What intrigues around tennis, the “devil’s sport” as told by Paolo Porrati

“The devil invented tennis,” he said Adriano Panatta because it pushes you into error, to think, for example, that today you play really well and suddenly you start making mistakes; or that you want to make your opponent pay with those balls that he always puts there for you and so you get angry and don’t take any more”. The devil invented tennis because there is no other sport in the world in which you win 6-0 5-0 and 40-0 on your serve and instead of scoring a point, a tiny point, and going to shake hands with your opponent you can find yourself, an hour later, chasing someone who until recently seemed dead.
This is why, together with football which has very different dynamics, tennis is the discipline that has inspired writers, journalists, novelists and storytellers the most. Yes, because there are many stories related to the racket, some wonderful, others profoundly sad but at the same time full of charm. Take that of the “baron” Gottfried von Cramm, the man who said no to Nazism and paid for it with prison and a false accusation of homosexuality after losing a legendary Wimbledon final that inspired books and films. Or the pantomimes of Connors e McEnroethe glacial calm of Borgthe wall shattered by bullets against which the child Novak Djokovic he dreamed of becoming number one in the world.
There is also all this in a very beautiful book written by the former referee – of tennis, obviously – Paolo Porrati and published by the Laurana publishing house. It’s called, and it couldn’t be otherwise, The devil’s sport and, contrary to what one might think, it is not a Gianni Clerici-style manual but a mystery full of twists set on the red clay courts of some Milanese clubs.

It all begins in 2018 when two fifty-year-old tennis players compete in one of the many amateur tournaments at the weekend. After a very tough exchange, one of the two challengers collapses to the ground and never gets up again. What seems like a simple case of accidental death is the beginning of a compelling international investigation which has as its involuntary protagonist the most unlikely of investigators, Maurizio Verri – a referee embittered by time and with many skeletons in the closet – and a surprising team of tennis players-investigators.
And then, in reality, in the over six hundred pages written by Porrati there are much more than one crime novel. As if the author wanted to concentrate in a single book all the stories that came to mind between a 15-0 and a call from the net.
Between betrayals, blind revenge, ruthless hitmen and budding loves, the novel is a continuous reference to the sliding doors of life. “They say that tennis is the devil’s sport and I don’t know if it’s true – explains the author – But I know that tennis, being able to choose whether to bring out the best part of you or the worst part of you, definitely chooses the worst part”.
And it’s very true. Because anyone who continues to think that this is a sport for the rich and the cool, that without physical contact there isn’t that adrenaline that football, basketball or many other disciplines can give you, is simply wrong. There is no team, it’s true, but this accentuates the level of loneliness – and often paranoia – of the tennis player. Whether you play the Wiimbledon final or the Magliana interregional tournament.

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Paolo Porrati knows this well and has written a perfect book for sports enthusiasts but also for thriller lovers. With solid, compelling writing and adept at keeping the reader gripped and in suspense until the last page. Porrati, born in Milan in 1966, is a manager in the insurance sector with long experience in Italy and abroad. He has always combined his professional career with commitment to very different activities, primarily tennis, both as a player and as association president, referee and consultant. The Devil’s Sport it is his debut novel. The hope is that the series continues.