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She won seven grand slams, was ranked world No 1 and riled up Billie Jean King. But did this worthy yet syrupy drama really need to show her as a child hitting a ball against a wall with a plank of wood quite so many times?

She taught herself to hit a ball against a water tank at home. But for this international tennis phenom, perhaps her most enduring lesson came from her mother.

Goolagong is the inspiring true-life story of world champion tennis player, Evonne Goolagong, one of Australia's greatest and most loved sporting figures.

Newcomer Lila McGuire is outstanding as the former world No 1, her story unfolding over three well-paced, captivating and graceful episodes

Newcomer Lila McGuire is outstanding as the former world No 1, her story unfolding over three well-paced, captivating and graceful episodes Productions that recount the lives of great sportspeople are often laden with a rah-rah-rah, “win at all costs” mentality that I find about as appealing as a fart in an elevator. But watching the ABC’s new series about Australian tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley – a former world No 1 whose accomplishments include seven grand slam singles titles – it is soon clear this will be something else, something deeper. Her story unfolds over three well-paced episodes with a refreshing kind of gracefulness. While it is perhaps not must-see viewing, it’s well above standard sports fare and I remained captivated throughout. From the start, director Wayne Blair (whose recent work includes Plum, Bay of Fires and Mystery Road: Origin season two) sets a contemplative tone, with light-filled compositions and a flashback structure that fluidly oscillates between past and present – less like a tennis to-and-fro than streams of water crossing and intersecting. Continue reading...