A People's History of Tennis

A People’s History of Tennis [2020] – ★★★★1/2 Berry’s book is a fun, eye-opening and frank account of the history of tennis that puts real people front and centre. “Lawn tennis was different. It was played “as much with the head as the hand” and it encouraged playfulness and enjoyment of performance”......more

Pretty fun read. As a "people's history," it succeeds in one sense while falling short in another. In the sense that a people's history is one in which the perspective is on the lived experiences of the broader population, this book does a good job of depicting how tennis was experienced by the aver......more

A People’s History of tennis takes it’s starting point as Wednesday 6th May 1874 when David Berry claims that the first game of lawn tennis was played at Knightsbridge. Although for many years before there was ( and still is) a game of tennis that been played by the aristocracy indoors on a hard flo......more

This was pretty good! I learnt about Workers Wimbledon - a prewar socialist tennis competition that was quite popular. The basis for it was laid through working class tennis clubs across Britain. Tennis has always been less male dominated than other sports, and Berry covers the origins of this well. A......more

I have liked the approach of Berry, not providing a chronological but a conceptual categorisation, introducing us the characters, actors of the tennis universe: Mavericks, Feminists, Members, Stars, Players, Socialists, Entrepreneurs, Performers, Enthusiasts, Immigrants, Outsiders, Trailblazers, Prof......more