You Cannot Be Serious! The Graphic Guide to Tennis

Grand slams, players and fans, and all the tennis trivia possible

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Pub Date 14 Jun 2018 | Archive Date 16 Aug 2018

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Description

Who moves fastest around the court?
Which tournament awards their champion a silver pear?
Are lefties more successful than right-handed players?
Which player admits to smashing 70 rackets a year during his career?


From detailed portraits of the icons of the sport to astonishing statistics and the champions’ most remarkable records, this collection of superbly entertaining infographics includes everything you need to know about the tennis world.

Whether it is Serena Williams’ record-breaking wins, the tallest and shortest players on the tour, or Sam Groth’s 163.7mph serve, You Cannot Be Serious! has it covered. The eccentric side of the sport is here too, including players’ peculiar training methods, Andy Murray’s and Maria Sharapova’s pet dogs, and the most outlandish fashion to have graced the courts.

Charting the greatest and most iconic moments in tennis, from 17-year-old Boris Becker’s unexpected Wimbledon victory to Roger Federer’s 20th Grand Slam singles title, You Cannot be Serious! is the perfect companion for devoted amateur players and armchair fans alike.
 
Who moves fastest around the court?
Which tournament awards their champion a silver pear?
Are lefties more successful than right-handed players?
Which player admits to smashing 70 rackets a year during...

Advance Praise

It’s a beauty of a book. A real effort of love and passion. The layout and colors and charts and graphs appeal to ALL. - 10sBalls.com


It’s a beauty of a book. A real effort of love and passion. The layout and colors and charts and graphs appeal to ALL. - 10sBalls.com



Marketing Plan

Campaign Focus: 

Through stunning infographics, the world of tennis is brought to life. Full of facts and stats, players and personalities, this is tennis as you have never seen it before. Whether it is uncovering the most forehand winners recorded in a Grand Slam Final or comparing the slice backhand of the world’s best players, the intriguing and often surprising truths of tennis are uncovered. From legends John McEnroe and Steffi Graf to current heroes Serena Williams and Roger Federer, and including quirky facts such as the tallest and shortest players to have graced the game through to pitting the top players against each other, these striking and fun infographics put the sport’s most intriguing questions to the test: • Who has won the most matches? • Which player has the softest hands at the net? • Who has the most bizarre training methods?   

Key Selling Points: 

  • Publication to coincide with the French Open and ahead of the grass-courts season which culminates with the Wimbledon tournament 

  • Unique concept with no other graphic guides to tennis available 

  • Provides a comprehensive but easily accessible collection of info about the world of tennis making it suitable for those who are obsessed with the sport and those who take only a casual interest.  

  • Suitable for both adults and children. 

Key Campaign Activity 

Pre-publication: 

  • Pre-publication campaign to build anticipation and awareness at outlets tennis but also outlets that might cover specific tennis stars at the French Open and other Grand Slam evens 

  • Goodreads and other giveaways pre-publication date 

  • Social media advertising utilizing select infographics 

Trade:  

  • Announcements in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Shelf Awareness 

Consumer Marketing: 

  • B2C email campaigns via Quarto Knows mailing lists 

  • Giveaways at Goodreads, select blogs and websites 

  • Book trailer video 

  • Social media advertising – utilize select infographics for Facebook and Instagram advertising ahead of publication to drive pre-orders 

Publicity/Media: 

  • Advance copies and PDFs to key tennis and sports-related outlets 

  • Target men’s and women’s fitness, lifestyle and general interest publications 

  • Target Father’s Day gift guides at blogs and magazines 

  • Pursue using select infographics for excerpts around French Open coverage and other Grand Slam events 

  • Reviews, announcements and excerpts at tennis outlets – Tennis, Tennis Identity, Tennis Magazine, Tennis X, Tennis Online, Tennis Mailbag, Open Court, The Tennis Server, Open Court 

