I devoured this book in just a few hours. I really enjoyed the story. On the actual tennis pro tour, this type of story, a tennis prodigy being pushed by a headstrong parent, is not that unusual. Think of Richard Williams and his two daughters, Serena and Venus. Think of Jennifer Capriati and her parents who pushed her professionally. I enjoyed the tennis portion of the book but enjoyed more the struggle by Anton Stratis, the protagonist, to break away from his demanding father and live the life he so desperately wanted. The story moves at a fast clip as Startis moves from a tennis hustler to the #1 player in the world.

After hustling one of his tennis players, a college coach offers Anton a piece of advice. "Balance," he offers Anton and that is the struggle that Anton faces throughout the book.

Very good sports story, better human interest tale... ( )

A novel about a tennis prodigy, from early teens through late 20s. It was just assumed that the protagonist wanted a life of being a world class tennis star. His father pushed and pushed. This shows the life of a tennis pro, the people behind the scenes, the drugs, the stunted social maturity. And the family relationships. Maybe if I played tennis, I maybe would have appreciated this story more. ( )

TROPHY SON
DOUGLAS BRUNT

MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️▫️
PUBLISHER St. Martin's Press
PUBLISHED May 30, 2017

An intriguing story a young man whose entire life has revolved around a domineering father and the sport of tennis.

SUMMARY
Anton never got to choose tennis, it was his father's plan for him from the moment he was born.
His dad had been an Olympic athlete, and wanted fame and glory for his son. Anton left school after eight grade to play tennis full time. He'd spend seven hours a day on their backyard court in Radnor, Pennsylvania, with dad slamming tennis balls at him. That would be followed by hours of tennis strategy, weight training and watching match films. In the winter, the family would rent a house in Florida so Anton could continue the same daily routine. By the time he was fourteen Anton could easily beat college players. Occasionally, his dad would take him to nearby college courts to hustle matches with college team players for money.

Anton aspires for greatness but detests the fact that the choice was not his to make. In his mind "tennis in only about hate and suffering" He grows up in isolation, without friends or any semblance of a normal life. When Anton was in his mid-teens, his dad hired an entourage: a coach, a trainer, and a stringer, who travel with Anton from match to match. Anton struggles to find the balance he needs to be happy. His road to greatness becomes even tougher once Anton becomes a top rated world player. Anton must make compromises to continue his rise. At eighteen, as his body starts breaking down he begins taking performance enhancing drugs. It's a decision that will cost him and ultimately force him to make his own decisions about his future.

REVIEW
An avid tennis player I really wanted to love this book. I have known and personally seen overbearing tennis parents and the impact on the child. No fun for anyone close to the issue. This story seems strikingly similar to a autobiography I had read about Andre Agassi several years ago.

Overall the writing was great and the book was a quick read. The descriptions of tennis matches and tournaments were good and I loved reading about the behind the scenes at the tournaments. The story itself left me wanting something more. Anton's general unhappiness with his situation, but unwillingness to change it, got old really quick.

My biggest issue with TROPHY SON was with the doping issue and the pretense that "everyone on the tour is doing it". Bobby Hicks, Anton's trainer mentions the names of several real tennis players currently ranked in the top ten, as examples of player who actually use performance enhancing drugs. None of the players mentioned in the book have ever tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and in fact openly speak out against the issue. While the book is a work of fiction, the use of real names in this one part of the book angered me. In this day and age it is already hard to tell fact from fiction without someone purposefully muddying the water. The book really would have been just as powerful and more enjoyable had fictional names been used. To use real names in this manner crossed a line for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Trophy Son by Douglas Brunt is a book about extremes. The father's focus on practice is to the point of abuse. The girlfriend is famous and driven in her own career. The substance abuse problem not just exists but extends to everyone. The choices is all or nothing. Everything is an extreme, which in turn means that nothing stands out. Interesting but perhaps a little over the top.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017/07/trophy-son.html

Reviewed for NetGalley ( )

From the author of [book:The Means|18775097] and [book:Ghosts of Manhattan|13547513] Douglas Brunt turns to the world of sports with this latest: TROPHY SON – a compelling yet haunting glimpse into the lives of professional athletes; the burdens and sacrifices they bear.

Anton Stratis, a tennis prodigy whose childhood is stripped away by an ambitious obsessive father who nurtures talent and resentment in his son.

“A tennis racket lurks in my earliest memories like a sick relative who had come to live with us . . . I had no sensation of milestones and the power to value a moment was never granted to me. My parents had the plan for my life from the moment my mother tested positive with me. . . “

The hard turn: When Anton was pushed to leave school after the eighth grade to play tennis full time and study some with a traveling tutor.

