This book was inspired by the Burt Lancaster film The Swimmer, in which an executive on the verge of a nervous breakdown swims his way through the swimming pools of his neighbours in California.

Vignes's dreams of being a Wimbledon star have come to nothing, and he decides to play tennis on every court he can find from his childhood home in Sussex to his new home in Yorkshire. His visit to Oxford only confirms his belief that the sport is still mired in the British class system -- but he manages to hit a serve in the court where Tim Henman learned to play at Weston-on-the-Green, near Bicester.