thats why the ending was s joke - after 90 minutes of yuks you can't try to turn up the suspense. But glad you liked it.