Too Soon to Panic [Hardcover]

Gordon Forbes (Author), Peter Ustinov (Author), Bud Collins (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1997

Gordon Forbes, professional tennis player in the fifties and sixties, has gained certain immortality in his eloquent and hilarious best-selling memoir, A Handful of Summers. Too Soon to Panic is Forbes's long-awaited sequel.

With complete entrée into the sport's hidden corners and the keen insights and scrutiny of a writer undercover, Forbes reveals the goings-on of the international tennis circuit from the late sixties to the early nineties - first as a player, and then as an observer. Too Soon to Panic is a court-level look at the tour from the era of Arthur Ashe through the reigns of Vilas and Borg and into the period dominated by Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi.

Consorting with the top players, coaches, and myriad other characters of the tennis world, Forbes bears witness to their moments of great triumph, humiliating defeat, bad behavior, and daring escapades. He has troubles of his own, constantly battling bouts of panic and an astonishing sleepwalking affliction. Along with Abe Segal, his outrageously funny doubles partner, he travels the world from Wimbledon to the U.S. Open and beyond, bounding from one adventure to the next in an effort to make sense of the world of tennis and the world at large. Too Soon to Panic is a heartfelt and hugely entertaining chronicle of his days on the courts of life. (61/4 X 91/4, 340 pages)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Gordon Forbes emerged from South Africa in the '50s to the high life of what then passed as the international tennis circuit. He achieved his real notoriety off the court, though, with his rollicking 1978 cult standard, A Handful of Summers, an annal of that life. In Too Soon to Panic, he's finally loaded up his second serve. Forbes has certainly lost none of his good humor in the intervening years, even if the game he writes so knowingly about has. Still, with a raconteur like Forbes lending his wit to the proceedings as he lobs anecdote after anecdote, the net result is another ace.

From Library Journal

This is a lighthearted, humorous look at the professional tennis tour from a former player who was on the South Africa Davis Cup Team in the 1960s. In this, his second book about professional tennis (the first being A Handful of Summers, LJ 5/15/79), Forbes draws on his memories and observations to describe the players and tour in New York, Paris, Rome, and London in the 1950s through the 1990s. As a former player and a knowledgeable spectator, he brings a depth of understanding to the sport. However, this is not the book to read for a look at life in South Africa in the last 40 years. In fact, Forbes seems blissfully unaware of any political or racial problems there. Overall, as a book of memories this is mildly entertaining and humorous. Buy for demand.?J. Sara Paulk, Coastal Plain Regional Lib., Tifton, Ga.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558215662
• ISBN-13: 978-1558215665
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,257,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A toast to old friends and the joy that tennis brings, October 28, 1997

By 

"bingsley" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Too Soon to Panic (Hardcover)

Gordon Forbes struck gold in 1978 with the publication of A Handful of Summers, a joyous bacchanalian romp inside the international tennis tour in the 50s and 60s. His new book is more of an afterword to the original. Many of the same characters appear and there is little doubt that Mr. Forbes had a great time during is glory days. While not a disappointment, this novel is not really a novel. It has no plot, it has no rising action, it has no resolution--what it does have is a memory. A memory of times when great tennis players traveled the world for glory, not gobs of cash, and knocked back a few beers at the pub after the daily match was over. An older and wiser Mr. Forbes also pays touching tribute to his sister (wife of tennis starr Cliff Drysdale) who recently passed away. Although unspoken, the reader is compelled to understand that tennis is a vehicle whereby people can socialize together and form the bonds that are both personally important and enjoyable. No doubt, there are many funny anecdotes here (most involving his doubles partner known as Big Abie). However, Mr. Forbes does not seem to have his heart in the telling of them. Rather, he seems to be taking stock of his life and the things that matter to him. Still, it is well written and engaging. This will not disappoint anyone who plays tennis and loves the history of the game.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely and thoughful tennis memoir, August 2, 2002

By 

"andicat1" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Too Soon to Panic (Hardcover)

In Too Soon to Panic, South African tennis player Gordon Forbes interweaves tales of his life on the tennis circuit during the 1950s and 1960s with visits to the professional tennis tour of the 1990s. The book is a delightful reflection on his travels to the sport's greatest hangouts- Roland Garros, Wimbledon & Queen's Club, Manhattan, the Foro Italico. As Forbes returns to these venues his senses are stirred and he relates anecdotes, usually accompanied by diary entries or notes he made thirty years earlier. The result is a personal, thoughtful and entertaining read.

You will enjoy this book if you want to read stories about the days of amateur tennis, when the players did not receive prize money. Forbes and his friends are lively characters, none more so than Forbes' doubles sidekick, Abe Segal. His sketches of
Rosewall, Ashe, Torben Ulrich and others are also worth the price of the book. A typical yarn recounts the first ever meeting of the players union, presided over President Newcombe, Secretary Riessen and Treasurer Ashe (who kept the players'
$50 membership dues in his pocket.) My own imagination cannot come up with a scenario in which Sampras, Agassi, Safin, Hewitt meet to discuss anything.

Forbes is equally engaging on the subject of his childhood tennis exploits in South Africa, his sister Jean, and his second (and third) careers as a lighting salesman and tennis court manufacturer. The writing is very nice, and by the end of the book you feel as if you inhabited Forbes' memories for a while.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Staple for Tennis-Lover's Library, July 31, 2011

By 

Atlanta Summer (Marietta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Too Soon to Panic (Hardcover)

Philosophy, ethics, tennis history -- and a forward by Bud Collins! Can't ask for more in a book filled with memories. Glad I have it!