Obituary: Tom Perrotta
The ITF was saddened to learn of the death of Tom Perrotta, the Wall Street Journal’s tennis writer, at the age of 44 on Wednesday 6 January.
Perrotta was diagnosed with a brain tumour in December 2016 but continued to work for much of the following four years, resuming his programme of travel around the world by the 2018 season to report from the Grand Slam tournaments and other Tour events.
In his last article for the Wall Street Journal, published in November last year, Perrotta described his experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic, expressing gratitude that he has been able to spend more time at home with his wife and children.
“Most days, everyone is here—me, my wife (who’s working from home) and my children (who are mostly doing virtual school),” he wrote. “We’re jammed up here for hours, in each other’s laps, in each other’s business. It might drive other parents crazy. I think it’s the greatest.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat a pandemic, or my own personal situation. It sucks,” he continued. “It makes me mad. It makes me crazy. It makes me cry. I’d give anything to be back at Wimbledon one last time, watching Federer and Serena on that perfectly-manicured grass.”
Perrotta was always interested in stories that went beyond the reporting of tennis scores – whether it was in-depth tactical analysis of how Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal kept improving their return games, or musings on why tennis players tended to be such poor dancers, his writing was insightful and entertaining.
A popular figure in the tennis press room, Perrotta’s colleagues in the media paid tribute to him following news of his death on Wednesday.
“Farewell, my dear friend, @TomPerrotta,” sportswriter Bonnie Ford tweeted. “I hope you knew how much you were loved, respected, cherished.”
Simon Cambers, the co-president of the International Tennis Writers’ Association, wrote: “Incredibly sad news. My friend @TomPerrotta lost his battle against a brain tumour today, at the age of 44. A great journalist, great writer and a real friend on an off the tennis tour. All the love in the world to his family. RIP Tom.”
Fellow Wall Street Journal sportswriter Jason Gay expressed his sadness in an article in the newspaper on Thursday.
“If you never got a chance to meet him, all I can say is I wish you had,” Gay said. “If you read this newspaper, you got to know Tom through his tennis reporting, which was smart and thorough, rich with the sort of detail you don’t notice unless you’re around the sport all the time, which Tom was.”
Many members of the ITF communications team have fond memories of working with Tom at the Grand Slams and Davis Cup ties. He always looked for an original angle, and we were glad to assist him in researching the niche tennis statistics that often formed the basis of his stories. We remember him as a friendly and courteous man, and as an extremely talented writer. He will be much missed by the tennis media community and we send our sympathies to his family and friends.