From: Vivian Droptrou
Category: Amis
Date: 8/3/99
Time: 6:41:34 PM
Remote Name: 129.219.247.118
EXCERPT FROM *TENNIS WITH AMIS* BY JAMES KAPLAN. [FROM *NEW YORK* MAGAZINE. MAY 29, 1995.]
"What is Julian Barnes's tennis game like?" I asked. We were sitting on the terrace at Amis's hotel, in the harsh afternoon light of Philadelphia. Showered and fresh, rolling another cigarette, my tennis partner had returned to interviewee mode: shy and a little sour, not inclined to show off those expensive teeth of his. I thought of Alexander Pope, also short and wicked; I thought of Amis's idol and admirer Saul Bellow, also small and shy and tough, also popular with the ladies.
I thought of Pope and Bellow, but I asked about Barnes, even though this was dangerous and well-trodden ground, because, well, in the midst of The Publicity, *you couldn't not ask*.
"Um---you'd think he'd be much better", Amis said carefully.
"Is he a good athlete?"
"Pretty good", Amis said. "Not very fast around the court. But strong. I talked to one guy who we both had lessons with. He said, 'He should have done much better, really. He has lovely *hands*.' His serve is *pitiful* for his strength. Because he's quite, sort of, *big*. Big shoulders. You'd think he would've had a biggish serve, and could've taken it further."
"Did you beat him?"
"He always used to beat me. And then I had some lessons and sort of made the effort. I went from a playing-every-Sunday-morning kind of player to playing pretty well every weekday. And playing some good people. Every part of my game went up a gear. And I beat him in singles, and he never played me in singles again."
He puffed on the hand-rolled cigarette and blinked, his expression impenetrable. Gwyn Barry, of course, had done exactly the same thing: worked on his tennis with a pro so that he could beat Richard Tull. Envy may be the main theme in *The Information*, but humiliation, and its reversal, aren't far behind. But somehow it wouldn't quite do to bring this up. Amis reminded me, all at once, of a two-headed face card in a poker deck: jaded tough over hurt schoolboy.