there is a french open tennis tournament played at roland garros stadium every year in may ; its the 2nd leg of the tennis grand slam ; the basque people and the eta are real , although the characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictional ; bouygues , hunt and clark are reputable construction companies , but the project to rebuild roland garros is fictional ; saddlebrook tennis center is an excellent tennis and golf resort , but the people and events portrayed in this novel are fictional ; the four tennis players portrayed in this novel ; pete , ambre , lisa and carlos are fictional ; pete is not my son , carlos is not nadal ; the book is narrated in the first person , so i guess i am jim simpson , with a couple notable differences ; i dont own a construction company & im not rich .