Epic: John McEnroe, Bj%C3%B6rn Borg and the Greatest Tennis Season Ever

In the late 1970s, professional tennis held a firm grip on the United States, and no two players better personified the sport's growth than cool-as-ice Swede Borg and brash New Yorker McEnroe. In his first book, Fox Sports tennis columnist Cronin captures a series of pivotal events in the evolution of the sport from European to American dominance, from wood to metal racquets, and from staid players to a colorful cast of supporting characters including Ilie Nastase, Vitas Gerulaitis, Jimmy Connors, and Guillermo Vilas. Despite its misleading subtitle, Epic recounts much than that magical 1980 season, with the marathon 1980 Wimbledon final serving as Cronin's hook. In that match, the veteran Borg (en route to his record fifth consecutive Wimbledon title) outlasted the upstart Mac (who grew up with a Borg poster on his bedroom wall) in a five-set showdown. Chapters containing point-by-point analysis of that match take advantage of the author's seasoned knowledge of the game, and a lengthy denouement recounts Mac's revenge against Borg at the 1980 U.S. Open. Although it appears he didn't have personal access to his protagonists, Cronin gets to the heart of Borg's genius and explores the catalyst for McEnroe's ugly on-court temperament, while providing context with historical and pop-culture references and mostly avoiding melodramatic play-by-play prose. (Apr.)