Serena Williams serving at the U.S. Open in 2018.

Serena Williams serving at the U.S. Open in 2018.

Photo: Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

Regarding Tunku Varadarajan’s review of “Seeing Serena” by Gerald Marzorati (Books, June 12): I focused on the point about Ms. Williams’s court behavior: “It was a display that set an ugly example to every child watching the game on TV—many of whom, no doubt idolized her.” As a competing amateur tennis player most of my adult life I have witnessed a variety of court demeanors and sportsmanship. More important, I was involved in an organization that worked with a summer program for junior players using a team format. Over a period of several decades, we coached over 10,000 youth in this program. Those of us involved witnessed the court behavior of the young players influenced during the John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors era.

Rudeness, gamesmanship and plain cheating were most prevalent during that period. We welcomed the personalities of Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and others who came later and, gladly, their positive influence was equally displayed during matches and practice by the young people in the program.

Earlier in tennis history and of admirable behavior, on and off the court, there were few equals to Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith.

Jerry Smith

Columbia, S.C.