Tennis Tensions: Class, Race and Gender in the Evolution of the Sport Paperback – April 22, 2025

Tennis Tensions: Class, Race and Gender in the Evolution of the Sport is a radical reinterpretation of tennis cultural history. It is a psychoanalytic treatment of the white tennis unconscious—a white male privileged perspective and power that has controlled conversations and conventions throughout the cultural history of tennis. The white tennis unconscious was born in tension between attraction and aversion. It finds the prospect of change alluring but is opposed to innovations that threaten its privileged position and identity. The book debunks the alleged genius in the genesis of tennis and critiques the roles that class, race and gender have played in the formation and evolution of the sport. It disputes the dominant narrative that lawn tennis derives directly from Real tennis and demonstrates its birth from badminton, a sport of Indian origin. It also dispels the delusion that rules and regulations have always been as they are now and initiates a new direction in dialogue about scoring and serving. It is a manifesto for transforming tennis by informing those who play it. Read more