Conor Niland's tennis memoir The Racket wins William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2024

Irish former professional tennis player Conor Niland has won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2024 for his memoir The Racket, ghostwritten with sports journalist Gavin Cooney. The win was announced on 19 November 2024.

The book is the first tennis title to win the award since its inception in 1989, and Niland becomes the first Irish winner since Paul Kimmage took the prize in 1990 for Rough Ride: Behind the Wheel with a Pro Cyclist.

Speaking to William Hill after the announcement, Niland said he hoped the book would give readers, particularly young players and their parents, a more accurate picture of life in professional tennis beyond the glamour associated with the sport’s four Grand Slam events. He described how players outside the top rankings face a far tougher reality than is generally perceived, drawing on his own experience of competing just outside the world’s top 100 while also spending time much further down the rankings.

Niland, who reached the first round of Wimbledon during his career, said writing the book had helped him move past a defeat at the tournament that had stayed with him for years.

Judging panel and shortlist

The winner was chosen by a judging panel chaired by Alyson Rudd and including Clarke Carlisle, Gabby Logan, Dame Heather Rabbatts, Mark Lawson and Michelle Walder. As well as the trophy, Niland receives a £30,000 prize.

The shortlist also featured David Peace’s Munichs, about Manchester United in the aftermath of the 1958 Munich air disaster; Kelly Holmes’ autobiography Unique; Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell’s memoir These Heavy Black Bones; Khalida Popal’s My Beautiful Sisters; and Harry Edward’s posthumous memoir When I Passed The Statue Of Liberty I Became Black, edited by Neil Duncanson.

The William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, first presented in 1989, recognises excellence in sports writing.