Carrie Soto is restless, ruthless, competitive and fiercely protective of her titles. She is a champion of tennis and would like to continue to be, no matter how. Fading into the sunset by retiring from tennis is seriously not her game. Not everyone expects her to be and definitely not her father- Javier Soto.
It’s her father who has sculpted her as a tennis player from the very beginning. As an accomplished player himself, limited only by his circumstances but certainly not by his talent, Javier makes his life’s mission to make his only daughter the best tennis player the world has ever seen. For that matter, the tennis world should praise her long after she has left the court.
It’s no wonder that the father-daughter duo put their blood, heart, sweat and dreams into realising that ambition of being the greatest tennis player ever. As a widower and single parent, Javier goes above and beyond fatherhood and becomes Carrie’s lifelong mentor on and off the court. For Carrie, tennis matches, and winning tournaments is the only thing her father has ever encouraged her to do. So, eventually, with determination and performance she becomes the tennis champion of a generation.
It’s quite interesting to read all these parts of the novel explaining the daily struggles and followed by triumphant journey of the eponymous tennis player. As readers, we not only get the first-person account by Carrie herself, but the novel is peppered with third person accounts presented by media personalities or publications. It feels like getting a bird’s eye view of Carrie’s tennis career till that point and keep the readers engaged without being bored of learning about yet another match, results, contemporaries, and competitors.
We get to experience the gruelling practice sessions, matches and tournaments, wins and losses along with Carrie. We also get to experience the decades of 70s and 80s when the tennis in general and specially Women tennis had gone through immense transformation. The elegance and charm of old playing styles were given away to stamina and strategic performance. The competitive spirit went a notch further and it’s no surprise that someone like Carrie with ruthless ambitions and headstrong attitude towards her game emerged as a worldwide champion.
The novel opens in 1994 when the era of Carrie is well and truly over by almost half a decade and there is a new champion on the horizon called Nicki Chan. She has the form, fitness, and determination to take the crown held by Carrie for so long, so fiercely.
Of course, Carrie finds the idea hard to digest and doesn’t want to slink off in the background. She thinks that she still has a chance to reclaim her past glory and prove the world that she is a champion as she always used to be. Although her age and stamina are not in the favour of her claim, still she goes ahead and announces to return to courts at age of thirty-seven. Not only to play competitive tennis once more but also to reclaim all the Grand Slams throughout the year. Her father is the only supporter, and she is more than willing to be coached by him for the final time, for the one final year.
Branded as a ‘the battel axe’ by all the sport media, Carrie certainly has an axe to grind and prove a point. Although her body is not up to it and more than once makes her question the choice of returning to a game which has gone more technical and speedier than ever before. Even her father is not the kind of coach he used to be, so enters Bowe Huntley who she almost liked at a moment in life and then despised all the other times.
It becomes interesting to read how Carrie swallows her pride and endures strict practice sessions despite her mind and body revolting against it, only to overcome all hardships with glorious winning sprees on her favourite court. Thrown in are the health scares of her father and how her courtship (no pun intended) with Bowe takes her life to an altogether different trajectory.
Does Carrie Soto make peace with her relentless, battle hungry mind? Does she come to term with her current phase of life and how to accept it with dignified maturity? Certainly, the book and storyline provide us answers to all these questions and some more.
The story asks us to question ourselves about our passion, to what extent we are willing to go to see these ambitions come to fruition and to equip ourselves with accepting the phases of life. Not all phases of life are to go out and put a fight; but some are to revel in your victory and pass on the baton to the next in line.
It’s as much Javier Soto’s story as Carrie Soto and their familial bonding makes all the regimental practice sessions emotionally captivating. So, if you are in search of good father-daughter bonding story then this book is worth a try. Even beyond that, it’s a highly recommended book to give us a peek inside the extremely competitive yet glamorous world of leading sports championships of our times. Worth giving it a shot!!