Our Picks: “The Williams Method” and “Battle of the Sexes”

You don’t have to be a tennis fan to be captivated by the movie *The Williams Method*. Focusing on the players’ father, the film chronicles the journey of two young girls driven by their parents’ ambition.

Richard Williams knew nothing about tennis until he and his wife decided to start a family. He wanted the best for his unborn children. To set them on the path to excellence. To disprove the notion that growing up in a rough neighborhood inevitably means playing street sports at best. He had to conquer the strongholds still reserved for white people and the wealthy. What better playground than tennis, the quintessential aristocratic sport? Richard pored over the subject, read dozens of books, and studied legendary matches. And he writes his “method”—78 detailed pages on the art of coaching a champion. In fact, they’ll be champions: Venus and Serena. The training is demanding; the environment is hostile. They have to lie flat on the ground in front of the net when balls fired by rival gangs fly through the housing project. And it works. The girls deliver. But there’s no way he’ll let them play in junior tournaments. The overprotective dad (though sometimes a bit strict) wants to keep his daughters away from the pressure. They’ll test themselves against the competition when they’re fully ready…

Critics have noted a few liberties taken with reality in the film directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. Despite this, it’s hard not to enjoy it: in addition to being edge-of-your-seat thrilling, it offers a useful allegory about the art of fighting in an environment that is all the more treacherous for appearing so hushed. This is not without echoes of another tennis film, *Battle of the Sexes* , released in 2017 and dedicated to champion Billie Jean King. She is the very person responsible for achieving equal pay for male and female players in Grand Slam tournaments. In 1972, this exceptionally talented tennis player demanded match bonuses for herself and her female colleagues that were equivalent to those of the men. The polite and well-mannered world of tennis, where women are usually treated with courtesy, then revealed its hidden side: misogyny, class contempt, and an overwhelming focus on competition and performance…Billie Jean King challenges one of the greatest opponents of gender equality in her sport, world No. 1 Bobbie Riggs: they meet on the court to settle the score with a ball and a racket rather than with prejudice…