The Tennis Partner

The Tennis Partner: A Story of Friendship and Loss (1998) is a memoir by physician Abraham Verghese. It follows his friendship with David Smith, a medical student recovering from drug addiction, and the regular games of tennis that lie at the heart of their relationship. The book explores the themes The Disease of Addiction, The Power of Ritual, and Navigating Loneliness and Conflict in Relationships.

Verghese is a physician, professor, and best-selling author. His first book, My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story (1994), centers on the insights and experiences he gained from working with patients. It was chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year by TIME. The Tennis Partner, Verghese’s second book, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Verghese’s writing has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal, among others (“Biography.” Abraham Verghese).

This guide is based on the 2023 HarperCollins Kindle Edition.

Content Warning: The book contains mentions and descriptions of substance use, addiction, and suicide.

Plot Summary

Abraham Verghese, an American doctor of Indian heritage, arrives in El Paso, Texas, with his family to start his new job. He is an internal medicine specialist and faculty at the sister organizations of Texas Tech University and Thomason Hospital. An avid tennis player, he learns from a colleague that one of the medical students soon to be assigned to his ward, David Smith, used to play professionally. Abraham invites David to play a game with him. They enjoy it so much they decide to make it a regular event. Their sessions turn into extended rallies, with David coaching Abraham on his shots and game. In turn, Abraham mentors David during his rotation in internal medicine, impressed by David’s skill. David, similarly, is in awe of the passion Abraham seems to have for both tennis and medicine.

Abraham and his wife, Rajani, are separating after years of marital conflict and a recent affair on Abraham’s part. He begins looking for an apartment after his wife and sons are settled in the new house. David introduces Abraham to his girlfriend, Gloria; Abraham, in turn, invites David over for dinner after tennis one day but does not tell him about his marital problems.

While David is on rotation at internal medicine, the department sees a patient, Mr. Rocha, who arrives with unexplained breathlessness. David is put in charge of the admission and spends his shifts with him, monitoring his condition. David becomes increasingly upset by Mr. Rocha’s condition, his mood not lifting even after Mr. Rocha begins to improve. David’s mood affects his tennis game, and Abraham suggests they play an actual set one day, which finally shakes David out of his gloom. After the game, David apologizes and confesses that he and Gloria are having trouble. Abraham confesses the truth about his own marriage.

David reveals more about his own past: He is recovering from a cocaine addiction. He started using cocaine intravenously when he stopped playing tennis professionally. He quit when he got into medical school but has relapsed multiple times. He is currently repeating his fourth year of medical school. He was readmitted after a stint in rehab with the stipulation from Dr. Lou Binder, the associate dean, that he attend regular Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings and undergo drug screenings.

Abraham moves into a small apartment close to his wife and sons, taking barely anything with him. His weeks follow a regular rhythm of tennis games with David and weekends with his sons. This rhythm is interrupted when Gloria, who lives in Washington, DC, comes for a visit. Abraham barely sees David while she is in El Paso. Once she leaves, they resume their tennis sessions. Abraham drops David at home after and meets his landlady, Mickie. While David is on a tense phone call to Gloria, Mickie reveals that David’s constant relationship problems are because of his incessant infidelity.

David graduates and is offered an internship at Texas Tech. On his first day, Abraham spots him at a mall with a woman who is not Gloria. When Abraham confronts him later, David admits that he is seeing the woman, who is named Emily. Gloria does not know, and David is not planning on breaking up with her. However, Gloria finds out about Emily and ends things with David. David is distraught but also confesses, to Abraham’s surprise, that he is already planning to move in with Emily.

After Emily and David move in together, Abraham barely sees him. Their tennis games stop completely for a while. To Abraham’s disappointment, David decides to apply for an emergency medicine residency at Texas Tech rather than internal medicine. Once they make time for tennis again, David tells Abraham that he and Emily are having problems. She read his journals, in which he had detailed explicit fantasies involving Gloria, and was hurt and upset.

Gloria gets a job at Thomason and returns to El Paso. David is shaken by her return. He confesses his love for her, but she rebuffs him. Shortly after, Emily moves out. David’s mood and mental state affect his game again, and Abraham suggests they play a set once more. For the first time, Abraham manages to win.

Shortly after, David relapses. Abraham realizes he has been using when David turns up at the hospital with a quickened pulse and dilated pupils. He confronts David, who confesses. David begs Abraham not to tell his sponsor, as he will lose his place at Texas Tech; he promises he will get things under control. However, Emily turns up at Abraham’s place the next night, worried because David is still using. They call David’s sponsor, who informs the hospital. Dr. Binder sends David to the Talbott-Marshall Clinic, which works exclusively with doctors with addiction.

Abraham feels hurt and betrayed by David’s relapse, but Gloria tells him this is David’s pattern in relationships. Emily visits David at rehab and later tells Abraham that David’s therapist believes sex addiction to be the root of David’s problems. Seeing things clearly after David’s departure, Abraham begins to find a different rhythm to his days. He moves out of the small apartment into a bigger, better-furnished condo, and begins to play tennis again with some of the other men at the tennis club.

David returns to Texas Tech after rehab to finish his internship. He appears cheerful, but when Abraham plays tennis with him again, the rhythm feels off. Emily, too, feels suffocated and uncomfortable with David’s return.

David loses his residency in emergency medicine because his rehab counselors believe the high-adrenaline environment may be too dangerous for someone recovering from a cocaine addiction. Abraham gets David an internal medicine residency instead. While David is initially grateful, he later expresses his disappointment.

Emily finally breaks up with David, who is distraught. He relapses and resigns from the hospital abruptly. When Abraham and Dr. Binder go to David’s apartment to bring him in for a detox, a crazed and high David flees. Abraham drives around looking for David for days but is unsuccessful. Emily runs into him on the street a couple of times, but David refuses to engage with her.

The doctors at Texas Tech attempt to have David brought in by filing for a Protective Custody Order. They track him down to a motel and send the cops after him. However, when they turn up at his door, a panicked David shoots and kills himself. Abraham is called in to identify David’s body, which is how he learns of his former student’s death.

After David’s death, Abraham spends a lot of time reading and talking to therapists about David’s situation. He feels a sense of betrayal at the way their friendship and David’s life ended and makes efforts to understand what went wrong. As the book ends, months have passed after David’s death, and Abraham reminisces about a shared moment with David where nothing in the world felt more important than their tennis game.