Break Point! The Secret Diary of a Pro Tennis Player [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Dan Markowitz (Author)
Key Phrases: playing pro tennis, pro tennis player, tournament hotel, Davis Cup, Australian Open, French Open (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I believe it's an honest portrayal of ife on the men's tour and that's something the public has never gotten from someone at this level. It's well written, incisive, and Spadea has done a remarkable job of revealing himself, along with some fellow pros, in what I believe is an important piece of work." --Charles Bricker of the Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

"I believe it's an honest portrayal of ife on the men's tour and that's something the public has never gotten from someone at this level. It's well written, incisive, and Spadea has done a remarkable job of revealing himself, along with some fellow pros, in what I believe is an important piece of work." --Charles Bricker of the Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)<br /><br />"I have read it. It's funny. It's a different look at the tennis circuit - and worth a read!" --John McEnroe<br /><br />"I just picked up Vince Spadea's Break Point and could hardly put it down." --Jon Wertheim, Sports Illustrated Online (SI.com)

"[I] could hardly put it down." --Sports Illustrated Online (SI.com)

"[I] could hardly put it down." --Sports Illustrated Online (SI.com)

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"[I] could hardly put it down."  —Sports Illustrated Online (SI.com)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Ecw Press (July 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550227297
• ISBN-13: 978-1550227291
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #602,391 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars ...Only because ZERO stars was not an option, October 13, 2006

By	Davita "davita44" (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

I read this book only for its tell-all possibilities - if you're at all familiar with professional tennis, you know how tightly controlled the image of the sport has become; in other words, its ripe for a tell-all. And Spadea, a bitter outsider with access to players at every level, would seem to be in perfect position to deliver. Of course he doesn't, so any fellow gossip-mongers can stop reading here. Among the insights he does offer the reader: that he's painfully aware of being older; that he has a habit of dismissing perfectly reasonable advice; that he equates stubbornness with bravery and delusion with ambition; that at 31 years old, he will occasionally "mess around" with various girls; that he swings from sky highs to career-ditching lows like a metronome; that he intensely dislikes James Blake; that he desperately wants to be famous; that the standards of the publishing world couldn't get any more lax.

There's not much more to be found. If you think you'll be engrossed by 277 pages of this kind of dysfunction and misery, I suspect no review will change your mind, anyway.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Spadea serves up a lame game (pun intended), November 13, 2006

By	Lisa D. Mooney (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Aw, Vince, promises promises. He promised to give us an insider's look at the glamorous world of jet setting professional tennis stars as well as an in depth look at what it takes to be a top player. He delivered a double fault. Break Point is more of a running head commentary of a man who comes off as borderline manic-depressive. He wins a few matches, loses more, he's lowerer than a snail, then he's full of hope with feathers that he can turn it all round with preserverence. We as readers get it, we as tennis fan sympathize but in Vince's books are sympathy wears then fast as we encounter the same grousing page after page with little if any real insight. This kind of narration dominates the book though, on a few occasions, Vince takes a look at his fellow players. He gets a little "catty" in regard to James Blake and he disses a few others but doesn't give much in the way of insider information to give us a true tell all (Micheal Mewhaw he's not). Heck, Spadea even admits quite a few times that he is not buddy buddy with any other players and rarely socializes with the other guys. When he does speak about attending a party here or there he makes a point of letting us know he doesn't stay long, and though he protests that he is not judgemental, he comes down rather hard on other players who are not as chaste in the area of romance as he is.
Spadea does talk alot about women in his book. He even gives us a hilarious, though not meant to be, analysis of how to sucessfully woe women. He is, however, a tease. Spadea talks of meeting up with "hot" women and even taking them back to his hotel, but he quickly begs off after a little making out and sends the women back where they come from. He is, in essence, a tease to these women who offer their sexual favors so willingly (at least he protrays them this way.
The book would be a total loss, not worth a single star, except that it does offer the reader a view of a tennis family and Spadea is his most honest and most empathetic in describing his relationship with his father.
It is too bad Vince spends more time on "rapping" and "whining" instead of giving us the human up close details we crave about the professional tennis players we admire from a distance.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read on pro tennis, August 4, 2006

By	samprasland "samp" (st. louis, missouri) - See all my reviews

I read a lot about tennis and found this book to be one of the best I've read. It is not a book for the fan who wants to glean more about how to hit his forehand better or doesn't have a sense of humor. A lot of the material might be deemed questionable in tact, but if you approach it with the mindset that this is a single, 30-ish, pro tennis player who is writing about traveling the world with his racket to make his living, then Spadea's sometimes randy and outrageous voice is appealing. This is not a book by Arthur Ashe or Roger Federer, where image is carefully minded, the writing is unplugged and revealingly honest whether Spadea's talking about other players' games, the despair in seeing his ranking dropping, or losing a German model to James Blake at a player's party.I would recommend it for anyone who is intrigued by the pro tennis life, and wants to hear about it first-hand from a guy who's been out there almost as long as Agassi.