Pristine lawns, tennis whites, strawberries and cream – tennis is synonymous with the upper echelons of society, but scratch beneath the surface and you’ll quickly discover a different history, one of untold struggles on and off the courts.
From the birth of modern tennis in Victorian Britain to the present day, A People’s History of Tennis lays bear struggles around sexuality, gender, race and class that have transformed the nature of tennis and sport itself.
In this episode of Radicals in Conversation, we speak to David Berry, author of A People’s History of Tennis; Emily Bootle, Editorial Assistant at the New Statesman; David Cohen, Investigations and Campaigns Editor at the London Evening Standard; and Niek van der Spek from Smashing Pink Tennis Club in Amsterdam, Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ tennis club.
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