[JonBcn]

Questions:

Is Venus Envy as trashy as the awful (but fascinating) ´Ladies of the Court´ was a fer years back? Is it worth getting it on import for Christmas (or does anyone in Europe know where I can get a copy, either in the UK or spain?)?

and does anybody know if Nathalie Tauziat´s book will ever be translated?

toodle-pip!

 

[MaryLinda]

Venus Envy is no where near as good as Ladies of the Court. It is much less "in depth" and comprehensive. Just go re-read the "Ladies" and you will have a tres better time my Barcelonian friend!!! It is all too true.

 

[Tennisfan**]

JonBcn, Venus Envy is available on Amazon.co.uk for about £15 hardback i think but ive not read it so im not exactly sure what it's like. Ther have been various reviews of it some good, some bad.

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

tennis books can also be bought from <a href="http://www.sportsbooksdirect.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.sportsbooksdirect.co.uk/</a>

 

[JonBcn]

Thanks guys, esp BoiledEgg for that link, I´ll check it out. <br />MaryLinda: I think I could recite Ladies of the Court backwards! I need something else, even if its not half as good!

 

[louloubelle]

I keep re-reading 'Ladies' also!!!!!!!!!! (esp the Helen Kelesi pages)

He should do a 2000 edition!!!

 

[Rollo]

I liked

1973 " A Long Way Baby" by Grace Liechtenstein--really good cause it covers the Kings-Riggs match, a young Chris Evert, ,etc. Funny as hell. The award winning author joked about calling the book "tennis without balls" or "Game, set, snatch!" <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

<br />1978- "Inside Tennis" by Peter Bodo. Bodo was a tennis writer who knew his stuff. Gorgeous pics, and up close looks at the tennis tour in 1978-with profiles of Martina, Evert, King and Austin. Covers the men too.

1990-John Feinstein's "Hard Courts". Gaby, Martina, Steffi and Monica covered during one of the most exciting years ever, with 4 different slam winners.

I enjoyed Venus Envy, but it was a bit on the side. <br />Read these others and you'll see a lot hasn't changed from the 70's to now!

Happy reading <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

 

[moon]

if you like reading the gossip pages of your daily newspaper then Venus Envy is the book for you. Some of it is interesting, some of it funny, and some it trashy.

I didn't really like Ladies of the Court. I thought the writer was a little bit overzealous in his descriptions of the way women are taken advantage of by men in the tennis industry. I don't doubt that there are some unseemly things that go on, but Mewshew made it seem like that there was little else that went on. The book wallowed in negativity, and had a nasty tone, IMO.

 

[Tweety]

My friends and me spoke to Nathalie Tauziat about the book in Filderstadt 2001. Nathalie said she doesn't think there will be a translation. If they wanted to publish a translation it'd be already available.

 

[CB]

Tauziat's book will never be translated <img src="frown.gif" border="0"> <br />When was this Ladies of the Court released? They don't sell them in Brazil <img src="graemlins/firey.gif" border="0" alt="[Fiery]" />

 

[Zummi]

Ladies of the Court came out in 1992 and it covers the 1991 circuit. I thought it was a wonderful book and is definitely one of my favourites. It is much better than Hard Courts, IMO.

Long Way Baby is a good book too. It covers the 1973 USLTA & Virginia Slims tours as well as Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the King/Riggs match. You get a good insight into what the early years of the tour was like. The author, Grace Lichtenstein, however, was very biased to her favorites - Chris Evert & Billie Jean King so if you don't care much for an author who writes with blatant favoritism instead of at least trying to maintain some semblance of neutrality, this isn't the book for you.

Pam Shriver's 1986 book Passing Shots which covered most of the 1985 tour is an all-time classic and is also one of my favorites.

 

[JonBcn]

Ciao Braz, just to add to Zummi´s info, it was written by Michael Mewshaw, and I thoroughly recommend it if you can hold of a copy. On the negative side it focuses on the negative a bit too much, desperately seeking exposés of abuse, drugs and the like. fascinating reading though, and it follows a year at an interesting time in tennis with lots of interesting characters.