Tennis is the sport with nobody to pass to. A child walks to one side of a net, and for the next hour whatever happens is entirely hers—no substitutions, no timeouts, no coach allowed to say a word through the fence. The scoring is gloriously strange, love and fifteen and thirty and forty and deuce, and a player can win more points than her opponent and still lose the match. It is also a game whose best stories almost never start at a country club. They start on a cracked public court with a sagging net: paddle tennis on a Harlem street in the 1940s, a dusty farm town in New South Wales, two sisters in Compton hitting serves six mornings a week before the sun came up.
Bookroo’s collection of tennis books leans hard toward biography, because that is how the shelf was built—Althea Gibson, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, Venus and Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka. Our editors picked fourteen that stretch past the biography shelf anyway: read-alouds for four-year-olds, a first solo chapter biography, a very silly dog-detective mystery about stolen tennis balls, hi-lo fiction for a kid who actually plays twice a week, and two John Feinstein novels for readers old enough to wonder about agents and press passes. Start with the shortlist, then use the shelves below—picture books for the years a child first picks up a racket, chapter books for the ones already keeping score.
Two sisters practice on public courts in Compton before sunrise and end up owning the sport.
The fastest, tallest, most restless kid in 1940s Harlem talks her way from street paddle tennis to Wimbledon.
A girl who did everything ALL THE WAY grows up to play the most watched tennis match in history.
They played each other eighty times over sixteen years and came out of it friends.
A girl on a hot, dusty farm in New South Wales keeps saying the word “Wimbledon” until she is standing on Centre Court.
One quality and one real Serena quote per spread, sized for hands that are still chewing on the corners.
A forgotten hat and a flat tire stand between Ash and the first match of her tournament.
A girl with one foot in Japan and one in the United States outworks everyone who doubted her.
Every tennis ball in Dogtown disappears days before the Grand Slam.
The entire Williams career in 112 paperback pages, with the famously oversized head on the cover.
A boy in segregated Richmond is barred from the best courts in town and practices anyway.
A seventh grader earns a varsity spot and discovers the older players are not thrilled about it.
An eleven-year-old with a national ranking starts getting phone calls from agents.
A Russian teenager vanishes at the U.S. Open minutes before her second-round match.
Mostly biography: more Billie Jean King, more Venus and Serena, and one Peanuts read-aloud for the child who throws the racket. Ages 3–8.
A tennis legend challenges gender norms and inspires future athletes.
A young tennis player dreams of breaking barriers and becoming a world champion.
Two sisters rise from Compton courts to tennis greatness.
Two sisters conquer tennis, overcoming life's toughest challenges together.
Snoopy faces a tennis challenge, but can he remember the fun in the game when frustration strikes?
Junior tournaments, a father pushing the wrong child, doubles partners nobody chose, a missing trophy, and quick biographies of Andre Agassi, Jennifer Capriati, and the Williams sisters—for independent readers ages 6–11.
Goblins threaten the Fairy Olympics. Can two friends save the day?
A missing trophy leads Cam on a clue-filled mystery hunt.
Relive 2022's thrilling sports moments and meet top athletes across major leagues.
A tennis prodigy's rise, fall, and triumphant comeback.
Discover the rise of a tennis legend with a controversial image.
Explore the rise of tennis icons through stats and highlights.
Uncover the triumphs of a tennis icon who redefined the game.
A tennis star's secret threatens her balance on and off the court.
Henry must hide his tennis passion from his dad or risk losing it forever.
Can Deion find success in doubles with an unlikely partner?
A brother and sister struggle with their father's misguided tennis ambitions. Will they speak up?
A tennis legend overcomes adversity to become the world's best.
