Rennert Editor ,. Serena Williams Foreword ,. United States Tennis Association. Kinga Kis Illustrator. Yesenia Moises Illustrator. To add more books, click here. Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. In every chapter Serena talks about a different tennis match and how it relates to her past and history of her life. Chapter nine is about Tunde.
When I was looking over the table of contents this chapter caught my eye because of the name, because this chapter was one of the last chapters it encouraged me to read so I could read about Tunde. The chapter is a short story about her sister. I would not reccomend this book to people who do not have a lot of of patients because it is a very slow read and hard to put together.
In the beginning she talked about her parents and when she is talking about a tennis match she would bring her past back up. In such a small world such a little and quite people can end up the most famous. The meaning behind this is Serena Williams was not a well known girl with no credit given and now is one of the worlds most famous female tennis players. Aug 12, Joanna rated it really liked it.
Very interesting perspective on the mind of a champion. This book made me have increased respect for Serena, especially as she speaks openly of her ups and downs. I liked the "match book" she keeps and reads during matches--lots of positive self-talk.
Didn't know she's a practicing Jehovah's Witness and felt that may explain some of her sportsmanship and kindness, even with competitor Wozniacki. As well I felt empathy for her, having a boyfriend who disappeared, never replying to her again--and Very interesting perspective on the mind of a champion.
As well I felt empathy for her, having a boyfriend who disappeared, never replying to her again--and found it fascinating she openly attributed the hurt she felt to her success the next year. Oprah had a similar experience. Strong women. Determined women. I enjoyed her stories of herself as a little girl-entering her first tourney without permission, smashing her sisters' piggy banks.
She seemed pretty self-aware and honest. She shared how a visit to Africa gave her strength as she thought of her ancestry. As well you get a sense of the pressure she faced during her years of play. She struggled as well with self-esteem, openly admitting times she felt ugly, fat, and so depressed that she wouldn't speak to anyone but a therapist.
I didn't realize that some people resented her and her family for their calculated efforts to dominate the game. They entered the gentrified tennis-elite and some didn't like the approach they brought. I believe her and her perspective. I was also glad to have seen her live at her return to Indian Wells this year. She is a massive force and fascinating competitor.
I wish her well in her journey to win the Open this year and in her future. She has inspired many. Aug 11, Michael Scott rated it really liked it Shelves: memoir , non-fiction , sports. Serena Williams 's autobiography On the Line is one of the best sports biographies I've read.
The story not only reveals a great deal of information on how the world of tennis is structured, but also gives a surprisingly sincerely-sounding account of her own trials and tribulations. In comparison with Peter Sampras 's autobiography, Serena's talks much more about the youth of a tennis player, both as a radiography of the system and as an account of the feelings of an ambitious kid. Serena is not s Serena Williams 's autobiography On the Line is one of the best sports biographies I've read.
Serena is not shy to talk about her ambitions wanting to always be 1 , her trouble with American audiences concerning allegations of racist abuse, and concerns over match-fixing between her and her sister. She also talks about her involvement with charity, including her help to children in Africa.
Albeit not very challenging intellectually, a good and refreshing read. Thumbs up! May 02, Marie rated it it was amazing. Williams's book includes entries from her match book, by doing this she is giving the reader a sense of who she is as a person. She writes about her tennis career from start to present, including personal details about her childhood and the reality of her early life. Williams reveals he "On the Line" was a wonderful book that allows the reader to really understand where Serena Williams started and is written so that the reader gets an inside look at what goes on in a professional athlete's head.
Williams reveals her love for the game as well as her love for family. Serena never talks badly about any of her sisters and as the youngest child, she explains how much her sisters really influenced her, each in a different manner. After reading her novel, I have a greater appreciation for her not only as a top ranked tennis player, but also as a person devoted to what she loves. Many times, people think that athletes do what they do for the money, but even if that is true, I can say without a doubt that Serena Williams is the exception.
I would recommend this book to anyone and even read it again! Apr 29, Aubrie Boyd is currently reading it. Inspiration, Hope, Courage, and where it all started is what Serena Williams writes about in her Biography on the Line. When Serena Williams started playing Tennis at five years old she had no idea she would soon become the number one Tennis player in the world. When you first begin to read this book it is hard to put down and you could truly feel the goods and bad that she was feeling at the time.
