Tennis: A History from American Amateurs to Global Professionals (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780252085888)

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.

Comprehensive and engaging, Tennis tells the interlocking stories of the figures and factors that birthed the professional game.

Author: Greg Ruth
ISBN-10: 0252085884
ISBN-13: 9780252085888
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Language: English
Published: 07/27/2021
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.28lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.22w x 1.02d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2022