Jimmy Connors Saved My Life : A Personal Biography

Rating:
Summary: jimmy connors saved my life
Review: Drucker is truly the thinking person's tennis writer. He understands the game on every level: technical, strategic, psychological. He is also an exceptionally good writer -- a storyteller on a par with Michael Lewis. Finally, and perhaps most striking of all, he is not afraid to lay bare his own sensibilities, directly and without flinching. This is a book about much more than tennis. It is about childhood heroes that shape us, about coming of age, and about coming to terms with the private demons that stalk us all.

Frank Sinatra famously said, "You're only honest when you sing."
Drucker is honest when he writes.

Rating:
Summary: Unauthorized but as Close as You'll get to Jimmy Connors
Review: Joel Drucker does a great job fulfilling his desire to write a biography about the elusive Jimmy Connors. Like Connors, Drucker grew up in St. Louis and later Los Angeles with an interest in tennis that later allowed him to cross paths with Jimmy Connors, his tennis hero. But it was not always that way as Drucker chronicles his love for the stated elegance of the game and his dissatisfaction with the new "ugly" heroes, Connors, Nastase and McEnroe.

Slowly the Connors mystique captures Drucker and he elegantly writes of his love of tennis while at the same time discussing the struggles of his older brother who suffers from mental illness. The overlay of his personal story only takes about 1/4 of the book with the remainder covering Connors who is a unique human being blessed to be fueled by the overwhelming desire to compete against the world. But this competitive fire has its downside as Connors never really lets anyone close and competes on the tour as a loner while most other competitors socialize and enjoy each other's company.

So with this background, Drucker reconstructs the meteoric rise of Connors' career through his eventual drop below Borg and McEnroe while he leaves his high school tennis career, attends Cal Berkeley and starts a failed career as a tennis journalist. From here he's able to spend time with Connors and get drawn in to the very small inner circle. Drucker floats the idea of a biography which Connors always seems interested in but in the end, Connors remains the loner who is, not letting anyone get close enough to really know him. Connors is a warrior. He has the heart of a lion even though his ability to interact with other humans may not be as advanced as most people would like.

Overall, this is an enlightening, well-written book. I recommend this book for anyone with an interest in tennis or the history of tennis as well as those interested in inter-personal relationships. I suspect we'll see other books from Drucker as he is an excellent writer.


Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Insightful and Engaging
Review: Joel Drucker shows that there is more to tennis than just hitting fuzzy balls over the net. His unauthorized biography of Jimmy Connors, based on much painstaking research and numerous personal interviews with Connors, paints a picture of a great athlete, but one who is both inspiring and disturbing at the same time. Drucker intertwines his own personal story with the career of Connors, and both make for fascinating reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in sports and life in general.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: Joel Drucker writes an excellent autobiography of himself and intertwines it with a biography of Connors. Since Connors never did give him permission to write an authorized biography, you are left wondering what was really going on in Connors' mind. The book is great for tennis fans. The only thing I would change is he goes into a little too much detail on certain matches--giving a point by point detail for quite a few matches. Other than that small criticism, the book is a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Tennis for the Soul
Review: Terrific! This book reminds me of the movie movie "Almost Famous" (the kid who is a Rolling Stone reporter, follows his favorite band and learns lessons on life), but with a theme that sings much better than any band.

There was a time when no one placidly played golf while the storm glads gathered overhead. Rather, with Connors as his backdrop, Drucker reminds us when tennis and Connors were king. Back then, we were glued to our weekend TV watching monumental battles of Connors against Borg, McEnroe and Agassi, not to mention Connors against himself. The tennis was great, the personalites were large and Connor's made us all pay attention both on and off the court. Now (for me, at least) the sizzle is gone, other than the glimpse of Anna K. or the latest fashion disaster from the Williams sisters.

If you like reading the sport books of Feinstein, Deford and Lupica, you are going to love Drucker. But in the end, he'll remind you why you loved tennis and why Connors made you love it, whether you liked Connors or not.


Rating:
Summary: This book is a kick
Review: This book is a kick to read, especially if you are of the age to remember most of the matches and the circumstances surrounding them; and if your not you'll find out what tennis used to be all about. I like the way Drucker wound his story throughout without getting in the way of, or better yet, co-opting the Connors story. The two seemed to intertwine seemlessly. Like others have said, it brought back a time when tennis had a meaning beyond the game and players, specifically Connors, that transcended sports. Lest we forget, Drucker has reminded us of those times.

Rating:
Summary: American Idol
Review: While many only dream of meeting their childhood idol, Joel Drucker made it his goal.

His fantasy, turned reality, delivers a read so compelling, you feel like you have played a grand slam final against the choices made in your own life, and you come out a winner in a fifth set tie breaker.

Like Connors himself, Drucker brings you to the edge of your seat, cheering for him while knowing that just like the career of Jimmy Connors, the book too, must come to an end.



Rating:
Summary: joel drucker made my life miserable !!!!!
Review: yes ,that's right-i was expecting so much from this book and all i got was drucker's babbling about himself,his flimsy tennis play and wacko bro-and little bit of connors.
there was not a word of explanation why he considers connors being paranoid,narcisstic etc.,as he said in the beginning of the book(i guess this was the reason of connors's refusal of writing his bio by drucker).
maybe this got something to do with his "jewish liberal" background...
anyway,this book sucks sooooo much and next time i'll run into
drucker in somewhere,i'm gonna ask him for my money back...