McEnroe - A Rage For Perfection

You cannot be serious… unless you’re talking about McEnroe – A Rage for Perfection, Richard Evans’s sharp-eyed 1983 portrait of tennis’s most combustible genius. This is the book that peers into the fiery soul of John McEnroe—part Mozart with a racquet, part banshee with a bad line call. It’s all here: the brilliance, the tantrums, the artistry, and the sheer drama of a man who made centre court feel like Shakespearean theatre.

Published in the heyday of his swagger (not in some wistful retirement glow), this Sidgwick and Jackson edition captures McEnroe as he was: a young lion, lashing out at umpires, mesmerizing crowds with impossible volleys, and trying to live up to his own impossible standards. Richard Evans doesn’t just give us the numbers; he gives us the human puzzle of how perfectionism and rage can coexist in a single serve-and-volley package.

Our copy is in Good condition. Which, if you think about it, is rather fitting: like a McEnroe racket after a tough five-setter, it shows signs of honest use but still delivers the goods. The dust jacket might bear the faint scuff of many a Wimbledon replay, and the spine may lean a little, as if shouting at the umpire, but the pages are intact, legible, and ready to fire volleys of insight straight at your brain.

At Crappy Old Books, we admire books with bite, and this one has plenty. It’s not just a sports biography—it’s a ringside seat to one of tennis’s most electrifying personalities. Whether you’re reliving the golden era of Borg vs. McEnroe or just here for the meltdowns and the genius, A Rage for Perfection is a smashing read.

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