Trophy Son

“Trophy Sonbrings Conroy’sThe Great Santiniand Malamud’sThe Naturalinto the present day…A terrific book.” -Harlan Coben

Private lessons. Professional coaches. Specialized camps for sports, math, music, and other fields. Todays children are pushed to achieve excellenceor else. But at what cost?New York Timesbestselling author Douglas Brunts third novel,Trophy Son,tells the story of a tennis prodigy, from young childhood to the finals of the US Open, Wimbledon, and other tournaments around the world.

Growing up in the wealthy suburbs of Philadelphia, Anton Stratis is groomed to be one thing only: the #1 tennis player in the world. Trained relentlessly by his obsessive father, a former athlete who plans every minute of his sons life, Anton both aspires to greatness and resents its all-consuming demands. Lonely and isolatedremoved from school and socialization to focus on tennisAnton explodes from nowhere onto the professional scene and soon becomes one of the top-ranked players in the world, with a coach, a trainer, and an entourage.

But as Anton struggles to find a balance between stardom and family, he begins to make compromisesfirst with himself, then with his health, and finally with the rules of tennis, a mix that will threaten to destroy everything he has worked for.

Trophy Sonoffers an inside look at the dangers of extraordinary pressure to achieve, whether in sports or any field, through the eyes of a young man defying his parents ambitions as he seeks a life of his own.