The Wimbledon Warriors
How Rafael Nadal and Althea Gibson changed tennis forever
In this week’s newsletter:
3 Episodes on Tennis
Channel Spotlight: French Studies
SSEAC Stories
3 Episodes On: Tennis
The Wimbledon tennis tournament will conclude on Sunday. Last year’s winners of the women and men’s singles tournaments were Czech woman Barbora Krejcikova and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz respectively. Meanwhile Kateřina Siniaková and Taylor Townsend won the women’s doubles and Harri Heliövaara and Henry Patten were victorious in the men’s doubles tournament. Tune in to a few great interviews about tennis and tennis players.
Listen in to our interview with Christopher Clarey, who recently published his book The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay. He illuminates the skill and determination it took to accomplish Rafael Nadal's most mind-blowing achievement: 14 French Open titles, and draws much wider lessons from Nadal's approach to competition.
Learn about Althea Gibson, the first African American to win titles at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in Ashley Brown’s discussion of her book Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson.
Check out Steven Blush’s interview about his book, Bustin' Balls: World Team Tennis 1974-1978, Pro Sports, Pop Culture and Progressive Politics. He tells the strange but true story of World Team Tennis (1974-1978) that attempted to transform the prim and proper individual sport of tennis into a rowdy blue-collar league.
New Books in French Studies
Monday is Bastille Day in France! This national holiday marks the Storming of the Bastille in Paris in 1789. To celebrate, listen to a few of the great recent interviews on our New Books in French Studies channel!
In Ascending Republic: The Ballooning Revival in Nineteenth-Century France Patrick Luiz Sullivan De Oliveira tells the story of why and how the French made the balloon into one of the quintessential symbols of late 19th-century modernity, and how the balloon’s reinvention shaped the airplane’s assimilation in the early years of aviation.
Listen to Julie Singer discuss her wide-ranging study of the rich questions raised by speaking infants in medieval French literature in her book, Out of the Mouths of Babes: Infant Voices in Medieval French Literature.
Check out Elise Franklin’s great interview about her book Disintegrating Empire: Algerian Family Migration and the Limits of the Welfare State in France. She examines the processes of decolonization through the intersecting histories of the French welfare state, family migration from Algeria to France, and the French social workers who mediated between the state and their Algerian clients.
Check out other great interviews with French Studies scholars on the NBN channel!
Hosted Podcast: SSEAC Stories
In this Hosted Podcast series on the NBN, The Sydney Southeast Asia Centre (SSEAC) builds on the expertise of and facilitates collaborations between over 400 University of Sydney academics who specialize in Southeast Asia.
Listen to Matt Huan, Collections Officer at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney discuss his work. He is primarily involved with the museum’s entomology collection which was founded by Alexander Macleay in the mid-late 18th century, making them some of the oldest insect specimens in the world.
In this great interview, Nate Zettna, a Lecturer in Leadership and Organisational Behaviour in the Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney, considers unique workplace challenges in the context of Southeast Asia.
LIsten to Tiho Ancev, Professor in Agricultural and Resource Economics at the School of Economics, discuss the challenges posed by climate change, the role of adaptation, food safety issues, and the importance of effective institutions and policies in supporting and guiding agriculture in Southeast Asia.
Subscribe to SSEAC stories to catch all of The Sydney Southeast Asia Centre’s great episodes!
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