Confessions of an Ageing Tennis Player is the first movement in a quartet of books inspired by tennis, ambition, memory and the stories we tell ourselves as time catches up with us.
Where we begin
“I don’t like your attitude!” snaps “Serena Williams” as we square up over the club’s dubious grass courts. But I am “Andy Murray”, the greatest tennis GOAT ever, no really I am and you “Serena” are blocking me from my ultimate goal: chairman of our local club.
The first confessional sets the tone: big ego, small courts, ageing joints, and the deadly seriousness we attach to entirely invented stakes. Hit play for a short audio overview.
(Produced by Julian Pilkington-Sterne down in the NOP basement with the help of resident podcasters, Mork and Mindy)
What kind of book is this?
Remember when you were young and emulated your sporting heroes in the street or the school playground — convinced you were heading for the 100m sprint, the World Cup, Wimbledon?
Confessions of an Ageing Tennis Player is an illustrated, comic guidebook to those dreams and to what becomes of them. It moves between aspiration and embarrassment, triumph and disappointment, fantasy and failure, tracing the gap between who we imagine ourselves to be and what reality allows.
Some of it is comic, some is quietly reflective. Much of it lives in the strange theatre of modern professional and amateur life.
Why does this book matter here?
This book is not simply one title among many but the gravitational centre of the Nick Owen Publishing universe. Themes introduced here – ageing, obsession, institutions, love, failure, the performance of self – recur across later books and projects in different forms. If you want to understand how to read NOP, this is the clearest way in.
What our readers have said:
Forget Sports Personality Of The Year because Confessions of an Ageing Tennis Player wins my Sports Hero of the Decade. In a world where fame sometimes sleazily schmoozes with ability, Nick Owens’ salvos slyly obliterate the pretensions afflicting grand spectacle. Written with cheery lunacy, the rollercoaster of crazy is a joy and a credit to serving both a fine read and a smashing volley, earning a final score of everything-to-love. (Rick Hoegberg, writer)
This is a riotous, rolling, rollicking read in the picaresque tradition. Eat your hearts out Henry Fielding and Herman Melville. As the hero hurtles through his ruthless pursuit of fame and glory, you too will probably receive an upgrade as you are laughing so much in your plane or train seat. Witty ( and wise) this is a cracking read. First in a series. (Liz Fincham, author)
I am at the ageing tennis player and this book hits the nail on the head with an insight and humour that made me laugh out loud. Great observation, no holds barred honesty through the arena of tennis that explores between our imagination and the actuality. (Mike Stubbs, artist, curator, consultant)
“A pataphysical collection of absurdities.” (David Llewellyn, Director, Tennis Player, Genius)
“I thought it was real for about being selected for Wimbledon, literally through to the day before the semi-finals… I was coming into work saying ‘Nick got selected’. I can’t wait to read the next chapter. I loved it — total funny journey.” Jo McBean, Creative Triangle
“A rollicking good read that had me laughing out loud. It had me entertaining the idea of joining our local tennis club — and I’m rubbish at tennis.” The Shed
Confessions of an Ageing Tennis Player
“I don’t like your attitude!” snaps “Serena Williams” as we square up over the club’s dubious grass courts. But I am “Andy Murray”, the greatest tennis GOAT ever, no really I am and you “Serena” are blocking me from my ultimate goal: chairman of our local club.
Colleague and illustrator Paul Warren has always sketched and drawn and painted images. In 2013, after renting studio space at Harrington Mill Studios in Long Eaton, he began drawing on an iPad and he has drawn on an iPad ever since. A phrase he has coined is “the iPad is my sketch pad” and it fits very well. His drawing style is continually evolving and developing. He draws people, the human figure and add a sprinkling of artistic license. He doesn’t strictly create pictures; he’s interested in facial expression, stance, form, interaction between members of society, a moment in the workaday activities.