Sporting Gentlemen: Men's Tennis from the Age of Honor to the Cult of the Superstar

by Edward Digby Baltzell

Book Overview

Tennis is a high-stakes game, played by prodigies identified early and coached by professionals in hopes of high rankings and endorsements. This commercial world is far removed from the origins of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0029013151
• ISBN13: 9780029013151
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 420 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Detailed history from a sociological angle

Ever wonder why men's professional tennis is plagued by poorly behaved super-brats? This book explains the development of the sport, from its high-class Anglo-American origins to its devolution into a crass, in-your-face money-making scheme. Along the way one sees the departure of the WASPs (Prof. Baltzell invented that term by the way) who started the game, and the accompanying departure of the genteel sportsman-like attitude they originally insisted upon. The WASPs were replaced first by lower-class American and British whites, then by persons from all over the globe, of many hues. Along the way, as Prof. Baltzell explains, the game's original unwritten code of good behavior was tossed aside, as players opted instead to become tennis court litigators, disputing every close call and whining when things didn't go their way.Can you believe that tennis players once had an unwritten default rule that close calls go in favor of the other guy? Yup. This book will explain why that is no longer the case - and it will make you long for the past. An excellent, although depressing, read.