Late to the Ball

A Journey into Tennis and Aging

Gerald Marzorati

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 2016
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781476737430
• Subtopic: Self Improvement
• Index: Social Sciences

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18
• Chapter 19
• Chapter 20
• Chapter 21
• Chapter 22
• Chapter 23
• Chapter 24
• Chapter 25
• Chapter 26
• Chapter 27
• Chapter 28
• Chapter 29
• Chapter 30
• Chapter 31
• Chapter 32
• Chapter 33
• Chapter 34
• Chapter 35
• Chapter 36
• Chapter 37
• Chapter 38
• Chapter 39
• Chapter 40
• Chapter 41
• Chapter 42
• Chapter 43
• Chapter 44
• Chapter 45
• Chapter 46
• Chapter 47
• Chapter 48
• Chapter 49
• Chapter 50
• Chapter 51
• Chapter 52
• Chapter 53
• Chapter 54
• Chapter 55
• Acknowledgments
• About Gerald Marzorati
• Copyright