Black Girl Magic Hits the Tennis Court in ‘Legacy and the Queen’

Raised on basketball and football since birth, a sport like tennis actually never found its way to my lane as a child in a city with few tennis courts. In the years most of us develop our deepest admiration of a sport, my knowledge is deep in one league I still love, and another, well, another I managed to fully abandon just recently. I find myself wishing I could go to a store that offers returns and exchange NFL knowledge for another sport that were a better fit. If ever such a magical store existed, my eye would be on tennis. With a newfound interest but hopelessly meager knowledge in the sport, a new YA fantasy adventure arrived at just the right time in my life, and that’s Legacy and the Queen. Written by former pro athlete-turned-writer Annie Matthew, and published by Kobe Bryant’s multimedia company Granity Studios, the book follows a young Black girl named Legacy. Legacy, who grew up in the outer provinces of the magical kingdom of Nova, is on a meteoric rise to stardom through the nation’s biggest pastime. Tennis is everything in the land of Nova. Those from the provinces (“provis,” as they’re called derogatorily) play with tattered rackets outside their impoverished homes, while the capital city trains privileged athletes with magic and unlimited resources as it uses the sport to unify its nation. That nation is united under a council, most notably led by Silla, a woman nicknamed “the Queen” as she united the lands in a centralized, powerful city. When Legacy Petrin…