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Wimbledon 2014: excerpts from 5 noteworthy books about tennis

As Wimbledon begins on June 23, check out these excerpts from five insider looks at the game of tennis.

4. 'The Outsider: A Memoir,' by Jimmy Connors

  • By Ross Atkin Staff writer

"For the first time in Wimbledon's history, they opened the games on the middle Sunday. 'People's Sunday,' they called it, with tickets printed the night before and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. The real tennis fans!

The atmosphere couldn't have been more different from the usual stuffy Wimbledon experience. Unlike at the US Open, the All-England Club tennis fans are there to watch and enjoy the tennis with their usual restrained attitude. Don't get me wrong, they love the sport as much as they do in New York and Paris, but Centre Court is more cathedral than coliseum – a place for subdued appreciation of skill and endeavor rather than the frenzied cheers and catcalls thrown down from the Flushing Meadows stands.

But on the middle Sunday in 1991, a transformation occurred.... There was shouting and singing, and the wave even rippled around the stadium all afternoon. I loved it, especially the wild support that followed every shot I made, and that was just in the warmup. As I walked off Centre Court that afternoon, after Derrick Rostagno beat me in straight sets, the crowd rose spontaneously to give me an incredibly generous send-off. It moved me."

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Mark Sappenfield
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