The Tennis Party

A tennis party weekend reveals underlying tensions and cross currents in the relationships of the four couples who take part.

In The Tennis Player from Bermuda, Fiona Hodgkin tells the story of her short but spectacular career as an amateur tennis player in the early 1960s. Fiona met Claire Kershaw, the number one woman tennis player and twice a Wimbledon champion. Claire was an imp. To get Fiona into the qualifying round for Wimbledon, Claire makes a comical, tongue-in-cheek offer to the mysterious Committee that runs the Championships at Wimbledon. Fiona and Claire quickly become best friends - as well as rivals on the brilliant green grass tennis courts of Wimbledon. Against the backdrop of the London social season, the tennis competition at Wimbledon, and the tennis fashions designed by the irrepressible Teddy Tingling, Fiona has two love affairs, one of which Fiona ends forever - or perhaps she doesn't.

The only book of its kind, Tennis and the Meaning of Life is a resplendent collection of the best fiction (and poetry) written about this extraordinary sport/obsession. Contributors include Ellen Gilchrist, J.P. Donleavy, Barry Hannah, Ring Lardner, Somerset Maugham, William Trevor, E.B. White, Irwin Shaw, Wallace Stegner, and many others.

Tennis is one of the world’s most popular sports, as levels of participation and spectatorship demonstrate. Moreover, tennis has always been one of the world’s most significant sports, expressing crucial fractures of social class, gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity - both on and off court. This is the first book to undertake a survey of the historical and socio-cultural sweep of tennis, exploring key themes from governance, development and social inclusion to national identity and the role of the media. It is presented in three parts: historical developments; culture and representations; and politics and social issues, and features contributions by leading tennis scholars from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The most authoritative book published to date on the history, culture and politics of tennis, this is an essential reference for any course or program examining the history, sociology, politics or culture of sport.