Vince Spadea's new book "Break point" has caused quite a stir among his fellow pros, it's an account of the 2005 season and focuses largely on Spadea's performances but controversially it contains a large number of anecdotes from "behind-the-scenes."
“I feel like in writing that book, he may have made a mistake, may have kind of rubbed a few people the wrong way and not made so many friends in the locker room,” said James Blake, who makes several appearances in the book.
“I've heard from a lot of people that a lot of people are upset, that he didn't just mention me in the book – he mentioned Andre Agassi, he mentioned my brother, he mentioned Jeff Morrison, Mardy Fish, Patrick McEnroe,” said Blake. “To hear things about them when he really doesn't know us… He's never been to my house. I've never been to his house. He's never practiced with me at Saddlebrook. He's never reached out and really gotten to know me, so it's tough to write about someone when you don't know anything about them.”
Blake was reacting to a section in the book describing a bathroom break Spadea took in a match between the two in 2002:
“Nice gamesmanship here,” he [Blake] said. “You’re trying to stall the match by going to the bathroom because I had the moment. Nice try, buddy. We’ll see what happens.”
Spadea also writes briefly about Blake unwittingly stealing his date at a players’ party in Hamburg one year, and refers to Blake’s comeback when the two play at Las Vegas in February 2005:
"After a plague of injuries and family tragedy, James is courageously trying [to] make this night and 2005 better times for him. I have beaten him the last four times in head-to-head ATP competition, so I feel confident yet insecure, not sure how many times in a row I can expect to beat a solid, dangerous player like Blake.
When they introduce us, I notice Blake receives the greater applause; he’s clearly the crowd’s choice. James has always been a crowd favorite – the personification of the likeable American."
Spadea shrugged when asked about Blake’s comments. “Obviously, there were certain excerpts in the book about that individual, James Blake, so obviously he’s going to have a biased outlook on the book,” he said. “It’s a look at what I felt surprised [me] in his own mannerisms. But overall, I mentioned that he’s done a lot of great things. It’s self-explanatory what type of person he presents himself to be. Like he said, I don’t know him.”
Leaving aside the book’s five-step guide to picking up women, the controversy it’s attracted has largely been about whether it breaches a locker room “code of silence” – an idea evoked by the book’s own back cover.
Jonas Bjorkman also felt uncomfortable with the idea of Spadea discussing things that happen behind closed doors on the tennis circuit, particularly about players Spadea doesn’t know well. Spadea says he’s not close to any player on tour.
“I wouldn’t think of reading it,” said Bjorkman.
Bjorkman himself, however, has little to worry about – in Break Point, Spadea writes:
"Jonas is a great competitor, a classy, friendly guy who everyone on tour likes. He even travels with his family a lot."
Spadea doesn’t name all names, sometimes making veiled but obvious references to famous players – an “infamous Chilean player” (Marcelo Rios), a “booming German player” (Boris Becker), a record-making Wimbledon champion whose first marriage was to a Romanian player (Bjorn Borg).
Not withstanding Spadea’s theory, another reason people read books is to see what’s been written about them. That’s an impulse Dmitry Tursunov confessed to. “I probably should read it, because if he wrote anything about me I want to know.”
Tursunov agreed there is an code governing what players can say publicly about each other – “I just haven’t written it down to tell you guys” – but feels Spadea’s literary efforts are harmless. “I think any initiative to get all that stuff across to spectators or fans, I think that’s a good idea,” he said. “I think that book is probably going to do more good than damage.”
It’s hardly surprising that Tursunov has a more liberal attitude towards sharing insider information. He also took a little flak from his colleagues for some of his celebrated blog material for the ATP this year:
"I was going to talk about a certain female player named Katerina, who has been chasing Marat for the third day now. “Coincidentally” bumping into him, eating when he is eating, lounging in a chair in front of the locker room right after his match and changing practice court from #8 to the one next to his."
The next day, he wrote:
"Really, the only reason why wrote that is that I was extremely jealous that she picked Marat and not me. She should know that! Besides, it’s not like I said anything bad… I think people should be able to laugh at themselves. In any case, Katerina, I’m sorry! Let’s be friends!!! We can practice on adjacent courts anytime!"
On the other hand, it was nuggets like that which prompted the ATP to establish him as a regular monthly blogger on their site. On Spadea, Tursunov’s blog reported:
"My first hit is with Vince Spadea! Arguably the best rapper on the circuit! Probably because he is the only one who tries it and everyone is too tired of asking him not to."
Spadea defends his rapping in Break Point, and defended his right to write the book last week. “Is there a historical amendment that was made in sports that that should be the case?” he said of the alleged locker room code. “I don't remember signing a paper that said that.
“It’s one thing if somebody's in your house and it's like a paparazzi thing, or if there's some type of malicious intent. But I don't feel like anything like that happened in what I was trying to expose.”
