THE RACKET
Feature Film, Drama
Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the The Year 2004
Telegraph Best 50 Books of the Year
“Conor Niland may only have managed a career-high ranking of 129… but his account of how he managed this, is up there with the best half-dozen books on tennis ever written.” – Geoff Dyer, The Guardian
“History is usually written by the winners, but this intelligent, unvarnished, emotionally draining memoir shows why an also-ran’s perspective can be just as valuable” – Andrew Lynch, Business Post
“Kitchen Confidential for tennis” – Ed Caesar, The New Yorker
Genre:
Feature Film, Drama
Role:
Writer / Director / Executive Producer
Status:
Shopping Agreement with Conor Niland / Penguin Random House
Seeking:
Producer, Development Support, International Co-Production
THE STORY
When Conor Niland was 16, he got the chance to hit with Serena Williams at Nick Bollettieri’s famed tennis academy. Conor, the Irish junior number one, was feeling a bit homesick. Serena, also 16, already owned her own house beside the academy. Conor Niland knows what it’s like when Roger Federer walks into the dressing room (‘Ciao, bonjour, hello!’), and he has had the exquisitely terrible experience of facing Novak Djokovic in the world’s biggest tennis stadium while suffering from food poisoning. But he never reached the very top.
The Racket is the story of pro tennis’s 99%: the players who roam the globe in hope of climbing the rankings and squeaking into the Grand Slam tournaments. It brings us into a world where a few dozen super-rich players – travelling with coaches and physios – share a stage with lonely touring journeymen whose earnings barely cover their expenses. Painting a vivid picture of the social dynamics on tour, the economics of the game, and the shadows cast by gambling and doping, The Racket is a witty and revealing underdog’s memoir and a unique look inside a fascinating hidden world.
Nick is uniquely well-positioned to turn Conor’s eye-opening account of the haves and have-nots of elite sport into an entertaining and powerful feature film. A former Irish junior interprovincial player himself, Nick knows both the world that Conor emerged from and some of the key characters in Conor’s story personally. He has also had the parallel experience of the attempting to become a rock star, and the sacrifices that so many young talents – and their families and friends – make for an elusive and fickle prize.
The Story Works has entered into an initial exclusive 8 month shopping agreement with Conor and his publishers Penguin Random House UK (with a further 4 month option) to explore the potential that Nick sees to turn Conor’s book into a globally appealing feature film. In Nick’s view, this is not just a story about tennis, or about Ireland – it’s a parable about winners and losers, desire and desperation, the limits of talent and the cruelty of luck, which will resonate across all cultures and fields of endeavour.