Defector's own Giri Nathan is the father of an insanely great new baby and the author of an insanely great new book. Just as babies transform and master skills at alarming speed, so too have the young tennis prodigies at the center of his book. Changeover: A Young Rivalry and a New Era of Men's Tennis, out today, is an account of the 2024 men’s tennis season, when the sport was finally captured by the steely, red-headed Jannik Sinner and by Carlos Alcaraz, the instinctive Spaniard. While he perfects his sleek and unassuming brand of tennis, Sinner’s season is clouded by a doping violation made public before the U.S. Open. The gregarious Alcaraz is a freakishly adept learner, shapeshifting on whatever surface, if more slowly adjusting to the emotional tumult of life on the tour.  Fans of Giri’s tennis writing will know exactly what pleasures await them: stylish turns of phrase, vivid description, and frequent laughs. In his Wimbledon quarterfinal, Sinner’s face looks “flattened and slack, like a pillowcase emptied of its pillow.” Alcaraz arrives at the tournament having studied old videos of himself for inspiration: “Tennis’s most brilliant pupil had decided he didn’t need a syllabus anymore; he had become his own assigned reading.” Giri writes about the two lads with a certain knowing affection, and a reader will feel totally at ease as he shows you around the colorful contemporary tennis world, trust he’s won through years of studying and covering the sport.

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