Review of Winning Ugly

Winning Ugly
• Genre: Other (tennis)
• Author: Brad Gilbert
• Overall rating: 7 of 10= Genre rating: 10 of 10
• How I heard about it: Tennis players
• Suggested Audience : Tennis players Obviously. But anyone that likes tactics and learning from successful people.

Brad Gilbert was never considered a great tennis player which is a shame in my mind. He was clearly one of the best minds the game of tennis has ever seen. While as a player he never won any major tournaments. The top 10 players always hated seeing him in their half of the draw. In his time players like Becker, Borge, McEnroe, Connors and Edberg would dread playing him. He would maintain a winning record against the top 10 players thorough out his career. He did not have the sheer talent of his piers however he used his brilliant strategic mind to give fits to clearly more gifted players. By using his small meager strengths to isolate and exploit his opponents little known weakness Gilbert was able to outwit the best in the world and show that often working smarter can beat talent and working harder .

Winning Ugly is required reading by many NCAA Division 1 tennis teams as well as being suggested by many pros including Andre Agassi, Pete Samprass and most coaches from any team or background highly recommend it. In all my years of tennis I have yet to hear a single negative thing about this book.

Brad did not write this book by himself he had a sports writer named Steve Jamision help him out I’m assuming Brads talent is tennis not writing (I can completely relate to such a predicament ). Whoever is responsible for the flow of this book was a genius. The content as mentioned has plenty of credibility. Unlike many books written my experts that don’t seem to be well written this is masterfully written by an absolute tennis genius.

One of my favorite parts of this book is that it contains extremely practical advice that will instantly improve any player’s game. Regardless of whether you are a brand new player or a seasoned tournament player this book has something in it for you. One of the best pieces of advice he gave that I to this day use almost every match. He suggests the unconventional notion that if you win the toss before the match one should chose not to serve first. Then he gives several extremely logical reasons as to why this is true in 95% of cases. This has worked for me. I saw my win % improve just from choosing to receive, not to serve.
Don’t be deceived though this book includes more advanced tactics as well. Things like scouting you opponent, how to pick up on less obvious weaknesses, equipment tips and tournament tips for making it further in your draw.

Overall a very well written book on the strategies of my favorite sport, A must read for tennis players and I would have enjoyed it even if I was not a tennis player. Now keep in mind Brad Gilbert is not a Christian so some of his advice as far as gamesmanship needs to be put through a bit of a filter and there are a handful of questionable moral implications within the contents, However, this is a book about tennis not spiritual life principals. Brad Gilbert is an expert in his felid and I don’t have a problem trusting his opinions in his field of specialty. He wrote this understanding that thousands of 10-16 year old tennis players would be reading it so granted the above warning there really is nothing in the book that offends me or makes me question the appropriateness of the book. I would suggest maybe parents discuss a little tennis etiquette and when sportsmanship meets gamanship. Something I might actually be discussing in one of my bloggs.