A book review: Winning Ugly

Time for a book review.

Winning Ugly by Brad Gilbert.

This is a must read for tennis lovers.

Brad Gilbert was this fairly unknown American tennis player from the 80's and early 90's. He is most known for coaching Andre Agassi. He mentions in the book that he spotted Agassi when he was young and knew that this guy is going to make it big, and that he was surprised that he took so long to realize his potential.

His book is quite hilarious, and has valuable tips for amateur tennis players. It is called Winning Ugly, but he is not talking about devious tactics. The book is more about maximizing one's strengths as a player, minimizing exposure to their weaknesses, and exploiting the opponent's weaknesses. Fairly common sense, one would think, but I think what set him apart as a coach was his methodical approach and keen observation skills. He seems to have dissected every player's game quite well.

Like Becker's tendency to overhit on his forehand, particularly against players who do not hit hard. Or Edberg's simply horrible forehand. Guess that one is obvious for all to see. Or Lendl's tendency to hit passing shots right AT the player at the net.

Its funny the way he talks about different kinds of players - the Hares (players like Agassi who rush points), the tortoises (he hates Lendl, and I guess Djokovic is a good present-day example of that), and the ones he devotes the most pages to in his book - the players he calls the "Masters of Rage".

The Masters of Rage are none other than McEnroe and Connors.

McEnroe has said that one of the reasons he decided to retire early, when he was just 27, was because he lost to Brad Gilbert in a tournament. There is an interesting passage in the book where Gilbert describes one of his matches with McEnroe. Mac had psyched him up the previous day (looks like the Australian cricket team had taken some cues from him) by saying some demeaning things about him. Gilbert lost his cool, and went for winners throughout the match. Needless to say he lost badly.

On another occasion, McEnroe is very close to losing a match against him, when he throws one of his famous tantrums at a close line call. He holds up the match for fifteen minutes protesting the call. Even though McEnroe did not get the overrule, Gilbert loses his concentration and the match.

He calls Connors another great con artist. He hates him. During one of their matches, on MATCHPOINT for Gilbert, Connors starts disputing a line call and like McEnroe, he holds up the match for 5-10 minutes. This time the umpire overrules and then after that Gilbert loses several points in a row and the match itself.

This book is a must read, especially for people who followed tennis in the 90's/80's.