Former World No 129 took the William Hill Book of the Year Award for his brutal insight into the less glamourous end of the tennis ladder
The Irishman who came within a handful of points of securing a match against Roger Federer on Wimbledon’s Centre Court in 2010 and then took on Novak Djokovic at the 2011 US Open had his best win yet after his book The Racket scooped the prestigious 2024 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award in a ceremony in London on Tuesday.
Niland’s story of his colourful career was released earlier this year and looks at the less glamorous end of the tennis ladder, where players struggle to make a living and look in on the stars of the game with an envious eye.
This is the biggest literary award in UK sports publishing and the £30,000 first prize that comes with it highlights the gravitas it carries. Ireland’s current Davis Cup captain Niland is a worthy recipient for his book, written with journalist Gavin Cooney.
You might look in on Wimbledon every summer and struggle to identify with the millionaires battling it out on the court, yet Niland shone a light on a more brutal tennis world for players ranked outside the top 100.
Niland was the journeyman pro who beat a young Federer in his youth and went on to enjoy a fine career in a global sport where the level of excellence required to succeed ensures only the very best thrive.
As Ireland’s greatest tennis player of the Open Era, Niland’s ranking peaked at No 129. He knocked on the door of the big-time and didn’t find the key to get in.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday World, Niland admits he had some reservations about writing The Racket ten years after he hung up his own for a final time due to a hip problem. The success that has followed has taken him by surprise.
“I knew it was a good book and I knew it would be well received by people who like tennis,” he said.
“What I didn’t know is whether people who didn’t follow our sport would get something out of it.
“The pro tennis tour is a little bit of a misunderstood sport and hopefully we were able to show what the world is really like for the guys a little bit further down the rankings.
“As it turns out, a lot of the most enthusiastic comments have come from people who were brought into the tennis world through this book.
“Those of us involved in tennis know it inside out and how it all works, but people who are involved in tennis got something out of that world being revealed to them.
“Winning the William Hill Book of the Year award is just the icing on the cake of what has been an amazing year.
“My brother told me I would win this prize when he read the book last Christmas, but I took that with a pretty large pinch of salt. Well, he was right. It’s amazing.”
Niland remains a vocal champion for players struggling to make a living lower down the rankings and the success of The Racket has given him a platform to express those views to a wider audience.
He is also eager to bring top class tennis to Ireland, with rumours that a grass court event ahead of Wimbledon may be added to the ITF’s tennis calendar in 2025 amid a raft of new investment coming into their tournaments which feature players ranked just below the main men’s ATP and women’s WTA tours.
A sell-out crowd in Limerick for the Davis Cup tie against an Austria team featuring former US Open champion Dominic Thiem last February suggests the appetite is there for live tennis in Ireland.
“I would like to see a tour event in Ireland,” he added. “It would be amazing to have a marquee grass court event here that we could build up over a period of time.
“It would be great to have something in the calendar to say we have world-class tennis being played in Ireland.
“We could give wild cards to some of our top players and it would be a stepping stone to people thinking about tennis in Ireland. So if you give me a magic wand, that’s what I would want to see.
“I’ve not run the numbers on this to see if it is financially viable, but is there a sponsor out there who may want to get behind a big female sporting event in Ireland? I’d like to think it is possible.
“Every other country in western Europe seems to be able to get one or two tennis events each year. I’d love to see it happen here.”
Niland’s sentiments should echo a little louder with the tennis powers that be after The Racket created such a big noise in the sport.
After beating all is rivals in the battle of the books, bringing a professional tennis event to Ireland must be an attainable dream.