Tennis is a very underrated and exciting sport. Tennis players may not get as many headlines or endorsement deals as NBA stars or NFL quarterbacks, but they are some of the best athletes on the planet. You think a baseball player could survive a five-hour match under the August New York sun? Douglas Brunt’s latest novel chronicles the life of a new tennis prodigy, Anton Stratis, and how his father pushed him into tennis and continued to push him over the edge.

TROPHY SON isn’t really about the sport of tennis --- it’s about the relationship between Anton and his father, and the almost irrecoverable damage this relationship does to Anton. The early moments are some of the best in the book. The way that Anton’s dad forces him into hustling older college players is a great way of exploring their dynamic. Anton hates doing it, but he has no control over his life. He was pushed into tennis at such a young age, and for years everything in life has been dictated to him. Now if his father wants him to hustle some lesser players, he must do so.

"Tennis fans who want to explore the demands of the sport --- not just the physical demands, but the mental, emotional and social ones as well --- will find much to love in TROPHY SON."

Brunt explores the mental side of tennis quite well. In most sports, the players have teammates to lean on and coaches to turn to in the heat of the action. Not in tennis. Tennis players are forced onto an island in their matches, and the author does a good job of portraying how emotional tides can wash over that island and drown a player’s match. Anton may be physically gifted and more talented than other players on tour, but he lacks mental fortitude, which gets in his way in countless matches and is the cause of plenty of losses. His matches sometimes swing in an instant when he lets his thoughts and anxiety get in the way of his playing, much to the dismay of his father.

Anton’s dad is hurtful, overbearing, and causes too much pain and stress in Anton’s life, but he never grows out of this. His mom is nonexistent, which serves the story well in its later chapters, but early on one has to wonder what she’s doing while her husband grinds away their young son. His brother Panos is a way for Anton to see what he could have been if he had given up on tennis and pursued a normal life. However, Panos disappears for too many chapters at a time; I wish their relationship had been explored further.

There is supposed to be a rivalry in the book between Anton and another American, Ben Archer. Early on they cross paths and part with Anton thinking of Ben as his rival, but they rarely play and only have a handful of interactions during Anton’s career. Ben serves a role like Panos --- a way for Anton to see what his life and career could have turned out to be. They have a nice interaction at the end of the novel, but it would have carried more weight if their rivalry was more developed.

Tennis fans who want to explore the demands of the sport --- not just the physical demands, but the mental, emotional and social ones as well --- will find much to love in TROPHY SON.