The Park Tennis Take
The Park Tennis Take
Yes, it makes your shelf look cultured. It also happens to be one of the rare tennis books you may keep pulling down after the cover has done its decorative work. String Theory gathers David Foster Wallace’s five tennis essays—Federer, Tracy Austin, Michael Joyce, the U.S. Open, and his own windy Midwestern junior-tennis geometry—into one handsome little hardcover. It is less instruction manual than proof that tennis can carry obsession, comedy, class, weather, and existential panic at the same time. Hipster God plus tennis, sure. The masterpiece part is that the pages earn the pose.
Yes, it makes your shelf look cultured. It also happens to be one of the rare tennis books you may keep pulling down after the cover has done its decorative work. String Theory gathers David Foster Wallace’s five tennis essays—Federer, Tracy Austin, Michael Joyce, the U.S. Open, and his own windy Midwestern junior-tennis geometry—into one handsome little hardcover. It is less instruction manual than proof that tennis can carry obsession, comedy, class, weather, and existential panic at the same time. Hipster God plus tennis, sure. The masterpiece part is that the pages earn the pose.
Best for
Literary tennis obsessives
At a glance
Five tennis essays · Introduction by John Jeremiah Sullivan · 154-page hardcover · Debossed cover · Acid-free paper · ISBN 9781598534801
Description
Description
String Theory: David Foster Wallace on Tennis is a Library of America hardcover collecting five of Wallace’s essays on the sport. The contents cover his junior-tennis experience and writing on Tracy Austin, Michael Joyce, the U.S. Open, and Roger Federer. John Jeremiah Sullivan provides the introduction. Library of America describes the special publication as a 154-page edition with a debossed cover, acid-free paper, and a design distinct from its standard series volumes. The book’s ISBN is 9781598534801. Library of America listed it for $15, against a $21.95 list price, on July 21, 2026.
String Theory: David Foster Wallace on Tennis is a Library of America hardcover collecting five of Wallace’s essays on the sport. The contents cover his junior-tennis experience and writing on Tracy Austin, Michael Joyce, the U.S. Open, and Roger Federer. John Jeremiah Sullivan provides the introduction. Library of America describes the special publication as a 154-page edition with a debossed cover, acid-free paper, and a design distinct from its standard series volumes. The book’s ISBN is 9781598534801. Library of America listed it for $15, against a $21.95 list price, on July 21, 2026.