Everything on the Line (26 page)

The people with and against whom I played passionately over all these decades also deserve enthusiastic kudos: Kevin McKay, Steve Feinstein, David Benjamin, Pete Badanes, Larry Palitz, Roger Goldman, Larry Rosenbluth, Jim Grosfeld, Joyce Goodman, Victor Niederhoffer, Walter Donnelly, Bronson Van Wyck, Steve Stockton, Bob Felder, Steve Weinstock, Neil Lebowitz, Ron Rothstein, Bob Oxnam, Ira Rubin, Nick Munger, Jim Blumstein, Doug Schwab, David Frantz, Ted Martin, Howard Sirak, Jim Cowardin, Clay Redwood, Dave Bender, Alan Zahn, Hank Gardstein, Joel Drucker, Ron Goldberg, Bill Druckemiller, Howard Rogg, and Mark Cripps.

The tennis pros I have had the privilege of knowing and who have confirmed to me the integrity and honor of the game deserve a big round of applause: Roni Sender, Mike Appelbaum, Mark Garrison, Pete Gerstenfeld, Steve Contardi, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Dick Stockton, Charlie Pasarell, Mal Anderson, Fred Stolle, and Cliff Drysdale.

I am thankful for the lovely blurbs written about this novel by a quintumvirate of shining tennis luminaries: Bud Collins, Mary Carillo, Pete Bodo, Marty Riessen, and Joel Drucker.

A warm expression of thanks to the generosity of Publisher K.D. Sullivan and Editor-in-Chief Jay Hartman, who shepherded this novel—with skill and intelligence—through the editing, production, and marketing processes; patiently taught me the basics of the (for me) Brave New e-World; and most of all believed in my writing from the outset.

My deeply heartfelt appreciation to my two extraordinary cardiologists, Alan Brown and Michael Shehata, for keeping me alive.

To my closest friends who gave me love and support for my writing and for me as a person, words of gratitude cannot possibly suffice. But their names will have to: Mary and Lance Donaldson-Evans, Frank and Barbara Fleizach, Mark Cripps, Phyllis Clurman, Margaret and Leo Schwartz, Anthony Caprio, Judith and Fréréric Bluysen, Pete and Linda Haller, Tania Calcinaro, Giuseppe and Maria Signorile, Rony and Rachel Herz, Bill and Beth Jaquith, Ken and Paula Horn, Seymon Ostilly, Valerie Light and Bob Joseph, Hank and Elayne Gardstein, David and Joanne Frantz, Hugh Herbert-Burns, Mike and Sandy Appelbaum, Stan and Carroll Possick, Suzanne Nash, Nat and Ann Greenfield, Willard Spiegelman, Pete and Kris Allen, Fred and Dottie Rudolph, and Alan Gorfin and Chuck Debevoise (in memoriam).

I am so lucky to have a loving, supportive family: my adopted Finkelstein cousins, Lee, Ellen, Eric, and Steven; my stepdaughter, Elissa, and her husband Dan; my sister- and brother-in-law, Shelley and Phil London; and, most especially, my amazing children: Jenny (and husband, Eric Williams), Noah (and wife, Carol, and my grandsons, Stephen and Gavon), and Sarah.

A vigorous shake of the paw is due to my loving, loyal, and hopelessly goofy Yellow Lab, Koslo.

And most of all, I am blessed to have Susan Love as my wife and my best friend ever, and who is my most compelling reason to be alive.

About the Author

BOB MITCHELL is the author of six nonfiction books, a collection of poems, and the acclaimed novels
Match Made in Heaven
and
Once Upon a Fastball
. He studied at Williams College and Harvard University, where he received a Ph.D. in French and Comparative Literature. He has had careers as a French professor, a teaching tennis pro, and an advertising creative director, and has lived in Paris, Brittany, Morocco, Montreal, London, Florence, Stockholm, and Tel Aviv. He resides in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife, Susan Love (an artist), and his dog, Koslo (a Yellow Lab).