Tennis Hits the Books
Since February is Black History Month, I have been focusing on books about African American tennis players. In the previous two weeks, we have discussed Arthur Ashe in “Days of Grace” and Althea Gibson in “The Match.” If you’re going to talk about the history of black players at the highest levels of competitive tennis, Ashe and Althea are the two obvious places to start.
Reading those two books reinforced my self-perception that I don’t know much about the era when those players broke the color barrier. That brought me to the realization that the appropriate next book is one that takes a much broader perspective rather than focusing on a single player. That is what brought me to Charging the Net: A History of Blacks in Tennis from Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe to the Williams Sisters.
As I have mentioned previously, I am not super enthusiastic about biographies and memoirs of players who are still currently competing. Contemporaneous coverage of active players is inevitably along the lines of marketing, publicity, and image management. Even in the cases where the book is produced by an independent third party, some passage of time is needed before a tennis player’s career can be fully put into perspective.
Consequently, the fact that the subtitle of Charging the Net contains a direct reference to the William’s Sisters and has a picture of Serena on the cover almost lead me to pass over this book entirely. In addition, my copy of the book is a former library book from the Milford Town Library. Books are “weeded” from library collections generally when they become obsolete or if they are not circulating enough to justify the shelf space. When a copy of a book is a withdrawn library book it is an ominous sign.
My attitude toward this book evolved along three distinct phases. The first phase was decidedly negative. At the end of the first two chapters, both of which focused on how the history of black tennis influenced the William’s sisters, I was contemplating abandoning Charging the Net in favor of an alternate title to write about this week. Additionally, it is clear that the authors thought that both Venus and Serena were at the end of their careers when this book was published in 2007. That is a case in point on why I am not overly excited to read books written by and about tennis players who are still playing.
The second phase of my appreciation for the books came through the sheer volume of African American players that are detailed in Charging the Net. The subtitle is somewhat misleading because it starts with players who pre-dated Althea Gibson. While the book is too short to be considered a full biography of those players, it can pass as the “Cliff’s Notes” version. It is easy for me to recommend this book based on the sheer breadth of the territory that it covers.
Two topics flipped this book from the “should” to “must” read status for me. Charging the Net has interesting and informed observations on how the USTA develops players. In short, it is extremely critical of the USTA player development program. While that criticism is focused specifically on how resources are provided (or more often not provided) to black players, I found the content to be broadly applicable to developing players in general. Charging the Net presents essential background information relevant as the USTA continues to reimagine and restructure the player development program.
The other topic that makes Charging the Net stand out is details on sexism and racism in the selection and promotion of on-court officials. Those chapters provided a glimpse into an area that is not frequently covered in other sources. There is good reason for that as active court officials are prohibited from commenting on a lot of topics by the officials code of conduct. I appreciated the rare glimpse into the world of professional tennis officiating.
Charging the Net is not a perfect book. The perspective on the active black professional players when the book was published does not fully age well over the intervening time. That being accepted, it is still a great way to learn the broad strokes about the history of blacks in tennis. For anyone interested in USTA player development or ITF officiating, there is some must read unique content.
If you are only going to read one book about the history of blacks in tennis, Charging the Net is a great option. Just… be prepared to skip over the requiem of Venus and Serena William’s careers. A lot has happened since 2007.
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