Bibi’s Got Game: A Story About Tennis, Meditation and a Dog Named Coco

Bianca Andreescu is the young Romanian-Canadian tennis player who won the 2019 US Open tournament. In Bibi’s Got Game, she has collaborated with Mary Beth Leatherdale (Terry Fox and Me) to tell the story of her own development as a player via a picture book format. Andreescu’s knee injury in 2019 and a bout with COVID-19 in 2021 have undoubtedly informed the arc of this story in telling of the struggle to become an elite athlete.

Bibi is an active young girl bursting with energy and ready to try her hand at many different sports. But, when she sits down with her father in front of the television to watch Kim Clijsters playing in a tennis tournament, something clicks. She can’t wait to try this game herself.

As soon as I hold the racquet in my hand, I know

this game is different. I love being on the court.

Just me and the fuzzy ball.

My coach says I’m a natural. Strong and powerful.

That tennis is my sport.

Tennis is tantalizingly addictive, but Bibi learns early on that it is hard work to become proficient. The author does not undersell the necessity of concentrating on conditioning and practice. The hours required for honing her game leave Bibi little time for ordinary adolescent activities.

While my game gets better and better, things at school

get worse and worse. I’m so busy with tennis that I

don’t have time for anything else. No playdates. No birthday

parties. No sleepovers.

When I have to leave school early for practice or a

tournament, I try to steal out of the classroom. But

someone always notices my giant tennis bag.

Readers see Bibi’s classmates sitting at their desks while she creeps over to the door. There are hand-lettered phrases spread out over the page here obviously representing comments she has heard about herself. “She thinks she’s so great.” “She’ll never make it in tennis.” “She’s just weird.”

When Bibi has a fall from some gym equipment that results in a broken ankle, the setback to her training, along with her feeling of being shunned by her peers, elicit gloomy thoughts. At this point, her understanding mother introduces her to the breathing and visualization techniques associated with meditation.

She says that meditation is a bit like magic.

Like a rabbit in a hat, there are peaceful thoughts

hidden in my mind. I just have to dig deep to find them.

“Picture all the things that make you happy, Bibi.

All the things that you’re grateful for.”

Bibi works on following her mother’s instructions. With a calmer mind, Bibi waits out the healing period and regains her confidence. Her first tournament back is the test. Everything is going her way until the final match when nerves begin to jangle, but, when Bibi remembers the breathing exercises, her game comes into focus. She emerges a winner.

The end of the story presents a realistic view of athletic competition and what it has taken for Bibi to be a success on the court.

Not every game I play has such a happy ending.

I still lose plenty. But at that match, something

changed for me. I found the magic hidden in my mind.

The spare illustrations, executed with gouache, coloured pencil and digital tools, with swaths of bright green, red and a muted indigo, are by Chelsea O’Byrne (If I Were King; Hello, Crow). They show Bibi in her many moods, active and at rest, often the lone human figure on a white ground. Coco, the dog in the title, is a caramel-coloured cockapoo who romps through the pages, providing comfort and inspiration to Bibi at various stages in her journey.

At the back of the book, Andreescu has included a note about growing up to be a tennis star, along with some tips on learning to meditate. There are also photos of her at different stages in her career and a present-day portrait of Bianca, her parents and the real Coco.

As well as providing some information about the sport of tennis, Bibi’s Got Game guides young people to the idea of how they could benefit from using simple meditation in the face of the mental turmoil that daily life can engender. The picture book would also be useful in a discussion of the ways effort can bring reward.