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"Trophy Son brings Conroys The Great Santini and Malamuds The Natural into 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 excellence -- or else. But at what cost? New York Times bestselling 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 isolated -- removed from school and socialization to focus on tennis -- Anton 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 compromises -- first 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 Son offers 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.