Title: String Theory: David Foster Wallace on Tennis
Author: David Foster Wallace
Dates read: 19/08/25 – 30/08/25
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 (3.5 stars)
Publisher: Library of America
Number of pages: 138
Fiction or non-fiction: non-fiction
Subject or genre: essays, sports, tennis
Book blurb:
Gathered for the first time in a deluxe collector’s edition, here are David Foster Wallace’s legendary writings on tennis, five tour-de-force pieces written with a competitor’s insight and a fan’s obsessive enthusiasm. Wallace brings his dazzling literary magic to the game he loved as he celebrates the other-worldly genius of Roger Federer; offers a wickedly witty disection of Tracy Austin’s memoir; considers the artistry of Michael Joyce, a supremely disciplined athlete on the threshold of fame; resists the crush of commerce at the U.S. Open; and recalls his own career as a near-great junior player.
Whiting Award-winning writer John Jeremiah Sullivan provides an introduction.
How I discovered or acquired this book:Have we mentioned my tennis hyperfixation over the last year or so? 🤣 This book was a birthday present from my Li
My thoughts:This collection of essays brings together David Foster Wallace’s writing on tennis, and it’s as dense, dazzling, and digressive as you’d expect. His love for the sport shines through in every piece — whether he’s unpacking the genius of Federer, chronicling the grind of journeyman players, or reflecting on his own youthful experience on the courts.
The essays are sometimes brilliant, sometimes overwhelming. Wallace’s prose can spiral into labyrinthine sentences that reward your patience but also demand your full attention. I found myself alternating between awe at his ability to capture the physical and mental intensity of tennis, and frustration at the sheer density of it.
What really worked for me was the mix: Federer elevated to near-mythic status, Michael Joyce portrayed as both ordinary and extraordinary, and Wallace’s sharp observations on the loneliness, beauty, and absurdity of the sport. What didn’t work quite as well was the occasional overindulgence – moments where the language got in its own way.
At 3.75 stars, this is a rich, challenging, and sometimes exhausting read. If you love tennis, or just want to see what happens when one of America’s most idiosyncratic writers turns his eye to sport, it’s well worth it.