Serena and Venus Williams are helping to bring Bruce Schoenfeld’s The Match: Althea Gibson & Angela Buxton: How Two Outsiders—One Black, the Other Jewish—Forged a Friendship and Made Sports Historyto the big screen, Deadline reports.
Schoenfeld’s book, published in 2004 by Amistad/HarperCollins, tells the story of the relationship between Gibson, a Black American tennis and golf player, and Buxton, a British Jewish tennis player. The pair decided to play together at Wimbledon in 1956 and won the women’s doubles title. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “The author is particularly adept at recreating the tournaments Gibson and Buxton played, individually and together, although he lingers overly long on the details of the matches themselves.”
The Williams sisters, both iconic tennis stars, will serve as executive producers on the film, which is being developed by entertainment companies 1Community, Access Entertainment and Four Daughters. Serena Williams is also executive producing a television series based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s tennis-themed novel, Carrie Soto Is Back.
The script for The Match is being written by Liz Maccie, who is also penning the screenplay for a movie based on Tillie Cole’s 2016 young adult romance, A Thousand Boy Kisses. Maccie will also executive produce the Match film.
Emily Blavatnik and Danny Cohen of Access Entertainment said in a statement, “We are thrilled to be part of this groundbreaking project that not only celebrates the remarkable friendship between Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton but also highlights the profound impact of diversity in sports. This story is a testament to resilience and unity, and we know it will resonate strongly with audiences everywhere.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
