Tennis Hits the Books
Long time readers of this site will be aware that I generally shy away from books about tennis players who are still actively competing. Such books tend to be public relations efforts to polish an athletes image or to take control of the narrative. I was willing to take a flyer on this particular book because Ashleigh Barty may be the last athlete to publicly and effectively deal with mental health issues before it was regarded as an act of bravery. With the “Australian Summer of Tennis” in full swing I was willing to take a chance on the most compelling Aussie player.
Barty: Much More Than Tennis is an unauthorized biography written without direct access to either Barty or anyone within her inner circle. The authors are clearly huge fans of the player and are effusive with their praise and adulation. The target audience seems to be people who similarly love Barty. The book reads like an extended social media post extolling the virtues of an idol.
The two lead authors, Ron Reed and Chris McLeod are not tennis writers and plug their non-tennis personal blogs and websites in the Introduction to the book. Linda Pearce, an Australian tennis writer, also contributed a single essay that offers the best insight into the player in the volume. Her passage examines how the word “we” is the defining word for Barty’s career — at least up until this point in time. It is the best section of the book.
I did learn some new things about Barty in the reading. For example, she traces bloodlines to the Indigenous people in Australia. Barty has paternal links to the Ngagaru people. It was also noted that Evonne Goolagong Cawley was of Wiradjuri descent. The authors mentioned the rumor that there are occasional efforts to edit Barty’s indigenous past from her Wikipedia biography, suggesting that some people may want to obscure Barty’s Indigenous roots.
Barty was also heralded for continuing to reside in, and more significantly paying taxes, in Australia. The book hints that many of the other Australian tennis players based themselves in overseas tax havens once their career earnings take off. For reference, the tax rate in Australia is 45% of income over $180,000, so that probably legitimately occurs.
One of the more humorous parts of the book are the authors opinions on other players. Serena Willians is described as “clearly on her last legs.” A more careful writer might couch that with some qualifying language. Nick Kyrgios on the other hand was said to have squandered his gifts much to the frustration and annoyance of the sporting public. Bernard Tomic is said to exhibit boorish attitudes and behavior.
Novak Djokovic is portrayed through the lens of the Tokyo Olympics as a petulant self-entitled jerk. In doing so the authors claimed that Djokovic damaged his already controversial image in the process. Barty won a bronze medal in mixed doubles at the Olympics after Djokovic forfeited the bronze medal match leaving his partner Nina Stojonivic in high and dry. I should note that the book was published before the currently unfolding 2022 Australian Open visa controversy.
Evonne Goolagong Cawley and fellow retired Australian tennis player Casey Dellacqua are portrayed in a positive light, primarily through their interactions and encouragement of Barty. However, for people who know how genuinely impactful Dellacqua has been on the career of Barty, the paucity of her mentions in the book may be frustrating.
Barty: Much More Than Tennis has an unfinished quality to it. Rather than a full collaboration, each author contributed independently credited chapters. Consequently, the book has a rambling, disjointed, and frequently repetitive narrative. It is more like an unfinished first draft than a polished final product. Additionally, the closing of many of the chapters has the same feel as a clickbait internet post desperately trying to keep the reader engaged for one more section.
Barty’s career was described early on in this book as an unfolding and unfinished narrative. Unfortunately that is also an apt description of Barty: Much More Than Tennis. It is pretty rare that I issue a “hard pass” recommendation on a book, but there really is no other intellectually honest outcome for the majority of readers. Hard core fans of Barty may enjoy it.
 | Barty: Much More Than Tennis |
