Author Bill O’Neill loves to explore all manner of subjects from reiku to trivia. His previous include Trivia on RANDOM FACTS, AMERICAN TRIVIA, WW I, World War II, and VIET NAM WAR TRIVIA, MOVIES, FUN KNOWLEDGE, TRIVIA MADNESS and SPORTS – FOOTBALL, BASEBALL, ICE HOCKEY, BASKETBALL, SOCCER and now he offers trivia about TENNIS. Bill O’Neill has authored many books on trivia and random facts and stands as somewhat of an expert in this field!Bill’s writing is so infectiously interesting and entertaining and so full of facts most people have not encountered that even if you are not a sports fan, this book about Tennis is entertaining and buffs up your knowledge.Bill’s sense of humor is evident in his Introduction – ‘Like many modern games, there are origins long ago. In the case of tennis, French monks, it seems, were the founders of the game that is enjoyed today. ‘’Real tennis’’ was played indoors, but once the norm was outside, and it did depend a little on the weather. The original name included the word ‘’lawn’’, which confirmed that point, and at the start of the major championships often described as ‘’Grand Slams’’, all four were played on grass. It is clear that the game in the early decades was largely played by wealthy people. There was no chance of funding good grass courts for ordinary people, and even into the middle of the 20th Century, some future champions needed help to develop even early glimpses of talent. The game was purely amateur, and that was another obstacle to ordinary people involving themselves in the game. As tennis became organized with proper rules and agreed court dimensions, competition began with the defending champion having the luxury of waiting for the winner of the knockout stages to give someone the right to challenge him or her. Today’s champions would have loved the luxury of a single appearance which contrasts with two-week competitions with 128 entries in the main singles draw. This book is divided into seven Chapters, starting with an introduction to the game. The next two chapters are devoted to men’s tennis, the first going from the beginning and through to the Open Era with those whose careers came either side largely dealt with in Chapter 2. The same applies to the women, covered in Chapters 4 and 5. The doubles has a chapter to itself, with in the early days many of the players still playing in all three events. That is less of a case today with the really top men’s players concentrating purely on singles. The final chapter looks at developments across the world game and takes a look at the careers of some good amateurs who turned professional before the Open Era and did not really feature much again at the Grand Slams, mostly through retirement and age.’After a very solid history of the game (the Ancient Empires of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans) Bill sheds light on the history of the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), ATP, WTA and the Winmbledon, Australian, French, US opensto the present day world championships, and offers little bios and particular game facts that are fascinating. After each section of trivia Bill offers random facts and figures and tests his readers on concentration and memory.Where Bill finds all of these obscure facts is a conundrum, but in our searches for incidental trivia and random facts, we simply turn to this terrific book! Grady Harp, March 18