He writes a book about the magnificence of last year's Wimby finals, and then Nadal pulls out so the chance of having a rematch and titillating sales of his book are over. The book was specifically put out right before Wimby begins to heighten interest in the tomb. So L. John can't be too happy. Maybe if Murray meets Fed in this year's Wimby finals, Wertheim can write another book and entitle it, "Strokes of the Scot."

I watched a little bit of the US Open golf today and one of the announcers mentioned Nadal's withdrawal and I think it was Johnny Miller said something like "hasn't Nadal ever heard of Advil?" (not an exact quote paraphrasing him there) which was a downer to hear a golf guy giving it to a tennis player.

Johny ought to take a look at the physiques of the golfers before  he  makes  any  jokes  about  tennis players. Some of  those golfers look  like  they spend  their free time at Krispy Kreme.   

I stopped into a Barnes and Noble and started reading "Strokes of Genius" yesterday (I'd also read the excerpt in Tennis Magazine) and I really enjoyed the beginning. I think Wertheim set himself a tall task writing about one match between two tennis players, neither of them American, when the book is being published in the U.S.

But L. Jon had really done his research. He was coming up with info, for instance, that Fed drank a 20-oz bottle of Pepsi before the match and has Wimby stock the seeded-players locker room with his favorite munch food, Kit-Kats. There was a passage about how Fed was so relaxed before the match, cracking jokes, while Nadal, who'd only slept like 5 hours the night before, went into his manic warmup while Uncle Toni spitted homilies at him, like, You have to win or die, all this with Fed sitting about 10 feet away. Nadal went into the bathroom and made sure his pre-match urine was opaque so that he was fully hydrated. All good stuff.

Still, it can't be good for book that Nadal has pulled out. Even so, I would much prefer to read this book--and will--than the bromides put out by Sampras and Blake, and probably even Agassi. At least, Break Point was fun, luny and gave a better sense, I think, of the grind of the tour and one man's obssession with the sport. 

NY Times book review today about the book on the Budge-Von Cramm match in 1937. The reviewer is not especially kind to the author. He thinks there are alot of digressions that don't add much to the account. The reviewer also mocks some of the writing. Selling a book about a 65 year old tennis match is a challenge without a negative review, especially in a recession.