  • Pursue coverage, interviews, giveaways at tennis podcasts: Essential Tennis Podcast, TENNIS.com podcast, No Challenges Remaining, Tennis Radio, The Tennis Files Podcast, Tactical Tennis, The Tennis Nerd Podcast 

  • Pursue mentions, possible reviews at daily newspapers with strong tennis coverage: USA Today, New York Daily News, New York Post, New Haven Register, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bay Area News Group, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, The New York Times  

  • Particular targeting at Florida-based newspapers, family, parenting and lifestyle magazine and other outlets – huge percentage of tennis camps are based in Florida 

Campaign Focus: 

Through stunning infographics, the world of tennis is brought to life. Full of facts and stats, players and personalities, this is tennis as you have never seen it before. Whether it...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781781316948
PRICE US$26.99 (USD)
PAGES 192

Average rating from 7 members


Featured Reviews

This is a fab book to introduce and enhance knowledge of the wonderful game of tennis. The book is very bright and eye catching and is full of the essentials you need to know about the game and also some fascinating facts. For those who already know the game there is still things to take away from this book as it has some really interesting facts and figures about the game and the people who play it. Perfect books for fans of tennis and those who want to learn more about it.

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🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾

You Cannot Be Serious! is a beautifully illustrated guide to all things tennis, with an in-depth look at top players, their astonishing achievements, stats, training techniques, and even eccentricities in life and fashion. Highly recommended!

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – Aurum Press and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are mine.

#YouCannotBeSerious!theGraphicGuideToTennis #NetGalley

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You Cannot Be Serious! is an illustrated encyclopedia of everything related to Tennis. From the History of the Game to the history of the 4 grand slams and the profiles of the tennis greats, this book has it all.

The book is a treasure chest full of insightful stats, trivia & fascinating facts, all presented in an attractive graphical form. (<i>Did you know that Steffi Graf is the only player EVER to win the 4 grand slams & an Olympic gold in the same calendar year</i>).

Few of the topics covered include:
• History of the game & Evolution of the Rules
• The 4 grand slams (Australian, French, Wimbledon & US) in numbers.
• Brief profiles of Tennis Legends (Federer, Rafa, Djoko & Murray and also past legends like Agassi, Sampras, Chris Evert & Steffi Graf)
• Lots of interesting facts like longest matches, biggest upsets, greatest chokes and legendary rivalries
• Even some weird facts like Player tattoos, superstitions, controversies & unique records and much much more…

Overall, This book is a lot of fun. If you have any interest in tennis, you will surely enjoy this book. Recommended!

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – Aurum Press and NetGalley for the ARC.
#YouCannotBeSerious!theGraphicGuideToTennis #NetGalley

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This is a fun colorful look at the Game of Tennis. It includes lots of information, numbers, and graphs. Many names will be familiar but some long forgotten names are also included. This book will make a great gift for any Tennis or sports fan. Enjoy

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'You Cannot Be Serious!: The Graphic Guide to Tennis' by Mark Hodgkinson is a fun collection of infographics about big time tennis.

Starting with a brief overview of the rules, there then follow pages of graphics on food served at big matches, player serve speeds and more. There are bios of all the big names like Federer and Williams and Connors. There are weird superstitions that players have and the kind of clothes they wear.

I'm not a huge tennis fan, but I'm familiar with the big names. I liked this look into the world of the superfamous and amazingly good players. I also liked the stories of the losses and long matches. The graphics were a fun way to deliver the stats.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Quarto Publishing Group-Aurum Press, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

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More like 3.5 stars out of five, but not enough to approximate it to 4 stars, because as fun and entertaining this book was for someone who does not know much about tennis but watches it from time to time (because Simona Halep, mostly - and I even went to FedCup once!), there are still things that I think are lacking or should be better controlled.

One of them is the pages that focused on a famous player - I think it should've been male and female 50/50, not 3 men to each female (or more, maybe?). I think there are a lot of female tennis players to have where to choose from in order to have an equal number.

But mostly it was surprisingly fun, although there are a few parts that were quite dull and a bit of humor here and there would've been appreciated.

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