Tennis: A History from American Amateurs to Global Professionals
University of Illinois Press, 2021
Cloth: 978-0-252-04389-5 | Paper: 978-0-252-08588-8 | eISBN: 978-0-252-05279-8
Library of Congress Classification GV992.R88 2021
Dewey Decimal Classification 796.342
Cloth: 978-0-252-04389-5 | Paper: 978-0-252-08588-8 | eISBN: 978-0-252-05279-8
Library of Congress Classification GV992.R88 2021
Dewey Decimal Classification 796.342
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Analyzing how tennis turned pro
The arrival of the Open era in 1968 was a watershed in the history of tennis--the year that marked its advent as a professionalized sport. Merging wide-angle history with individual stories of players and off-the-court figures, Greg Ruth charts tennis’s evolution into the game we watch today. His vivid account moves from the cloistered world of nineteenth-century lawn tennis through the longtime amateur-professional divide and the battles over commercialization that raged from the 1920s until 1968. From there, Ruth details the post-1968 expansion of the game as it was transformed by bankable superstars, a popular women’s tour, rival governing bodies, and sponsorship money. What emerges is a fascinating history of the economics and politics that made tennis a decisive, if unlikely, force in the creation of modern-day sports entertainment.
The arrival of the Open era in 1968 was a watershed in the history of tennis--the year that marked its advent as a professionalized sport. Merging wide-angle history with individual stories of players and off-the-court figures, Greg Ruth charts tennis’s evolution into the game we watch today. His vivid account moves from the cloistered world of nineteenth-century lawn tennis through the longtime amateur-professional divide and the battles over commercialization that raged from the 1920s until 1968. From there, Ruth details the post-1968 expansion of the game as it was transformed by bankable superstars, a popular women’s tour, rival governing bodies, and sponsorship money. What emerges is a fascinating history of the economics and politics that made tennis a decisive, if unlikely, force in the creation of modern-day sports entertainment.
Comprehensive and engaging, Tennis tells the interlocking stories of the figures and factors that birthed the professional game.
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