By Forris Day Jr.
I will admit right now that I know nothing about tennis. Baseball is what I enjoy watching and even that in small doses. I understand a bit about the rivalries, some of the politics and not much about the business of baseball. The sport of tennis never interested me. Sure I remember as a kid hearing about John McEnroe’s legendary hissy fits where he would yell at judges and throw his racket. I always chocked it up to mere showmanship and attention getting techniques. I just watched the BluRay version of “Venus and Serena” and got a bit of schooling on the sport of tennis. Here is what I learned:
Tennis is a tough sport. McEnroe, who is interviewed on the disc, is a competitor and I now believe he was truly angry back in the day. I really didn’t think so then, but after watching this documentary on the Williams sisters, I now realize how heated competition can be out on the courts. We see a scene where one of the sisters has a spat with one of the judges and it is over a bad call. It was indeed a bad call but like in baseball the umpires can’t take back a bad call. Some really harsh words are exchanged. The difference in tennis is that when a player says something out of anger to a judge everyone can hear it. In baseball the fans cannot and that makes this an even tougher sport.
The documentary cover the Williams sisters early beginnings as young teens out at the courts hitting tennis balls that their Dad threw to them. He has a grocery cart full to the brim with balls that he got from tennis clubs that get rid of used ones. I thought that was pretty smart. The program switches between documentary style programing to present day “reality show” type of footage. I thought that was an interesting way to teach us the history of the sisters all the while we kind of get to hang out with them as they go through their daily lives. I learned a little about what they went through to become top-notch athletes. But they are also pretty innovative women too. They changed tennis more than anyone before them. They are the first African American women to play professionally. Arthur Ashe is the first male to play professionally I believe. I say they are innovative because they brought fashion into the sport of tennis with their different tennis outfits for each game all different from the next. They bring a rock and roll feel to the sport and fans love it. Their Dad is pretty intense bordering on insane but he drove these women to excellence. I just wouldn’t want to get on his bad side (Ha Ha…nervous chuckle)
The bottom line is, if you like sports, you certainly will enjoy the documentary “Venus and Serena”. It has old footage mixed with present day footage and lots of interviews from tennis greats including Billie Jean King. It touches on the racism that is still in the sport of tennis .That surprised me because most other sports seemed to have moved beyond that. I was sorry to learn that tennis has not. I’m not ignorant, I know that it is still present in all sports, but some of the footage is shocking when you hear what some fans were yelling at their Dad in the film after one of the sisters pulled out of a match with her sister due to an injury. I learned a little about tennis and quite a bit about these Super-athletes Venus and Serena. Remember, I’m a non-sports guy but I enjoyed watching it. Special feature on the BluRay include an interview with Director Michelle Major, an interview with Director Maiken Baird, “A Look at Venus and Serena” from AXS TV and the trailer for the film.
7.5/10 – “Tennis anyone?”