A Game to Love: In Celebration of Tennis

Veteran sports photographer Powell offers a love letter to tennis that follows the 2010 season of Grand Slam tournaments: the blistering heat of the Australian Open, the clay dirt of Paris's Roland Garros, the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon, and the electric lights of New York's U.S. Open. What is usually obliterated by the pace of the game is restored to us by Powell's lush frames and a selection of quotes from players past and present. The bodies and philosophies of living legends Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Venus and Serena Williams are on riveting display. So are knockout images of passionate players like Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Gael Monfils, Kim Clijsters, and many more. A two-page spread is devoted to 2010's record-smashing historic match: the 3-day, 11-hour-and-five-minute Wimbledon epic between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut. The fans are also a relentless part of the action; whether transfixed in the stands or sprawling on a sunny English hill, they and their devotion are as picturesque as the endurance and concentration of the athletes. Martina Navratilova said, "Tennis has given me soul," and Powell's soulful photographs are a testament to the elegance, grit and glitter of a sport that Billy Jean King says is "a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquility." (May)