Routledge Handbook of Tennis

Robert J. Lake (Editor) is Instructor in the Department of Sport Science at Douglas College, Canada. He has written on numerous socio-historical aspects of tennis including social class, gender, national identity, media, coaching and talent development policy. His first book A Social History of Tennis in Britain (Routledge, 2015) won the Lord Aberdare Literary Prize in 2016 awarded by the British Society of Sports History. Carol A. Osborne (Assistant Editor) is Senior Lecturer in Sport and Social Sciences at Leeds Beckett University, UK. Her research focuses on women in sports history and gender relations in sport. She sat on the executive committee of the British Society of Sports History (BSSH) 2007–17 and has worked as an independent History Consultant with the UK-based Sporting Heritage CIC.

1. Introduction to the History and Historiography of Tennis


Robert J. Lake





Part I: Historical Developments (Commercialization, Professionalization and the Creation of Tennis Celebrities; Globalization and Internationalization of Tennis)





2. From Folk Game to Elite Pastime: Tennis and its Patrons


Brad Hummel and Mark Dyreson





3. Grass Roots: The Development of Tennis in Britain, 1918-1978


Joyce Kay





4. Coaching and Training in British Tennis: A History of Competing Ideals


Robert J. Lake, Dave Day and Simon J. Eaves





5. Golden Years and Golden Stars: International Women's Tennis between the Wars


Elizabeth Wilson





6. A Transcendent Game Plan: Bill Tilden's Rhetorical Strategy in Defying the USLTA


John Carvalho and Michael Milford





7. Fred Perry and the amateur-professional divide in British tennis between the wars


Kevin Jefferys





8. Boris Becker and Steffi Graf: German tennis, media images and national identity


Kristian Naglo





9. The Female Hero through the Cultural Lens: Comparing Framing of Li Na in Chinese and Western Media


Steve Bien-Aime, Haiyan Jia and Chun Yang





10. The World's Game? Globalization and the Cultural Economy of Tennis


Barry Smart





11. Jeu de Paume, Lawn Tennis and France's National Identity from the 1870s to the Musketeers Era


Patrick Clastres





12. Lawn Tennis in Ireland: The Untold History, 1870-1914


Simon J. Eaves and Tom Higgins





13. Socio-cultural Transformations of Tennis in the Czech Republic


Arnost Svoboda and Dino Numerato





14. A Brief Historical, Political and Social Analysis of Argentine Tennis


Robert G. Rodriguez





15. Indian Tennis: Past Perfect, Present Continuous, Future Tense


Suvam Pal





16. Tennis in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region


Mahfoud Amara





Part II: Culture and Representations (Gender, Race, Class, the Arts and Media)





17. Fashioning Competitive Lawn Tennis: Object, Image, and Reality in Women's Tennis Dress 1884-1919


Suzanne Rowland





18. Wimbledon Women: Elite Amateur Tennis Players in the Mid-Twentieth Century


Janine van Someren and Stephen Wagg





19. Beyond the "Kournikova Phenomenon": Race and Beauty in a 'Colorblind' Culture


Helen Ditouras





20. Making Work out of Play: The Troubling Gender Performances of Bill Tilden


Nathan Titman





21. Your Racquet Should Do the Talking: Masculinity and Top - Class Tennis, 1930s to the Early Twenty First Century


Stephen Wagg





22. "You've Come a Long Way Baby" but When Will You Get to Deuce? The Media (Re)presentation of Women's Tennis in the Post Open Era


John Vincent





23. Veiled Hyper-Sexualization: Deciphering Strong is Beautiful as collective identity in the WTA's global ad campaign


Travis R. Bell and Janelle Applequist





24. Warriors of the Court: Richard "Pancho" Gonzalez, Rosie Casals and the History of U.S. Latino/as in Tennis


Jose M. Alamillo





25. Historical Changes in Playing Styles and Behavioural Etiquette in Tennis: Reflecting Broader Shifts in Social Class and Gender Relations


Robert J. Lake





26. The Seductions of Modern Tennis: Technical Invention, Social Practice, Literary Discourse


Alexis Tadie





27. Understanding Competitive Tennis through Literature and the Visual Arts: Society, Celebrity and Aesthetics


Alexis Tadie





28. The Literature of Tennis


Jeffrey O. Segrave





29. International Tennis Art


Ann Sumner





30. Tennis and the Media: A History of Shifting Attitudes toward Tennis Journalism and Broadcasting


Robert J. Lake and Simon J. Eaves





31. Exploring an Online Tennis Community


Nadina Ayer and Ron McCarville





32. Tennis & Social Media


Katie Lebel and Karen Danylchuk





Part III: Politics and Social Issues (Governance, Nationalism and Identity: Race, Gender, Class and Disability)





33. Tennis Governance: A History of Political Power Struggles


Robert J. Lake





34. Defending the Grand Slam: Government Intervention, Urban Renewal and Keeping the Australian Open


Alistair John and Brent McDonald





35. Tennis and the Olympics: An Historical Examination of their On-Off Relationship since 1896


Matthew P. Llewellyn and Robert J. Lake





36. The Wimbledon Effect: The Tennis Championships as Changing National Symbol


Stephen Wagg





37. Andy Murray and the Borders of National Identities: (Re)Claiming a Tennis Champion


John Harris





38. Racial Politics in the History of American Tennis


Sundiata Djata





39. Arthur Ashe: Politics, Racism and Tennis


Eric Allen Hall





40. The Original 9: The Social Movement That Created Women's Professional Tennis, 1968-1973


Kristi Tredway





41. Giving all women the chance: The Battle of the Sexes in Popular Culture


Jessica Luther





42. Break Point: Renee Richards and the Significance of Sex and Gender in Women's Tennis


Lindsay Parks Pieper





43. Venus and Serena are "Doing It" for Themselves: Theorizing Sporting Celebrity, Marxism and Black Feminism for the Hip-Hop Generation


Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe





44. Wheelchair Tennis: Historical Development and Narratives of Play


Linda K. Fuller





45. A History of Social Exclusion in British Tennis: From Grass Roots to the Elite Level


Robert J. Lake