Title: Playing the Moldovans at Tennis
Author: Tony Hawks
Category: Non-Fiction
Page Count: 262
Rating: 3.5/5
Tony Hawks is basically the forerunner of all of those wacky comedians who go around doing weird challenges for bets. As someone who grew up with Dave Gorman’s Important Astrology Experiment, I’ve always found it interesting to read Hawks because I guess he must have been an influence on some of the people who influenced me.
In this book, he follows on from the adventure he wrote about in Round Ireland with a Fridge with a trip to Moldova in which he attempted to beat the entire Moldovan national football team at tennis. It’s kind of a pointless thing to do, especially for the £100 that Hawks stood to win, but it’s as good a reason to go on an adventure as any.
It’s a fun and an entertaining little read, as Hawks often is, although I don’t think it’s one that I’ll find myself thinking about too deeply in the months and years to come. With that said, reading him writing about Moldova, which was also occupied by the Soviet Union, reminded me of my trip to Latvia.
And of course, at a time when the world is in lockdown and it’s not exactly easy to travel from country to country, it was nice to get out of the house, so to speak. So if I’m honest, I’d have to recommend it to people just for that. It’s a little bit of sunshine when life is tough.
