The First Tennis Superstar: American Bill Tilden, World No. 1 for Seven Years
In the world of tennis, players are not merely players. They are often an image, a brand and a superstar as well as a sportsperson. We see them all over the media, not just on sports channels but also in adverts and on chat shows having reached celebrity status. When tennis first began, it held the reputation of being a sport that was only played in Country Clubs by those with wealth and importance. It wasn’t until 1920 that the sport gained mainstream interest. This was largely due to one man, William “Big Bill” Tilden.
Bill Tilden was born in 1893 in Philadelphia, USA and his start in life was not a happy one. As a child, Tilden suffered the loss of three siblings and his mother, as well as a fourth sibling and his father in his late teens. Even Tilden’s tennis ability was not on form until later in life; he was not chosen for school or college teams and dropped out of college to play casually, and then threw himself into the sport. After three years of intensive practice and training, he had trained himself to begin competing in international tournaments.
Between 1920 and 1955, the world saw Tilden conquer the sport of tennis and revolutionise how the general public perceived the sport. In the 1920s in particular, Tilden did not lose a single important match for 7 straight years, giving him a 91% win rate. He won both the US Amateur Championship and the Davis Cup seven times each, as well as numerous doubles wins. This kind of achievement has still not been matched today, with a close second being Roger Federer.
As a player, one of the things that made the American such a superstar was his strength and power on court. His size and stature gave him a serve that was known at the time as the ‘Cannonball’ serve, reaching up to 163 miles per hour, which, using wooden rackets in that time, was extremely difficult to do and it still is, even with advanced rackets today. Apart from his serve, he was hugely entertaining to watch. His game was largely back line tennis but that did not stop him from performing spins and slices to keep the audience enthralled.
Tilden, however, was recognised as the first superstar of tennis for more than just his achievement record. He was able to overcome great problems in his life that many today would consider the end of a career. In the mid 1920s, Tilden actually lost one of his middle fingers on the hand he held the racket with after developing an infection. He also had an ongoing chronic knee problem but he still continued to play despite these disadvantages and won many Grand Slams.
His unequalled genius on the court was almost ruined by scandals in his life. Tilden was a homosexual, which at that time in America was illegal. As he became more comfortable with his fame in later life, he became more openly g*y. As a result of this, he became a victim of his time and social situation and was charged and convicted of a misdemeanour in 1946 and served nearly eight months in jail for ‘lewd behaviour with a minor’. Again in 1949 he was arrested and convicted of abusing a hitchhiker and causing him severe mental damage and he served a further 10 months in jail.
After coming out of jail for the second time, Tilden was shunned by the tennis world. He was no longer able to play or teach. This is in part why the fame and genius of his earlier years was very much buried by the media. If it were not for the controversies, the name Bill Tilden would be as common as Babe Ruth, as both were deemed to be of equal fame in the 1920s and 30s.
Sadly, Tilden has not managed to penetrate the test of time outside of the history books, which is a great loss to younger generations. He produced many of the tennis theory books that are used to coach tennis students till this day, and his unbeaten record from almost 90 years ago just goes to show his brilliance.
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