Love Game

March 15, 2016

Novelist Wilson (The Sphinx in the City) views tennis as an art form, and its practitioners as artists. This argument has long been made by acolytes of all sports, but Wilson puts forth a convincing testament to its veracity with this volume as she tells the history of tennis from the 1800s to the present. Notable topics are feminism, color barriers, class consciousness, and professionalism vs. amateurism. The author expertly traces the transformation of tennis from a fun diversion for the leisure classes of Victorian Britain to slogging work for the world's top players (often from poor countries or backgrounds) who play more than 11 months a year and have, since childhood, been fixated on one goal: to become professional tennis players. Wilson bemoans the tennis fan's grief that the modern game is predicated on sheer athleticism rather than artistry since court surfaces are uniformly slow, even the grass courts of Wimbledon, which has made it a baseline game of attrition instead of one where deft shots and traditional aggressive strategies are utilized. VERDICT Wilson does a fantastic job of telling the story of professional tennis. Her strength is in discussing the beauty and appeal of the game when played at its highest level.--Brian Renvall, Mesalands Community Coll., Tucumcari, NM

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