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Levels of the Game

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4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This may be the high point of American sports journalism."—Robert Lipsyte, The New York Times

"McPhee has produced what is probably the best tennis book ever written. On the surface it is a joint profile of . . . Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner, but underneath it is considerably more—namely, a highly original way of looking at human behavoir . . . He proves his point with consummate skill and journalistic artistry. You are the way you play, he is saying. The court is life."—Donald Jackson, Life

"John McPhee's Levels of the Game . . . alternates between action on the court and interwoven profiles of the contestants. It is a remarkable performance—written with style, verve, insight and wit."—James W. Singer, Chicago Sun-Times
-- Review

"This may be the high point of American sports journalism."—Robert Lipsyte, The New York Times

"McPhee has produced what is probably the best tennis book ever written. On the surface it is a joint profile of . . . Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner, but underneath it is considerably more—namely, a highly original way of looking at human behavoir . . . He proves his point with consummate skill and journalistic artistry. You are the way you play, he is saying. The court is life."—Donald Jackson, Life

"John McPhee's Levels of the Game . . . alternates between action on the court and interwoven profiles of the contestants. It is a remarkable performance—written with style, verve, insight and wit."—James W. Singer, Chicago Sun-Times

Review

"This may be the high point of American sports journalism." --Robert Lipsyte, The New York Times

"McPhee has produced what is probably the best tennis book ever written. On the surface it is a joint profile of . . . Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner, but underneath it is considerably more--namely, a highly original way of looking at human behavoir . . . He proves his point with consummate skill and journalistic artistry. You are the way you play, he is saying. The court is life." --Donald Jackson, Life

"John McPhee's Levels of the Game . . . alternates between action on the court and interwoven profiles of the contestants. It is a remarkable performance--written with style, verve, insight and wit." --James W. Singer, Chicago Sun-Times
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 150 pages
  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (November 1, 1979)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0374515263
  • ISBN-13: 978-0374515263
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,437 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #1 in  Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( A ) > Ashe, Arthur
    #24 in  Books > Sports > Individual Sports > Tennis
    #25 in  Books > Sports > Racket Sports

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More About the Author

John McPhee
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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Arthur Ashe, his feet apart, his knees slightly bent, lifts a tennis ball into the air. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
other tennis players, backhand corner, big serve, flat serve, half volley, drop shot, double fault, second serve
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Arthur Ashe, Arthur Junior, Forest Hills, Davis Cup, New York, Gum Spring, Arthur Senior, Brook Field, Donald Dell, Ronald Charity, Clark Graebner, Junior Development Team, Warren Danne, Jackie Robinson, Lieutenant Ashe, North Carolina, West Point, Advantage Ashe, Advantage Graebner, San Juan, Uncle Tom
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This book cites 22 books:
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Winning Ugly by Brad Gilbert
$20,000 in Tennis Lessons by Robert Ford Greene
 

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars a real pinnacle in Sports writing, January 31, 2001
Ostensibly this book is about a tennis match, Arthur Ashe versus Clark Graebner in the 1968 US Open Semifinals. The match was historic in itself:

"It has been thirteen years since an American won the men's-singles final at Forest Hills, and this match will determine whether Ashe or Graebner is to have a chance to be the first American since Tony Trabert to win it all. Ashe and Graebner are still amateurs, and it was imagined that in this tournament, playing against professionals, they wouldn't have much of a chance. But they are here, close to the finish, playing each other. For Graebner to look across a net and see Ashe--and the reverse--is not in itself unusual. They were both born in 1943, they have known each other since they were thirteen, and they have played tournaments and exhibitions and have practiced together in so many countries and seasons that details blur."

But McPhee is actually after bigger game than this one match. He also provides insightful portraits of the two very different contestants. Ashe, the only championship level Black tennis player of his time, is single, liberal, mercurial, a finesse player and a risk taker. Graebner is married with kids, conservative, religious, a power player and risk averse. McPhee demonstrates how their personalities influence, indeed shape, their play and how their lifelong rivalry lifts their games to higher levels when they play one another, ultimately lifting Ashe's game towards perfection by the end of this contest.

Ashe would go on to win the tournament, becoming the only amateur to win it in the Open era and together Ashe and Graebner lead the US to it's first Davis Cup in years. After that though, while Ashe went on to a respectable career, Graebner slipped into obscurity. But in this book, McPhee has preserved a moment in time when the two were evenly matched on the court, despite being polar opposites off of the court and in charting the lives that brought them to that moment, he provides a penetrating glance at two fascinating men.

This is a real pinnacle in Sports writing.

GRADE: A

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Level All Its Own, October 31, 2000
By Charles R. Slater (Mount Kisco, New York United States) - See all my reviews
To say John McPhee has written the best tennis book ever is to say too little. This is far more than a tennis book and, if you're looking for instruction, far less. The platform, if you'll excuse the tennis pun, is a U.S. Open final between Clark Graebner and Arthur Ashe, but it is a study of two men and what brought them to this point, athletically but especially sociologically. The reflective Southerner forced to be a pioneer because he is black. The more rigid son of the Midwest and privilege, with greater power and less versatility. The vagaries that make them human: Graebner, the more up-tight, gambling with a prepared point successfully at a crucial spot in the match. And at the end, there is Ashe, triumphantly whistling a winner off his suspect backhand to close out the match. You want to cheer. And you understand more about people than when you opened the book.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely, graceful book, July 6, 1999
By A Customer
This book is so gracefully written that it isn't till the end that one realizes that McPhee's writing style(s) has been imitating the players' tennis styles, and that his language has moved effortlessly intune with the 'Levels of the Game'. Inlight of Arthur ashe's death, the book acheives a new poignancy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Levels of the Game
Excellent portrayal of the interior game of tennis. Also, it's a fascinating and important story of the struggle of the African American player coming up through the culture of... Read more
Published 7 months ago by M. Skloff

5.0 out of 5 stars The Match Wasn't Over
Written for the New Yorker magazine in 1969, this 150 page sports 'classic' has all the punch-and-jab terseness that makes John McPhee's writing both immediate and immediately... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Giordano Bruno

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just the best tennis book. A great book. Period.
"Levels of the Game" is, on the surface, an account of a single match between Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner in the semifinals at the U.S. Open in Forest Hills. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Jesse Kornbluth

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely, well-crafted, McPheesque
Anyone who has written will appreciate this book, and how McPhee tells two stories-the forestory and the back story-and keeps both moving along nicely. Read more
Published on March 30, 2006 by Bruce Banner

4.0 out of 5 stars About the people
This was my first John McPhee book, selected because of its subject matter (I'm an ex-serious tennis player). Read more
Published on March 12, 2000 by tureen@mail.com

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Average!
I think its a very interesting book for those interested in the history of tennis. Not much relevance now. Interesting stuff about Arthur Ashe. Read more
Published on May 20, 1998

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