The Glory Days of Tennis - The 1970s

For those who did not live through the 1970s, it is difficult to understand the euphoria and the impact tennis had on pop culture in those years. Tennis took the sports world by storm. Particularly in the United States, England, and Sweden, the sport boomed to proportions that had never been reached before or since. A slew of teenage idols that included Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Martina Navratilova, and John McEnroe took over the established players and captured the hearts of the general public. Throngs of teenboppers mobbed Borg at Wimbledon the likes that England had not seen since the heyday of the Beatles. It is estimated that by the mid-1970s, some 34 million Americans participated in the sport of tennis, 50% more than today, although the U.S. population has doubled since then. Prize money and television coverage increased dramatically. Billie Jean King led the charge for equal pay in prize money for women, which coincided with the Feminist Movement. In 1975, Wimbledon had its first black male champion in Arthur Ashe. Martina Navratilova was one of the first players to transform herself through rigorous physical training and diet, and the change showed in her winning a record number of Wimbledon singles titles. Players like Ilie Nastase, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe, for better or worse, brought the genteel, country club sport out into the open, evolving it into a raucous, spectator event similar to that found in the days of the ancient Roman Coliseum. These were truly the Golden Days of Tennis.