The Racket

When Conor Niland was 16, he got the chance to hit with Serena Williams at Nick Bollettieri’s famed tennis academy. Conor, the Irish junior number one, was feeling a bit homesick. Serena, also 16, already owned her own house beside the academy.Conor Niland knows what it’s like when Roger Federer walks into the dressing room (‘Ciao, bonjour, hello!’), and he has had the exquisitely terrible experience of facing Novak Djokovic in the world’s biggest tennis stadium – while suffering from food poisoning. But he never reached the very top. ‘The Racket’ is the story of pro tennis’s 99%: the players who roam the globe in hope of climbing the rankings and squeaking into the Grand Slam tournaments.