Who is popular today?

In its early days, tennis attracted mavericks and rebellious women. This entertaining book claims the sport has a progressive ‘hidden history’ ... is that right?
When tennis (along with golf) was granted an early release from lockdown last month, it prompted a few outraged mutterings. How typical of Boris, our tennis-playing prime minister, to favour a sport played overwhelmingly by his own kind. In theory, it’s not quite as simple as that: you don’t need to be well-heeled to play tennis in Britain. The country has thousands of public courts, which are either free, or very cheap, to use. Balls and rackets aren’t that expensive. Yet the perception remains, in the UK and elsewhere, that tennis is a sport for the few not the many.
It is associated with sealed-off private spaces, with posh people in pressed white linen, with codes of etiquette (and tricky techniques) that take a lifetime to master. And whereas tennis clubs across the country welcomed their members back with alacrity, I have found it striking, walking around the town where I live these past few weeks, to see many public courts remaining padlocked. Middle England may be excitedly dusting off its tennis gear – albeit in preparation for a Wimbledon-free summer – but that hasn’t always been possible for the rest of the country.  Continue reading...