String Theory: David Foster Wallace on Tennis

Fans of the late Wallace are often divided between those who like his novels (in other words, Infinite Jest) best and those who prefer his essays, but there is another, narrower group (which includes me): those who like his writing on tennis best of all. Wallace was a competitive junior player who thought he was pretty good, but in the best of these essays he reckons with what it means to be truly great at a beautiful, narrow pastime: not just for the sublime Roger Federer but (in my favorite of all his essays) for the journeyman pro Michael Joyce, preposterously talented and dedicated and ranked just #76 in the world. All five essays in this handsome little book have been published before, but it's a superb introduction to DFW and a perfect gift for any tennis player or fan who wants a glimpse of greatness.