Philip Slayton was in the right place for the release of his new book, The Future of Tennis: A Photographic Celebration of the Men’s Tour.
The seasonal resident of Port Medway was in Toronto for the men’s draw of the Rogers Cup, a prestigious international tennis tournament with a top prize of more than $1 million USD.
“Most of the people in the book are here,” Slayton told LighthouseNow during an August 7 phone interview. “The book is out today, so we’ll see what happens.”
A prolific author and columnist, Slayton collaborated on The Future of Tennis with photographer Peter Figura.
“The idea behind it was, look, tennis for quite a long time has been dominated by four or five players,” he said, referring to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka. “These guys aren’t disappearing today or even tomorrow, but five years from now I don’t think any of them will be playing. So, what happens next? Who is going to put on these very big shoes?”
Slayton and Figura attempt to answer these questions in a series of essays about the sport’s established stars and the up-and-coming players looking to overtake them.
The book includes plenty of Canadian content, with profiles of soon-to-retire doubles legend Daniel Nestor, top contender Milos Raonic and impressive youngster Denis Shapovalov.
Asked for his assessment of the men’s game in Canada, Slayton was positive, if somewhat guarded. “It’s reasonably strong and getting stronger,” he said. “But tennis is always full of surprises, which is one of the great things about the game.”
Tennis Canada, which organizes the Rogers Cup, gave The Future of Tennis a boost right out of the gates.
“(They’ve) been very supportive,” Slayton said. “They bought a whole bunch of copies, although I’m not sure what they’re doing with them.”
The book has garnered positive reviews within the tennis community and among the sport’s top journalists. Peter Bodo, a tennis columnist with ESPN, has called it “perhaps the best tonic for any tennis fan who fears for the future of the game in the inevitable, post-Roger Federer era.”
The 37-year-old Federer has won 20 Grand Slam titles and is ranked second in the world in men’s tennis. Though he continues to excel well past the normal retirement age for tennis players, the Swiss superstar is not immune to the ravages of time.
“Even Federer can’t go on forever,” Slayton said.
Asked who might replace Federer as the face of men’s tennis, Slayton declined to offer any predictions to LighthouseNow. “You’ll have to buy the book to find out,” he joked.
The Future of Tennis: A Photographic Celebration of the Men’s Tour is presented by Skyhorse Publishing and is available online and in bookstores.
LighthouseNow Progress Bulletin
August 15, 2018
Scott Costen 