Open Tennis: 1968-1988: The Players, the Politics, the Pressures, the Passions, and the Great Matches

Fast on the heels of Bud Collins's My Life with the Pros (Nonfiction Forecasts, March 31) comes this book, which covers much the same ground. While Evans, whose work has appeared in the Times of London and Tennis Week , is a more polished and elegant writer than Collins, his study is less effective: he begins in medias res, not offering much in the way of background. This forces readers who are not already tennis buffs to pick up most information in passing, whether this concerns the fate of the stars of the '20s and '30s who turned pro, or the attempts of Jack Kramer et al to set up a pro tour in the post-World War II era. Evans is surpassingly good, however, in describing memorable matches--he wrings every bit of drama out of con tests between Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg and John McEn roe. Photos not seen by PW. (June)