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An instant classic of American sportswriting-the tennis essays of David Foster Wallace, "the best mind of his generation" (A. O. Scott) and "the best tennis-writer of all time" (New York Times)

Gathered for the first time in a deluxe collector´s edition, here are David Foster Wallace´s legendary writings on tennis, five tour-de-force pieces written with a competitor´s insight and a fan´s obsessive enthusiasm. Wallace brings his dazzling literary magic to the game he loved as he celebrates the other-worldly genius of Roger Federer; offers a wickedly witty disection of Tracy Austin´s memoir; considers the artistry of Michael Joyce, a supremely disciplined athlete on the threshold of fame; resists the crush of commerce at the U.S. Open; and recalls his own career as a "near-great" junior player.

Whiting Award-winning writer John Jeremiah Sullivan provides an introduction.

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"This book has nothing to do with physics, but its title will make you look super smart if you´re reading it on a train or plane." -Bill Gates

"David Foster Wallace´s Federer essay turned me into an avid tennis fan."
-Lin-Manuel Miranda, The New York Times Book Review

"A wonderful and inspiring collection for fans of either tennis or eye-popping prose."
-Austin American-Statesman

"String Theory stands as a monument to Wallace´s talent-and his dedication to the game."
-Doug Perry, The Oregonian/The Spin of the Ball

"This collection is a tennis classic that deserves shelf space next to John McPhee´s Levels of the Game and Brad Gilbert´s Winning Ugly." -Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News

"David Foster Wallace´s essays on tennis are a treasure, some of the best writing ever on the sport, and they are all here in the Library of America´s this deluxe hardcover collector´s edition."
-NY Sports Day

"Ruminative, digressive, lyrical, funny, sad, sometimes borderline lunatic, these posthumously collected journalistic pieces have all the hallmarks of Wallace´s novels." -The Washington Post

"A remarkable volume. . . . The tennis-obsessive will find Wallace´s considerations almost bewilderingly insightful." -The Telegraph (UK)

"Wallace´s grasp of tennis was truly prodigious. . . . He has often been described as the best tennis writer of all time, and these essays don´t disabuse that notion." -The Guardian (UK)

"What makes this collection so valuable for serious tennis fans is the chance to see ´the most beautiful sport there is´ through Wallace´s eyes." -Toure, Town & Country

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David Foster Wallace (1962-2008) was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1962 and raised in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where in his teens he was a regionally ranked junior tennis player. His works include Infinite Jest, Girl with Curious Hair, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Oblivion, A Supposedly Fun Thing I´ll Never Do Again, and Consider the Lobster. His final novel, The Pale King, was posthumously published in 2011.

John Jeremiah Sullivan is one of America´s leading practitioners of the long-form magazine profile, with work appearing in The New York Times Magazine (where he is a staff writer), Harper´s (of which he is a contributing editor), The New Yorker, New York, Oxford American, GQ, and other magazines. He is the author of Blood Horses: Notes of Sportswriter´s Son and Pulphead.

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