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Ad In Ad Out: Collected Tennis Articles of Michael Mewshaw 1982-2015
For the past thirty-five years Michael Mewshaw has covered pro tennis with a novelist's sense of style, a travel writer's feeling for place and an investigative reporter's commitment to unearthing the truth. Like Short Circuit, his description of life on the men's tour - the New York Times hailed it as "one of the best books ever written about tennis, and the most timely" - and Ladies of the Court, his account of the women's circuit, Mewshaw's articles offer original and often shocking insights into a sport that all too often receives superficial coverage. AD IN AD OUT ranges over four decades, providing vivid profiles of Bjorn Borg, Gabriella Sabatini, Monica Seles, Ivan Lendl, Andrea Jaeger, Andre Agassi, Rafa Nadal and Serena Williams.
It depicts the sport's beauty, its captivating geometry, and its exhilarating mano a mano competition. Whether analyzing a Grand Slam final or self-deprecatingly admitting his own comic attempts to master the game, Mewshaw conveys his knowledge of tennis history, along with his passion for the sport and the men and women who excel at it. His evocation of high stakes tournaments in Italy, France and England is more than equaled by his accounts of matches on garage rooftops, on private and public London courts, and beside a Spanish swimming pool where his opponent wears espadrilles and a bikini.
But AD IN AD OUT also discusses subjects that rarely get reported. Betting and match-fixing, performance enhancing drugs, tanking and sexual abuse all come in for factual examination. And so does the increasing frequency with which tournaments are played in sunny places for shady people, i.e. in tax havens, repressive states eager to improve their images, and lawless regions where organized crime has discovered tennis as an excellent way to launder money. After AD IN AD OUT no reader will ever watch tennis without realizing how much more there is to the game.
It depicts the sport's beauty, its captivating geometry, and its exhilarating mano a mano competition. Whether analyzing a Grand Slam final or self-deprecatingly admitting his own comic attempts to master the game, Mewshaw conveys his knowledge of tennis history, along with his passion for the sport and the men and women who excel at it. His evocation of high stakes tournaments in Italy, France and England is more than equaled by his accounts of matches on garage rooftops, on private and public London courts, and beside a Spanish swimming pool where his opponent wears espadrilles and a bikini.
But AD IN AD OUT also discusses subjects that rarely get reported. Betting and match-fixing, performance enhancing drugs, tanking and sexual abuse all come in for factual examination. And so does the increasing frequency with which tournaments are played in sunny places for shady people, i.e. in tax havens, repressive states eager to improve their images, and lawless regions where organized crime has discovered tennis as an excellent way to launder money. After AD IN AD OUT no reader will ever watch tennis without realizing how much more there is to the game.
218 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 28, 2016
2 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Michael Mewshaw
27 books15 followersMichael Mewshaw is an American author of 11 novels and 8 books of nonfiction, and works frequently as a travel writer, investigative reporter, book reviewer, and tennis reporter. His novel Year of the Gun was made into a film of the same name by John Frankenheimer in 1991. He is married with two sons.
Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio's longtime "voice of books," has called him "the best novelist in America that nobody knows."
Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio's longtime "voice of books," has called him "the best novelist in America that nobody knows."
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 3, 2026
While defintely an underrated tennis journalist, Michael Mewshew is largely to blame for his own unpopularity. Given his rabid interest for corruption and drug abuse in professional tennis, he engages with topics that most tennis players would never fathom discussing with journalists. While he should defintely focus more on other aspects of professional tennis, he really does a great job in communicating with the background characters of the sport that do give him some entertaining scoops. Despite his over amount of self-confidence, Mewshew does have a legitimate passion for the sport and the professional circuits and it really shows. He just wants to see it improved.
June 12, 2024
Many of the essays deal with the seamier side of tennis in the 80s and 90s - drugs, match fixing, sexual harassment (esp. on the women's tour) and the emergence of the supercharged corporatisation and its consequent fallouts, which makes for a sober read.
But, interspersed amongst these, are delightful many vignettes, about Mewshaw's endearing notes on his own game, his encounters with a varied, eccentric cast of fellow amateurs, and perceptive sketches of the top players of the day (Sabatini being the best one). An writer who deserves a much larger audience amongst sports lovers.
But, interspersed amongst these, are delightful many vignettes, about Mewshaw's endearing notes on his own game, his encounters with a varied, eccentric cast of fellow amateurs, and perceptive sketches of the top players of the day (Sabatini being the best one). An writer who deserves a much larger audience amongst sports lovers.
April 22, 2020
I have mixed feelings about this collection of articles about tennis by Michael Mewshaw.
PRO: I like that he writes about issues and things about players that aren't normally discussed by mainstream media. Some of it is unpleasant and controversial. Drugs, tanking/game fixing, gambling, tennis parents, players' quirks, abuse, etc.
CON: I can't be sure how much of it is true. He says that it's been well researched, but he doesn't name all of his sources. I can understand why he must protect his sources at times, but it is unsettling. In the end, I do trust him even though I was not familiar with him prior to reading this book.
CON: I don't really care for his writing style. Too flowery and self-important maybe? I got used to it as the book went on.
CON: I wasn't really interested in a number of chapters that were simply about his personal experiences, such as the article about the life at the Italian Open. It gave a vivid description of what it was like to be in the area, but I didn't really care about it. I wanted to read about tennis.
PRO: I like that he writes about issues and things about players that aren't normally discussed by mainstream media. Some of it is unpleasant and controversial. Drugs, tanking/game fixing, gambling, tennis parents, players' quirks, abuse, etc.
CON: I can't be sure how much of it is true. He says that it's been well researched, but he doesn't name all of his sources. I can understand why he must protect his sources at times, but it is unsettling. In the end, I do trust him even though I was not familiar with him prior to reading this book.
CON: I don't really care for his writing style. Too flowery and self-important maybe? I got used to it as the book went on.
CON: I wasn't really interested in a number of chapters that were simply about his personal experiences, such as the article about the life at the Italian Open. It gave a vivid description of what it was like to be in the area, but I didn't really care about it. I wanted to read about tennis.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews