A one-man grand slam

SERVES UP A SHOW ABOUT A TENNIS LEGEND

- by MIKE WARD

THE first time he performed his new one-man show, Adam Riches came off stage at the end feeling rather peckish.

So he got himself a pie. Then another. Then another. Then another. And then he grabbed a couple of pizzas.

"I just couldn't get enough carbs," he tells me. "I was ravenous!"

In Adam's defence, he'd spent the last hour giving it his all. "I was knackered," he says, "and drenched in sweat."

Which maybe isn't surprising, bearing in mind he'd just pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in the history of tennis.

Yes, tennis. Kind of. And the crowd went mad for it.

The unlikely idea of doing a stage show inspired by 70s US tennis legend Jimmy Connors, where he'd single-handedly replicate one of Jimmy's most extraordinary wins, came to Adam during lockdown.

The comedian, famed for his Sean Bean impressions on Channel 4's 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, was seeking ideas for a new project.

He was binge-watching a bunch of old sports documentaries when he stumbled upon one called This Is What They Want, shown on ESPN.