What do the “dummies”—a.k.a., people new to the sport—of 2025 need to know about tennis today that they didn’t in 1998? While the book’s set-up is largely the same, the equipment and history sections have received 21st century updates. The biggest change of the last 25 years, according to McEnroe, is the sport’s velocity.
“The speed of the game is the main thing; everything is faster,” he says. “So, there’s a little more emphasis on string technology, racquet technology, the speed of the courts, the newer playing styles.”
McEnroe cites surface speed as an important shift. When he wrote the first Tennis for Dummies, Wimbledon’s grass was still the bumpy, low-bouncing, chewed-up turf of old, and the best way to play on it was to get to the net as early and often as possible. Now there’s less difference between the courts at each Slam, and fewer players in the forecourt at any of them.
“It’s a big reason you see the same players winning on every surface, which didn’t used to be true,” McEnroe says. “There’s no such thing as a clay-court specialist anymore.”
While McEnroe acknowledges the decline of pure serve and volley, he hasn’t given up on attacking tennis. Instead of following their serves to net, the players of 2025 look to pound their forehands right away, and close with a high volley.