“I know I was born and I know that I’ll die. The in between is mine. “ – Eddie Vedder

Tennis prodigy Anton Stratis is the son of Pennslyvania parents- two former Olympic athletes. His dad obsessed beyond control is determined to make his son a star.

Anton’s parents met in the early eighties. She was an Olympic downhill skier. He an Olympic swimmer. His mom, a natural athlete. Not as intense as his dad.

In the average day he would spend seven hours on the court with this dad blasting tennis balls from a machine, then strategy, watch game film and train with weights. Then in the winter, they would rent a place in Florida with tennis courts to do the same year-round.

His dad, was a retired hedge fund manager and now his number one focus was his son’s game. By the time Anton was fourteen he was good enough to beat the crap out of decent college player— and his dad scouted out the places.

His dad taught him how to approach the court, taunt the players, bait them and then bait them into putting money on the line.

“A friendly game will ruin you. Play with adversity, with animosity. No friendly games.”

With all the drilling, this meant no friends. No normal childhood.

Tennis was about only hate and suffering.

Anton grew to despise the game.

His dad saw in him what he did not see in his (three years older) brother Panos. He thought Anton could handle the hate. He took the punishment and by twelve he had used it to become an elite junior player. By the age of fourteen, he was on the Penn campus to humiliate a Divison I college player.

Panos drove a Porsche 911 that cost their dad less than his tennis travel each year, so that was supposed to the balance. He liked his brother. They watched out for one another the best they could.

His dad never let anyone come to like him. He was trapped. His dad was ruthless. Obsessive. He even withheld water during the heat of the summer. Torture. There were no water breaks.

There was the beat me, love me. Over and over.

His dad would not tolerate slacking off, complaints, and no talking back. No kid stuff. He would not allow the expression of rage from Anton. His dad was his trainer and coach.

Through the torment, and grueling practice he developed a toughness, a knowledge that no opponent across the net could fathom his training, but it was all built on hate.

The only light he had was reading. If he could not go anywhere physically, he could take the journey with a book. From Hemingway, Faulkner, John Irving, Nelson DeMille, Dickens. Anton loved Dickens. Unfairness, unhappiness, suffering, heroes and villains—glimmers of hope at love and a way out. David Copperfield – the idea of being the hero of your own life.

The mandate was to succeed, win tournaments, be the best. But being the number one tennis player did not make Anton the hero of his own life. It made him the hero of someone else’s life.

“Being the hero of my own life is about something else, something internal. It’s about who has their hands on the steering wheel that’s inside me. It needed to be me and it never was then, and I didn’t understand that until much later.”

His game was not like Agassi, Rafter, McEnroe, Federer; however, he liked them. His game was more like Marat Safin. His dad said he was unique.

There would be no distractions from girls, friends, or outside influences. He did what he was supposed to do.

His whole world was small. The only thing of value was winning at tennis and losing was Armageddon. Losing was trauma. His dad was more invested in tennis that Anton. A loss to an inferior player would not be tolerated.

“Some parents feel their position of unconditional love permits unfettered abuse. They can rationalize self-forgiveness for harsh treatment because parenting is an obligation and only the parent can do certain things. . . “

From triumphs, failures, to the highs and lows. The dramatic rise through the intensely competitive world of professional tennis. From abuse and performance-enhancing drugs pushed by a domineering obsessive father pushing a son to exceed at the expense of his own happiness.

The author pulls the reader into a world filled with conflicts and struggles of a young boy, through his teenage years to adulthood, the pro-circuit and Wimbledon. A strife for happiness, self-fulfillment, and pressure to succeed.

Some may find some similarities with Stratis’s father resembling Andre Agassi’s, an overbearing former Olympic athlete and immigrant.

As in [book:Open|6480781] (highly recommend) his autobiography— Agassi reveals off the court he was often unhappy and confused, unfulfilled by his great achievements in a sport he had come to resent.

From the author:

“Trophy Son” was inspired by how childhood sports have changed since his youth to become highly specialized and competitive, as the pressures on athletes trickle down from colleges to high school to youth sports, adding incentives for them to try performance-enhancing drugs.

An engrossing tale for anyone who especially loves the game of tennis, and a cautionary tale for parents who utilize pressures and tactics to push a child in our overly social and achievement-obsessed society of perfectionism. Well done!

A special thank you to St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an early reading copy. Cover Love.

JDCMustReadBooks ( )