Outrageous and endlessly entertaining, the bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle spins a behind-the-scenes tale of women's professional tennis that intertwines the excitement of competition and the lingering heartache of intimate human bonds. Carmen Semanan loves three things passionately: tennis, money and Professor Harriet Rawls. Just twenty-four, Carmen is at her peak as one of the world's top-seeded tennis champions, determined to win the coveted Grand Slam. She is protected from everything but the grueling demands of her sport by an avaricious agent and her devoted gusty Harriet. All the odds are in her favor. But there are weeds growing in her paradise patch. Carmen's brother, Miguel, parlays her success into a financial house of cards with deals that include smuggling, forgery, and fraud. Susan Reilly, Carmen's archrival and former lover, leaks word of Carmen's relationship with Harriet to the press-and tennis's best-kept secret is blown into a front-page scandal. From the French Open to Wimbledon, jealousies, ambitions and passions are set to explode.

"If you thought Nora Ephron's Heartburn has cornered the market on true heartbreak, thinly veiled, make room for Sudden Death. . . .it not only chops the stars of women's professional tennis down to size; it tackles the whole pro tennis establishment."-The Washington Post.