Courting

Tennis has served as a talisman for William Finger, offering a source of joy and escape from life's challenges. In this memoir, Finger reflects on the physical and mental challenges of playing tennis at age seventy. After a thirty-year hiatus from competition, he immerses himself in workshops, lessons, and national tournaments. Finger revisits his childhood tennis experiences and other haunts, recalling how tennis anchored him through the turmoil of the 1950s and 60s in Mississippi. His journey takes him back to Duke University for his college reunion, where he reflects on how the tennis team served as a refuge during difficult times, bouts of depression, and campus political upheavals. Finger's victory in the seventy-and-over state championships in Charlotte, North Carolina, marks his personal growth compared to matches at the same tournament site in his thirties. In Courting: A Tennis Memoir, we witness how a thread woven through our lives can serve as a spiritual home, a sanctuary for the psyche.