Remembrance of Games Past: On Tour with the Tennis Grand Masters

The Tennis Grand Masters are players over age 45 who still play the game well enough to lure paying spectators, which means most players perform to about age 55. Organized in 1973, the two-part tour is in spring and fall, and pays a bit of prize money. Sharnik, a freelance writer and TV executive, followed that tour in 1984 and reports on the doings and attitudes of Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson, Ramanathan Krishnan and Torben Ulrich, among others. All are shown as strongly competitive and reluctant to admit they are not playing as well as they did at 25. Tennis aficionados of a certain generation will be intrigued by what their former heroes are doing and thinking but will probably be less fascinated by the chapters dealing with the physiology of the aging athlete. Photos not seen by PW. (September 29)