The Divine Miss Marble: A Life of Tennis, Fame, and Mystery

Sports journalist Weintraub (No Better Friend) entertainingly explores the legacy of 18-time Grand Slam champion Alice Marble (1913–1990). Despite humble beginnings—Marble was born into a working-class San Francisco family, in which her father died of the Spanish flu and she herself suffered tuberculosis—Marble, Weintraub writes, rose “to conquer the sport of royalty.” She excelled at tennis in high school and competed in state championships, ultimately playing in the French Open in 1934. She won her first U.S. Open in 1936 (and again in 1938, 1939, and 1940) and Wimbledon in 1939. Marble was the first woman to forgo wearing skirts on the court in favor of shorts (“they weren’t merely cut short but tight and revealing”) and throughout her career she was a trendsetter, creating her own clothing line. At the height of her fame, the outgoing Marble was known to sing in nightclubs and worked as a writer on various comics series, including Wonder Woman. As Weintraub notes in this spirited and thorough biography, Marble helped integrate tennis by championing Althea Gibson (publicly stating the young athlete should be allowed to play in the Nationals), and she later coached such future greats as Billie Jean King and Sally Ride. Delightful and engrossing, this is a must for tennis fans. (July)