Different Strokes

February 15, 2020
In a follow-up to Charging the Net: A History of Blacks in Tennis from Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe to the Williams Sisters (2007), Harris updates his coverage of trailblazers like Gibson and Ashe while devoting two chapters to Serena and Venus Williams, who, in recent years, have each catapulted the sport to an even higher level, especially in advocating for gender equality. Notable among the other male players featured is James Blake, who in 2015 suffered a well-documented incident of police brutality. Like Ashe, he did not anticipate the change in career direction and describes himself as an accidental activist. Other highlights include the chapters covering black umpires and the efforts to fight discrimination in USTA leadership, as well as profiles of Dr. Dale Caldwell, founder of the PeopleUp Pro Tennis and Music Tour, and Coach Kamau Murray, founder of the XS Tennis and Education Foundation, based on Chicago's South Side. Both organizations are working to grow opportunities for Black tennis players and change perceptions in a sport that is still predominantly white. An important contribution to sports collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)