The Racket Quotes

“She is from Compton, Los Angeles. I am from Limerick, in the west of Ireland. Serena went pro at fourteen, and is already ranked number 25 in the world. We’re the same age, but she’s already a senior pro, and I’m just a kid listening from behind a fence.”
― Conor Niland, The Racket

“College tennis doesn't prioritise player development, which is treated as a happy but inessential byproduct of the main business of winning. Coaches need to win, and so they're not going to encourage technique changes that might benefit the player in a few years' time on tour. The coaching is also less individually tailored. On the pro circuit, my coach and I would usually do a thirty-minute session, known as 'cleaning the strokes', after a match. In college, the coach was overseeing ten players and, after practice, he went home to his family.”
― Conor Niland, The Racket