She Wants to be a Sledgehammer?

Abstract

This article presents a semiotic analysis of the representation of the Wimbeldon Championships on British television. It considers televised sport as a gendered genre, arguing that a gendered narrative exists within the televising of Wimbeldon. There is contradiction within this narrative: female tennis players escape an easy identification with a singular character function. The article draws on feminist film theory to explore the ambivalence of the televisual representation of tennis femininities.