Provided by Mindhouse
The three-part series “Gods of Tennis” tells the story of the golden age of tennis and the players who shaped the game into what it is today.
With the US Open kicking off on August 26th, tennis fever is on the rise again.
“Gods of Tennis” is a three-part series that focuses primarily on Wimbledon in the 1970s and 1980s, a period when the sport of tennis produced players who became sporting icons and instruments of social reform.
Part 1 looks at the incredible tennis plays of Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe, as well as their efforts to bring justice to sports and raise awareness of injustices around the world.
Billie Jean King resented the way women were marginalized in the sport of tennis. She was astonished at the idea that women were less important in the tennis world and therefore did not receive the same prize money as men. This was the early days of the women’s movement and equality was a top priority. For Billie Jean King, equality meant equal pay. She expected to play just as hard as the men and earn the same prize money.
King started a separate Women’s Tennis Association (without Chris Evert) to demonstrate how great women’s tennis was and that women players deserved the same recognition, respect and revenue as men. This culminated in a match between King and the notorious misogynist Bobby Riggs, where King won, proving that women could play tennis just as well as men.
The rivalry between Chris Evert and King is also featured. These two American women were well respected and their matches were intense and fun to watch.
Arthur Ashe’s mission was to prove that black players could reach the top of the tennis charts, and he took this to apartheid-era South Africa, where he was unable to beat Jimmy Connors but eventually rose to become world number one.
Episode 2 explores the rivalry between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe. The “Ice Man” Swede was the polar opposite of the emotional and often explosive young American. McEnroe became the “bad boy” of tennis with his disputes over line calls and talking back to umpires. But in reality, he was a good player, and as he himself says in the show, if he wasn’t so good, no one would care about his outbursts.
Borg retired quite early because he wanted a more fulfilling life than tennis. He was the glamour and sex symbol of the sport, and was treated like a rock star. But he really wanted a private life, which he couldn’t get in tennis. He says he has no regrets about retiring.
Fellow number one player Jimmy Connors appears on the show in this episode and struggles to maintain his high ranking against a cocky McEnroe – at one point he even tells McEnroe to shut up while on the court at Wimbledon.
The final episode focuses on the rivalry between Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Navratilova defected to the United States due to restrictions in her native Czechoslovakia and eventually obtained U.S. citizenship. It was a tough battle, both personally and professionally, for the new American to face “America’s Sweetheart” Evert, who was always perfect on and off the court. And it intensified when she “came out”.
Navratilova was the first athlete to hire a body trainer, a tennis trainer/coach, a nutritionist, and to weight train. To say she took this seriously is an understatement. Today, this is common for athletes, but Navratilova was the first.
Martina has won the prestigious Wimbledon Grand Slam a total of nine times, a record that she still holds today.
“Gods of Tennis” features these players as well as others from the world of tennis. It also shows how the true icons of that time pushed the game forward in many different ways and made it onto the front pages of newspapers. Tennis took off in the 1970s and has grown ever since, but the original icons still hold the title of “legends.” They were the “Golden Age” of tennis and are considered some of the best players of all time. Today, with new technology, new products, and new ideas about health and fitness, tennis is a whole new sport, but the players of the late 20th century made the most of what was available at the time.
Interviewed are McEnroe, Evert, Navratilova, Borg, King, John Lloyd, Pam Shriver, Tracy Austin, Ashe’s brother Jonny Ashe, Pat Cash and Virginia Wade. The series focuses on the personal aspects of the players, their tennis games and how they blended together to their advantage or disadvantage on the court.
This is a “must see” series for anyone who lived through and followed tennis in the 1970s and 1980s. Those who weren’t alive during this golden age may think that Federer, Djokevic, Nadal, Murray and Williams made tennis great, but think again. Without Connors, Evert, Ashe, Borg, Navratilova, McEnroe and King, tennis would not be what it is today.
PBS aired the first episode of “Gods of Tennis” on July 23, the second episode on July 30 and the third episode on August 6. The series is available to stream on the free PBS app.
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