Late to the Ball

Gerald Marzorati

may 2016 · Simon and Schuster

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An award-winning author attempts to become a nationally competitive tennis player—at the age of sixty—in this “soulful meditation on aging, companionship, and the power of self-improvement” (The Wall Street Journal).

Being a man or a woman in your early sixties is different than it was a generation or two ago, at least for the more fortunate of us. We aren’t old…yet. But we sense it coming: Careers are winding down, kids are gone, parents are dying (friends, too), and our bodies are no longer youthful or even middle-aged. Learning to play tennis in your fifties is no small feat, but becoming a serious, competitive tennis player at the age of sixty is a whole other matter. It requires training the body to defy age, and to methodically build one’s game—the strokework, footwork, strategy, and mental toughness.

Gerry Mazorati had the strong desire to lead an examined physical life, to push his body into the “encore” of middle age. In Late to the Ball Mazorati writes vividly about his difficulties, frustrations, and triumphs of becoming a seriously good tennis player. He takes on his quest with complete vigor and absolute determination to see it through, providing a rich, vicarious experience, involving the science of aging, his existential battle with time, and the beautiful, mysterious game of tennis. “Enjoyable…crisp and clean” (Publishers Weekly), Late to the Ball is also captivating evidence that the rest of the Baby Boomer generation, now between middle age and old age, can find their own quest and do the same.

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Gerald Marzorati is the author of Late to the Ball, a memoir about becoming a serious tennis player later in life. He writes regularly about tennis for The New Yorker. He was the editor of TheNew York Times Magazine from 2003 to 2010. He previously worked as an editor at the Soho News, Harper’s Magazine, and TheNew Yorker. His writing has appeared in TheNew York Times and many other publications. His first book, A Painter of Darkness, won the PEN/Martha Albrand award for a first book of nonfiction.