Serena has had many ups and downs on her own, with her sister, and all of her family, but they alw Inspiration, Hope, Courage, and where it all started is what Serena Williams writes about in her Biography on the Line. Serena has had many ups and downs on her own, with her sister, and all of her family, but they always stuck together and you could feel the bound they had with each other.
This book is a tell all of what Serena has been through and felt over the years and that is what I began to dislike when I continued to read this book. But I continued and in the end the message was clear that if you set your mind to something you can always accomplish that goal. I would recommend this book to any tennis lover due to its meaningful message it delivers in the end. Oct 06, Sandy rated it really liked it Shelves: black-lib.
Serena tells the story of her childhood in Compton, California, where she and her sisters were coached in tennis by her parents, especially her father. The reader learns about Serena's early relationships, particularly the closeness and the rivalry among five sisters in a tight-knit family. She explains how the rivalry between her and her older sister Venus proves to be extremely beneficial in forming their competitive edge.
Serena shares other significant events of her life, including the end of a short-lived romantic relationship, the celebration of her first grand slam wins, the tragic loss of her eldest sister, visiting Africa, struggles with injuries, etc. It is fascinating to find out what goes on in a top athlete's mind before, during, and after a match.
Serena faces adversity with determination, using it to fuel her powerful game. While I had a little trouble with the mixed-up chronology of certain events, overall this was a great read and a positive and inspirational one, too. Aug 31, Melissa rated it really liked it Shelves: first-reads , In "On the Line", Serena Williams shares a lot of funny anecdotes from her childhood in a conversational tone that will appeal to the younger reader.
This is an inspirational look at the sacrifices the entire Williams family made to help get Serena and Venus to the top of the tennis world. Although Serena is the baby of the family and admits to being very spoiled, she does recognize the effect her training schedules had on her older sisters, and is grateful for their support.
Serena Williams is o In "On the Line", Serena Williams shares a lot of funny anecdotes from her childhood in a conversational tone that will appeal to the younger reader. Serena Williams is only in her late 20's, so this should be viewed as part one of her autobiography.
She discusses certain things in great detail, while other seemingly important moments in her life are kind of glossed over. She mentions her perceptions of everything she has encountered in life may change as she gets older - and she has a tendency to put a positive spin on everything - so if you're looking for gossip, this is not the book for you.
Sep 21, OOSA rated it it was amazing. Looking for a light yet positive and informative read? Consider a copy of Serena Williams' memoir. In just twenty seven short years she has experienced what some may never experience in a lifetime. Serena discusses her highs and lows, wins and losses, triumphs and tragedies and what keeps her grounded: family and her faith.
From the unforgiving streets of Compton to the U. Open, Serena is a testament of har Think. Open, Serena is a testament of hard work and perseverance. I recommend it, particularly to youths.
If you're looking for a scandalous, salacious, controversial tell-all with little substance, I'm afraid you have the wrong book. However, if you are looking for an inspirational journey of one girl's rise to become one of the greatest athletes of our time, then this is the book for you. Reviewed by: Tracy Jul 18, Samantha rated it really liked it.
Serena Williams fully admits that she's not old enough to completely write an autobiography and that she has a lot more tennis and living to go through. However, this is a good book to get started on. I didn't really know much about Serena. I think if you are a longstanding fan of hers then you will be disappointed with this book. It's very basic and she's very positive about everything in her life.
She appeared to me to be making a lot of excuses about her family. She barely mentions her parent Serena Williams fully admits that she's not old enough to completely write an autobiography and that she has a lot more tennis and living to go through. She barely mentions her parents' divorce and the effect on her.
However, she does go into great detail about Sept. I liked how she was open about how she feels to play tennis and to visit Africa. Overall, it was a typical sports biography of an athlete that isn't done with their careers and that is still putting positive spin on everything. Jul 23, Francoist rated it it was amazing. What a pleasure it was to sit down and read a book written by female tennis' world no1. I really felt like Serena Williams was sitting down right next to me taking me through her life.
Some of which I was aware of, others to which I was completely ignorant and others to which I remember but finally found out what was going on in 'her' head at the time. I have always respected Serena Williams profound talent on the tennis circuit, however reading her book has truly opened my eyes to the sort of cha What a pleasure it was to sit down and read a book written by female tennis' world no1. I have always respected Serena Williams profound talent on the tennis circuit, however reading her book has truly opened my eyes to the sort of character she holds on and off the courts.
