This book by Gabriel Allen examines the forces — cultural, racial, and structural — that have shaped tennis from its earliest days. It’s a perspective that challenges the sport’s familiar narratives.
Title/Author:
“Tennis
Tensions: Class, Race and Gender in the Evolution of the Sport” by Gabriel
Allen
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (excellent)
Review:
Tennis has long been
considered a game of the “country club crowd” (my words, not a quote from the
book). From the descriptions of its history to its unusual method of scoring to
the extremely slow pace of racial integration, the sport has done much to reinforce
that stereotype. This book by tennis professional and journalist Gabriel Allen
digs deeper into these aspects and a few more to show a different
interpretation of tennis history.
Each of the
items described above — the origins of the sport, integration, scoring — are
covered, as are other aspects such as amateur status and the Wimbledon
“tradition” of requiring players to wear all-white attire. Allen illustrates
how these reflect classism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. He refers to these
forces as the “white tennis unconscious” (WTU — my abbreviation used here)
throughout the book.
As a fairly
casual fan of the game who usually only watches the Grand Slam events, I was
surprised to see just how deeply these characteristics were embedded in tennis
and how the WTU shaped several aspects of the sport. The most surprising to me
was how the WTU can be expressed by a player, fan, or anyone describing the
type of play they prefer. Whether one prefers a serve‑and‑volley
style, a baseline game with groundstrokes, or a combination of the two, these
preferences can reflect the WTU rather than simply enjoying all types of play.
I was also
surprised at first — though less so after reading the chapter on it — that the
scoring system used in tennis is part of the WTU and maintained for its
exclusivity. Several people in Allen’s sources note that tennis scoring is very
difficult to explain and that it is unfair that a player can score more points
than their opponent but still lose the match. Here is where I thought the best
part of the entire book appeared: Allen’s proposal for scoring is simply to
count points, with suggestions such as the first player to reach 60 being the
winner, or possibly 100 in major events. The player who serves first would have
five points to serve, then each player would serve ten points alternately.
In other topics
illustrating the WTU, what struck me most was the chapter on GOATs (greatest of
all time). I especially liked the brief biographies of two players who are
often overlooked in these discussions — Ota Washington for women (a Black
woman) and Ricardo González for men (a Latino man). The latter was better known
as “Pancho Gonzales” (an Americanization of his true name), and the former is
mostly ignored in history despite her many victories. Allen does a very good
job of bringing these two players to life for readers.
As is the case
with many books on class, race, and gender, there are passages that may be
uncomfortable for readers who fall into classifications considered privileged.
However, instead of feeling lectured or shamed into guilt, those readers should
take this as an excellent history lesson and reflect on what it is about tennis
that they enjoy — and if those aspects fall into the WTU, what they can do to
help change this, whether the reader is a player, coach, fan, or someone who
simply loves the sport.
I wish to thank
Mr. Allen for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this
review are strictly my own.
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