Serena: A Graphic Biography of the Greatest Tennis Champion

by Mark Hodgkinson

Serena Williams is the most successful tennis player - male or female - of the modern, professional era, with more Grand Slams than either Steffi Graf or Roger Federer.

Always a fierce competitor, her story - which began on the cracked public courts of Compton, L.A. - is also one of overcoming challenges through sheer determination, drive and talent.

In this innovative illustrated biography, Serena's tennis is explored like never before: stunning graphics explore her serving patterns, signature power groundstrokes, and her movement - as well as showcasing her astonishing records, spanning over two decades in the tennis elite.

Drawing on conversations with Serena over the course of her career, and on interviews with those closest to her, this is the ultimate celebration of arguably the greatest tennis player of all time and, without question, a true global icon.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

240 pages, Hardcover

Published September 3, 2019

Reviews

[Ella-Louise Davey]

Solid overview of Serena’s life on and off the court. Not sure if my edition had publishing errors or not but the formatting didn’t work. Sometimes a sentence would be interrupted by seemingly unrelated to what the previous page was about. Really insightful

[LiA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Hodgkinson is a true fan, and this is probably the main raison d’être for his 240-pages graphic biography Serena. An illustrated celebration of Serena Williams. In nine chapters with stylish titles – Ghetto, Cinderella, The Serena Slam, The Mother of all Controversies etc. – he offers a trove of information about an extraordinary athlete covering twenty years of her excellent career, including much of the 2019 season. The best feature of the book are, however, awesome photographs, which actually tell her story in a purely visual mode. Which is good, because whereas the first part of the accompanying text dwells on her childhood and youth, and is interesting, indeed, (and well written), the later pages feel a bit redundant and repetitive. The reader increasingly gets the impression that Serena Williams’ key motivation for returning to the tour as a mother consists of beating Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam victories. I suppose, Serena Williams has more than this one reason for playing professional tennis. Thus, my recommendation: Nevermind the “lyrics”, and just look at the pics. They are worth every page you turn in Mark Hodgkinson’s book.

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glad that I didn't spend money on this uninteresting hagiography. It was clear from the start the author was not going to have anything insightful or critical about Serena.

I was greatly unimpressed with the writing ability of the author. It felt like the reading level of this book was primary school.

I found the font size to be too small and thus difficult to read.

There was an abundance of complicated graphics in the book. I quickly grew tired of deciphering what the complicated graphics were saying. To be fair, the graphics did use lots of pretty colors, and I could tell that a good deal of effort was put into making the graphics.

There were lots of beautiful photos in this book.

This book would make a good coffee table book for the lounge of a tennis club.

[Barbara White · Rating 5 out of 5]

A celebration, this book is, for an amazing life of an amazing woman. Serena's life is caught through tennis, society, and photography. I highly recommend Serena: An Illustrated Celebration of Serena Williams. A life well lived. Thanks to Goodreads First Reads for my copy. Kudos to Mark Hodgkinson.

[Jake Corney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best biography ever read had a lot of pictures and grpahs

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read.

[J. E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must enjoy and understand tennis stats as it is full of them. Basic biography without a great deal of insight. But nice book to have as a tennis fan.