Bless you Serena Williams, you are a fighter like no other. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am hoping for many more to come in the future. Feb 08, Londa rated it liked it. I enjoyed the first chapters of this book the most. It was very interesting to read about how her close family played and practiced together. I never realized how many hours elite atheletes log in perfecting their skills. I admire their dedication to each other and the game. I am not a big tennis fan and I don't know the rules very well.
This was a hindrance to me especially during the later part of the book where she detailed her matches point by point. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I enjoyed the first chapters of this book the most. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I knew what she was talking about!
I really enjoyed the photo section of the book as well. It was a neat addition to the memoir. Feb 02, Cecily rated it it was amazing. I really enjoyed getting to know Serena on a more personal level. The book is a great motivator. I believe that the same tactics that she uses to keep her going and focused on the courts can be used by not only any athlete but by anyone with any type of goal they have set forth for themself. You can put in a full day's work before your opponent even gets out of bed, and that can give you an incredible psychological edge to carry into your next match, knowing you're fully prepared, knowing the other girl is sleeping in while you're out there sweating.
And in those moments when I'm waiting for the sun to finish rising I'll think back to those early mornings on those public courts in Compton and Lynwood, keeping busy until my dad gave us the nod to start playing. It got to be a grueling schedule, but none of us really minded it. Or we hardly noticed. We were all together. It was what we did, that's all. We didn't know any different. We didn't have a whole lot of friends outside of school.
There was only time for each other, for tennis. My dad tried to make it fun for us. Every session had a theme, a structure. He'd set up all these creative games, with cones placed around the court, and there'd be a series of challenges we'd have to meet. Sometimes he'd put up little messages or sayings on the fence around the court to help motivate us, or maybe just to make us smile.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. He'd write out these empowering messages on big pieces of paper or oak tag, or sometimes he'd have us write them out. Then he'd hang them up all around the court.
If there was a theme to one of his sessions—like "Focus"—all the messages would have to do with the theme. He really put a lot of time and effort into this part of our training, because he believed it was important. He wanted these messages to resonate, for the visual image of the word to linger in our minds long after we'd left the court.
Years later, when we moved to Florida, he had some signs made professionally, with his most effective messages—and those he put up permanently. Basically, he was fooling us into thinking we weren't working, with all those games and messages, but after a while we caught on.
We didn't care, though. We didn't mind working hard. I mean, we were kids, so of course we grumbled from time to time. Of course we did our little celebration dance whenever it rained, because that meant we wouldn't have to practice.
Of course I hit a ball or two over the fence to buy myself a break while I went to retrieve it. But it wasn't so bad. Every now and then, my dad would reward us with some time to play in the nearby playground, or in the sandbox.
That was another great treat for us girls. I used to love doing cartwheels. Whenever I had a five-minute break, I'd be in the grass alongside the court, flipping around. I spent a lot of time on the monkey bars, too, as I recall.
Even when we weren't playing tennis, our games were tennis related. One of our very favorite family games was UNO, which I always thought was fitting for us. We played that game all the time—and I mean all the time!
After all, the point of the whole game is right there in its name—to be number one! No, UNO's got nothing to do with tennis, not directly, but it's a great teaching tool for any individual sport.
It instills such a killer mind-set. Every game produces a winner, but UNO is one of the few games I can think of where you need to announce yourself as the winner just before you actually win, when you're down to one card, so everyone else around the table has a shot at you.
It goes from every-girl-for-herself to every-girl-gunning-for-the-leader in a flash, and in this way it can really prepare you for the kind of competition you might face in a crowded tournament field. At first, it's just on you to take care of your own game, but then everyone is looking to knock you down.
I don't know if my parents had this in mind when they introduced us to the game, but that's the way I always played it. Sometimes, our competitions were more straightforward. When it was just us girls, playing in the yard at home, we used to play a game called Grand Slam. Usually it was me and Venus and Lyn.
I don't know how we came up with it. Basically, it was like box ball, or four square. We'd hit a tennis ball back and forth with our hands. The court was just a square on the sidewalk. If the ball hit the grass, it was out.
