WASP v. Negro

John McPhee’s Levels of the Game is a prose account of the 1968 US Open men’s semifinal tennis match. The opponents are Clark Graebner and Arthur Ashe. The match play-by-play is interrupted by a running commentary on the players thoughts on the points, the thoughts of a few key spectators (wives, fathers, coaches) and the history of the 2 men and how they happened to arrive at Forest Hills on this particular day.

Ashe’s story is obviously the more interesting of the two. His father and his coach were damn resolved, yet the game he develops is his own creation. Graebner is a power player with limited flexibility, which Ashe exploits. He of course wins the match, then goes on to win the Open. Then he and Graebner and the rest of the best US amateurs smack the reigning Australians to reclaim the Davis Cup.

The best parts of the book are when Graebner and Ashe break down the other’s game while it is underway. They are both in their mid twenties and have known one another and played against the other for over a decade. They have opposite approaches, habits, and nerves, and as it is 1968, cool wins out.