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Title details for Different Strokes by Cecil Harris - Available

Different Strokes

Serena, Venus, and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution

by Cecil Harris
ebook
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The days of tennis as a country club sport for the aristocracy have long passed, as have the pre–Open era days when Black players faced long odds just to be invited to the four Grand Slam events. An entire generation of sports fans has grown up seeing Venus and Serena Williams as the gold standard in American professional tennis.
Although the Williams sisters have done more than any other players to make tennis accessible to a diverse population, it's not as if the tennis revolution is over. When you watch tennis next, take a close look at the umpire, the person sitting in the high chair of authority at courtside. Look at the tournament referee and the tournament director, the officials who run the tournament. In those seats of power and influence, Blacks are still woefully underrepresented.
Different Strokes chronicles the rise of the Williams sisters, as well as other champions of color, closely examining how Black Americans are collectively faring in tennis, on the court and off. Despite the success of the Williams sisters and the election of former pro player Katrina Adams as the U.S. Tennis Association's first Black president, top Black players still receive racist messages via social media and sometimes in public. The reality is that while significant progress has been made in the sport, much work remains before anything resembling equality is achieved.
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  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 1, 2020

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781496221476

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781496221476
      • File size: 1253 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Booklist

      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.)

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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