Tennis is an addiction that once it has truly hooked a man will not let him go.

Lynes frames tennis not as a casual pastime but as a compulsion: once the sport “hooks” someone, it exerts a lasting pull on time, attention, and identity. The language of addiction highlights how tennis uniquely combines physical exertion with psychological rewards—mastery of technique, the chase for incremental improvement, and the emotional volatility of points won and lost. The quote also gestures toward the social world of tennis (clubs, rituals, status) that can reinforce the habit. Read wryly, it is both a warning and a celebration: the sport’s grip may be irrational, but it is precisely that intensity that makes devotees return again and again.