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  • Published: 1 March 2007
  • ISBN: 9781741665062
  • Imprint: Random House Australia
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $42.99
Categories:

Too Good

The Scott Draper Story




‘Scott is a walking testament to what the human spirit is capable of.’ - Andre Agassi

‘Scott is a walking testament to what the human spirit is capable of.’ - Andre Agassi

'I had matchpoints on Roger Federer, the best player in the world. Of course I was nervous. But my mind was never clearer: I'm going to step up and go for it. I'm not going to walk off this court on his terms. I'm going to walk off on my terms. And that's what I did. But not in the way I expected....'

Scott Draper's entire sporting career was not what he expected. Never did he think his toughest opponents would include obsessive compulsive disorder and the cystic fibrosis he watched his wife Kellie die from in 1998, leaving him a widower at age 25. He never expected to play for two years in a fog of grief. Scott lost his motivation to play tennis, ate and drank too much and finally began working through his grief on the golf course.

Several years on, Scott is a new man. He's found love and married again, retired from tennis after winning the mixed doubles at the 2005 Australian Open with Samantha Stosur. Scott's career now ranges across tennis commentary and achieving his aim of success on the US golf tour. Enhanced by commentary from his sports psychologist and mate Michael Fox, Scotty Draper's life story, Too Good, is both heartbreaking and inspiring.

  • Published: 1 March 2007
  • ISBN: 9781741665062
  • Imprint: Random House Australia
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $42.99
Categories:

About the author

Scott Draper

Scott Draper comes from a sporty family, including his cousin, the now retired elite swimmer Petria Thomas. Scott became a tennis professional in 1993, reaching a career high rank of 42 in the ATP singles. Prior to this, he was ranked No. 5 in the junior double rankings after winning the Wimbledon junior doubles title.

In 2005 he qualified to play on Australia's professional golf tour and had to juggle sports over the last four days of the Australian Open, playing in his first pro golf event on Friday morning and winning his mixed doubles semifinal with Samantha Stosur that Friday afternoon. They went on to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title. Scott is now concentrating on making the cut as a professional golfer.

Praise for Too Good

Scott Draper may not have been the best Australian player of his era, but with co-collaborators Suzi Petkovski and Michael Fox, he may have written one of the best tennis autobiographies of all time. Too Good: The Scott Draper Story is much more than a book about tennis. It is, above all, a love story, but one that ends tragically in the gradual death of Scott's beloved Kellie, the daughter of a Queensland tennis coach. She died from cystic fibrosis. Twelve years ago I interviewed Scott in a small hotel near Roland Garros. He was then just another Aussie battler (though he'd won the Wimbledon junior doubles a few years earlier). He went on, that year, to reach the fourth round of the French Open, and looked so promising that I tipped him to win the French title one day. What I didn't know was that he'd struggled with a form of anxiety neurosis known as obsessive compulsive disorder, or that he'd be subjected to such terrible heartbreak and tension over a long period in watching Kellie suffer as her condition deteriorated. Though he never had a chance to fulfil his potential as a player, he comported himself as a true champion while doing all he could to help his young wife through her pain. Scott, incidentally, had fallen in love with Kellie in Paris in the springtime, just as Andre had fallen for Steffi Graf in the same city and at the same time of year. How different were their respective destinies. Suzi Petkovski, a former editor of this magazine, has written a very intimate narrative with great skill and sensitivity. At times the poignancy of the story is almost too difficult to bear. Michael Fox, a psychologist who once mentored Scott, and also a one-time contributor to this magazine, provides thought-provoking insights.

Alan Trengove, Australian Tennis Magazine

Scott is a walking testament to what the human spirit is capable of.

Andre Agassi

He's one of these blokes that makes you sick, really, 'cause he does everything, you know. He goes the whole nine yards.

Jason Stoltenberg, friend

Winning the mixed doubles is quite an incredible thing to do after not playing in so long. I wouldn't say I am surprised as much as I'm just impressed by it.

Andre Agassi

Far from your standard sports autobiography, this is a moving, sometimes painfully honest account of Draper's struggles and triumphs - and there have been some doozies in his still young life. Probably best known for his transition from the pro tennis tour to professional golf, the personal story is of a man who has experienced tragic loss (his wife, in 1998, to cystic fibrosis, when he was 25), lost his way, hit the bottle, found a way back, to triumph - winning the mixed doubles at the 2005 Australian Open with Samantha Stosur. Next stop: the US golf tour - and he just might have the game to get there. Sounds like an extraordinary personality, yes? One who has also found a way to cope with anxiety neurosis, also known as obsessive compulsive disorder. Passion, pain - the whole package. A remarkable and inspiring story.

Graeme Sims