A Game to Love: In Celebration of Tennis

by Mike Powell

Overview

A Game to Love is the stunning publishing debut of award-winning sports photographer Mike Powell. Featuring 500 highly evocative images, the book celebrates the passion for tennis that exists around the world. Powell's extraordinary images capture the character and brilliance of the greatest players in the game today and are complemented by the words of many of the game's legendary greats of yesteryear, among them John McEnroe, Billie Jean King, Steffi Graf, Boris Becker, and Rod Laver. From superstar players, veterans, and juniors to the spectating cognoscenti and tennis haute couture; from screaming coaches, businesslike trainers, and long-suffering officials to the players' boxes, real fans, and "fan fashion"; from the intimate details of hands-on racquets and the wiping of brows to the textures of clay, grass, and hard court, A Game to Love is a luscious and original visual tribute to one of today's most-watched and most-loved sports.

Praise for A Game to Love:

"a love letter to tennis. . . 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."
-Publishers Weekly

"A Game to Love highlights Powell's ability to capture not only the breathtaking scenery, but the elegance, emotion and art of the human body in action."
-Tennis Magazine

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419700019
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	04/15/2011
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	10.40(w) x 11.30(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Having started at the age of 17, Mike Powell has been photographing sport for 25 years. His work has been prominently featured in magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, and ESPN, and he has won numerous awards. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Editorial Reviews

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)

Publishers Weekly