Sometimes, we threw some dirt on the sidewalk and it became a clay court—the French Open. Then we might throw down some grass—Wimbledon. I won so many majors right there in Compton, all because my dad had us thinking, breathing, living tennis so much it seeped into our regular childhood games.
It was everywhere and all around. As I look back on those moments playing hand-tennis with my sisters in front of our house at East Stockton Street in Compton, California, it puts me in mind of something my mom used to say when we were kids. Daddy took to saying it, too. Whatever it was we wanted to do or become, they'd tell us to see ourselves doing it, becoming it. It's tied in to what my dad was trying to do, getting us to visualize those words in our minds once we stepped away from his posters and signs.
When Isha came home one day and announced she wanted to be a lawyer, my mom said, "That's great, Isha. Now go and be a lawyer in your head and the rest will follow. We couldn't become champions for real until we became champions in our heads, and here we were, little kids, winning Wimbledon, winning the French Open, and willing it so. It wasn't long before we sisters started making some serious noise on the local tennis scene. My father hadn't known a whole lot about that world going in, but he was a quick study.
He always said he had a master plan for us—and that he was "a master planner"—and part of that plan was to collect whatever tennis insights he could find. He moved about by touch and feel; he added to our game plan by borrowing from the game plans of others; mostly, he watched local pros and picked up ideas and strategies for his sessions with us. By the time I was seven going on eight, and Venus was eight going on nine, Daddy was scouting area tournaments and academies, and following the comings and goings of all the young players in and around Los Angeles.
It was a competitive environment—and a close-knit community. Everyone knew everyone else, so it's no wonder people started to pay attention to what he was doing with his girls on these courts all around Los Angeles. Our home courts might have been neglected and underused, but as we bounced around we turned a couple heads, that's for sure.
For one thing, there weren't a whole lot of African-American tennis players on the circuit at any age.
That goes back to the entitlement or privilege that attached to the sport. For another, you didn't see too many entire families on those public courts. There were seven of us; we couldn't help but turn heads, and over time Daddy got to talking to all these people and tapping in to whatever was going on in L. This was an important part of our development, and the first time we got any kind of exposure as players.
He signed us up for all these different events. One day when I was seven he came home and told us we'd be hitting with Billie Jean King, and of course we all knew who she was. Another big part of Daddy's grand plan was to get us to learn the game by watching the pros. He had us watching so much tennis on television, talking all the time about all these great players, that we were terribly excited. We thought Billie Jean would be hitting with just us, but that's not at all how it happened.
There was a clinic, organized by World Team Tennis, and Billie Jean was one of the featured participants. Even so, it was a big, big day for us. I remember going through our closet with Venus, trying to pick out just the right outfit, because even then I was into how I looked on the court. In Compton, all five of us shared a closet, so it was always a frenzied time when we were scrambling to find something to wear.
We didn't really have proper tennis clothes, but we wanted to make a good impression. Lyn and Isha played that day, too. We all fussed over what to wear, and then, when we finally got to the clinic and started playing, Billie Jean actually walked over to us during one of the drills. I'm sure she was just being a good ambassador for the sport, making special time on each court with each group of kids—just like I try to do now when I'm asked to participate in one of these clinics, because of Billie Jean's example—but it felt to us like she'd come over just to watch us play.
Like she'd heard about us and wanted to check us out. That was the kind of confidence our parents instilled in us when it came to tennis; that was how they had us thinking: there were the Williams sisters, and there was everyone else. Over and over, they kept telling us we were champions, that everyone in tennis would know who we were, and on and on. After a while, we started to believe them, but here at this World Team Tennis event it was too soon for all of that. This was just Billie Jean, making the rounds, working with as many kids as she could.
She didn't know us from any other group of sisters out there on that court. Unfortunately, the meeting meant more to me when I was looking forward to it than it did when I was in the middle of it, because I didn't play too well when Billie Jean was hitting to me. Plus, Venus did such a good job when it was her turn, so that made it even worse.
I panicked, I guess. I was so nervous! I think I hit every shot long or into the net, but that's how it goes sometimes. You look ahead to some meaningful moment and set it up in your mind like it's going to be this huge, consequential deal, and then it just fizzles. The trick, really, is to find some takeaway moment in the fizzle and carry that with you instead, and here I managed to shrug off that I'd played so poorly and ended up crying because Venus played so well, and remember instead that I got to hit with the great Billie Jean King.
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