Nasty

by Richard Evans

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812825403
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: Stein & Day Pub
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Talent and Temper

This is a wonderful biography of one of the greatest talents and most controversial personalities of Open Tennis which I highly recommend to any tennis fan. The book, written by someone who knew well and understood Nastase goes a long way in exploring and analyzing the multifacets of Nastase's complex character and personality.From the summer of 1972 until the end of 1973 the richly gifted Nastase was the best player in the world. The United States champion of 1972 and the French champion of 1973, he was also the runner-up in three other Grand Slam finals, one of these being the memorable 1972 Wimbledon final. In doubles and mixed doubles Nastase shared a total of five Grand Slam titles. Nastase won Grand Prix Masters tournament four years out of five, a record only surpassed by Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras. His Davis Cup record is also phenomenal, playing and wining more Davis Cup matches than anybody else except Nikki Pietrangeli. His combined singles titles (57) and doubles (51) of Grand Prix, WCT and ATP sanctioned tournaments of Open Tennis is only surpassed by John McEnroe: no coincidence here since they are the two greatest natural talents seen in 35 years of Open Tennis.Despite such an impressive career, still regarded by some to be an underachievement considering such a vast potential and natural talent, is sad that Nastase is still remembered by some, particularly in the United States, mostly for his antics rather than for his brilliance and pure artistry displayed on the tennis court. To some extent this is his own fault for being at times too eager to cultivate his image of enfant terrible to an American audience all too enthusiastic to indulge in show business. Nastase (followed closely by another of my favourites, John McEnroe) was always for me the most enjoyable player to watch. Richard Evans (alongside another Brit, Rex Bellamy) is the tennis writer whose knowledge and style I appreciate and admire most. For these two reasons alone I find this book to be a real treat. On a final note, I find fascinating the fact that Evans was the only skilled and curageous enough writer to tackle two very challenging subjects, such as the geniuses and controversial temperaments of Nastase and McEnroe - he also wrote a highly successful biography of John McEnroe: "McEnroe - A Rage for Perfection", updated 8 years later as "McEnroe - Taming the Talent".PS As a tip, if you are presented the choice, get the English edition of this book, published by Aidan Ellis Publishing Ltd. as "Nastase" in 1978. This has two pages of colour pictures, whereas the American edition has all the pictures black and white.