As Venus Turns: A Feminist Soap Opera Analysis of Venus Vs.

Grand Slam tennis tournaments historically have paid less to female champions as compared to their male counterparts. In the early 21st century a group of female players and advocates led a campaign for Wimbledon to equalize its pay. One of its leaders, Venus Williams, is one of the most successful American tennis players of the last 20 years but was one of the few black players on the Grand Slam circuit. The Nine for IX film Venus Vs. chronicles the equal prize money campaign as well as Williams’s biography. By using feminist narrative criticism, this essay argues that the film, by focusing on the Wimbledon campaign, ignored issues of race and sexism within tennis.