Venus Envy: A Sensational Season Inside the Women's Tennis Tour [Hardcover]

L. Jon Wertheim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2001

A behind-the-scenes look at the hugely popular and often controversial world of women's tennis featuring such household names as Venus and Serena Williams and Anna Kournikova. At a time when attendance and TV ratings for women's tennis are at an all-time high, Sports Illustrated writer L.Jon Wertheim, draws on his investigative talents and knowledge of the game to infiltrate the heretofore closed locker rooms of the women's tour and chronicle this remarkable era in the sport's history. With a narrative sweep that rockets along like a Venus Williams serve, it takes the reader from the year's first Grand Slam tournament--where a top player ignited a firestorm of controversy when she decided to come out-- to Venus' epochal victory at Wimbledon to the U.S. Open where Serena Williams defends her title and all the whistle-stop tournaments in between where the Russian vixen Anna Kournikova sent hormonally challenged teenagers, not to mention male sportswriters, into a frenzy, Venus Envy offers the reader the equivalent of a center-court seat and an all-access locker room pass. The book will contain a wealth of previously unreported, inside-the-locker room anecdotes about the marquee names in women's tennis and should engender much off-the-book-page coverage. There are more identifiable stars than ever before and the rivalries are intense and often rancorous. The book will even appeal to those readers with only a passing interest in tennis since many of the players have transcended the sport, appearing on the covers of magazine like GQ, Rolling Stone and Vogue.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If you think only male professional tennis players exhibit less-than-mature behavior on and off center court, you're in for a surprise with Wertheim's candid tell-all account of a year spent following the superstars and also-rans on the WTA Tour, from the 2000 Australian Open to the 2000 U.S. Open. Wertheim (senior writer for Sports Illustrated) pulls no punches as he profiles the egos, catty repartee, emotional battering and dysfunctional family relationships that drive Venus and Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, Monica Seles and some lesser-known professionals. Women's tennis is now "the world's most popular and financially successful women's sport," surpassing men's tennis in television viewership, but still lagging behind the men in prize money. The outspoken sportswomen are not unaware of their sex appeal and appear, for the most part, willing and eager to cash in on it. Sound bites range from petulant to downright insulting (Hingis), while a model-pretty player like Kournikova can exude icy diva vibes and garner huge bonuses even though she has yet to win a major tournament. After winning the 2000 U.S. Open, Venus Williams "talked smack" to then-President Bill Clinton, asking him to lower her property taxes. But underlying the bravado of these successful athletes is the specter of abuse and dysfunction. Wertheim is unafraid to name names and reveals that the "tennis dad" is even more dangerous than the "stage mother," among other unpleasant truths. The book should hold more than just tabloid interest for young women who aspire to tennis careers. 8 pages of color photos not seen by PW.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Wertheim, a senior Sports Illustrated writer, examines women's professional tennis by focusing on the 2000 tour. Any professional sport is an insular, self-contained world with its own peculiar rituals and protocols, but women's tennis is more bizarre than most. Contributing to the show-biz atmosphere are the huge amounts of money at stake; the fragile egos of the competitors, often in their teens or early 20s; the sex appeal; and the very real sexual intrigue that permeates the tour. Among the tabloid-friendly incidents Wertheim recounts are the glamorous Anna Kournikova's bedeviling of Russian hockey stars; Wimbledon champ Venus Williams' grilling of President Clinton during the obligatory congratulation call; and the various antics of Williams' father, Richard, a combination of Daddy Dearest and Don King. Wertheim also explores the darker aspects of women's tennis, including severely dysfunctional families and sexual abuse of players by coaches. Michael Mewshaw explored many of these same issues in Ladies of the Court (1993); not much has changed since then, but Wertheim provides a fascinating update. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harper; First Edition edition (August 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060197749
• ISBN-13: 978-0060197742
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,828,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

L. JON WERTHEIM is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and the author of five books, including Blood in the Cage, a chronicle of the rise of mixed martial arts, and Running the Table, about a bipolar pool hustler named Kid Delicious, which has been optioned for film by Tom Hanks's Playtone and is currently in development. His work has been featured in The Best American Sports Writing numerous times.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An addictive guilty pleasure of a book, August 6, 2001

By 

J.S. Silver (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venus Envy: A Sensational Season Inside the Women's Tennis Tour (Hardcover)

When I got this book, I couldn't put it down. If you have any interest in women's tennis, you must read this book.

There is more behind-the-scene information in it than you can get from any television broadcast. It's fascinating to hear about all the locker room activities. It's so much like high school with all of the cliques: the popular girls, the wannabees, the rookies, the pretty girl everyone hates. So interesting. Interesting profiles on all the major players.

Yet this book goes beyond gossip and give the casual tennis fan an insight beyond game-set-match. Tour politics. Money. Tournaments.

A great look at the year in Tennis. The anecdotal style makes for an easy read. The book went by so quickly, it could have been 100 pages longer and not gotten stale.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read!, September 9, 2001

By 

K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Venus Envy: A Sensational Season Inside the Women's Tennis Tour (Hardcover)

Too bad the author didn't get to conclude this book with the Williams sisters penultimate match against one another. Short of that, however, I can't imagine this book being more entertaining. Fans of women's tennis know that matches have gotten more exciting in recent years, arguably as entertaining as men's tennis. Author L. Jon Wertheim has managed to score a cup by getting into the hidden inner circles of the women's tennis world, spending a year with a tour. The result is a close-up view that is intriguing, exciting and impossible to put down and profiles the major players in tennis, including Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati and the Williams sisters.
What even the most avid fans of women's tennis don't get to see - the behind-the scenes gossip, intrigue and behavior that are part of the whole scene - are revealed here. Egotism, bitchiness and incredibly dysfunctional famililies add to the drama. I'd suggest that any family with an aspiring young tennis "star" in their midst give this book to that person and let her know what could await her in the future. If she decides to pursue the sport, anyway, maybe she truly has the determination to become the next star of the courts.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Greatest Show On Earth, November 16, 2001

By 

edzaf (Chandler, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venus Envy: A Sensational Season Inside the Women's Tennis Tour (Hardcover)

"Sports Illustrated" tennis writer, Jon Wertheim, has written a quick and very entertaining look at the 2000 women's tennis season. As a part-time tennis journalist/photographer myself, over the past several years I have been able to get a firsthand glimpse of the tennis world. From the cocky Williams sisters to the tempestuous Anna Kournikova to those wacky tennis parents, I can attest that Wertheim has accurately captured (warts and all) the many personalities that make up the WTA Tour.

Wertheim gives background information on many of the players to fill in those who do not religiously follow tennis, but he does so without boring those of us who do. There are juicy pieces of gossip that have certainly not made it into traditional sports reporting. One has to give Wertheim credit for penetrating this inner circle and somehow managing to add new material to these already very public personas.

The subtitle of this book is "A Sensational Season Inside the Women's Tennis Tour." It could have easily (and perhaps more appropriately) been called a "sensationalistic" season. While Lindsay Davenport has often expressed disdain for the "three-ring circus" that women's tennis has become, she, along with many others, certainly understand there is no such thing as bad publicity. A must-read for any tennis fan or even those who are just curious about these women--the "circus" is certainly in town in "Venus Envy."