'Gods of Tennis' explores trailblazing legends of the sport and why we remember them
This year’s Wimbledon champions may be at the top of the game, but they aren’t exactly household names.
At a time when professional athletes carefully curate their public images, less is known about their private lives. That wasn’t true of the generations of stars that came before them, like John McEnroe, whose personality showed heavily on the court.
Tennis fans know McEnroe not just as a sports commentator today but as a champion tennis player of the 1970s and ‘80s, who challenged umpire decisions he disagreed with. He’s famously known for screaming “You cannot be serious!” after a controversial call at Wimbledon.
McEnroe had a long rivalry with the captivating Swede Bjorn Borg, who made women swoon just by showing up. He was quiet and focused, the opposite of McEnroe personality-wise on the court.
Their stories are both featured in Gods of Tennis, a three-part documentary series premiering on PBS July 23.
“There is something about their natural ability, the general sort of pantomime and performance that maybe you get occasionally nowadays,” series director Simon Draper told Morning Edition about why some players are remembered more than others. “But then it was just this intoxicating mixture of excitement and tennis. And then this personality that might at any minute just explode.”
The series also explores the rivalry between Chris Evert, whose grace and beauty on the court made her America’s sweetheart, and Martina Navratilova, a more physical player who defected from communist-controlled Czechoslovakia to pursue her tennis ambitions.
Gods of Tennis weaves archival footage with new interviews of tennis greats
The first episode features Billie Jean King.
“Wimbledon was the sport you wanted to win but they wanted us to be amateurs for a long time and I didn’t like that,” King says in an interview with the series director Draper. “I wanted our sport to be pro. Amateur means it’s a hobby and this was not a hobby.”
The scene then cuts to crucial moments on the court, with King desperate to win Wimbledon yet another time. King refused to accept the sexism her generation faced, accepting Bobby Riggs’ challenge to an exhibition match against him and facing scrutiny when she was outed just like Navratilova for being gay. Today King is widely revered across generations for her tireless fight to achieve equal prize money.
“I’m not a professional tennis player, but everybody that we spoke to probably put Wimbledon at the top of the Grand Slam tournaments that they wanted to win,” Draper said. That’s why he used Wimbledon, the sport’s oldest, most prestigious tournament, as the backdrop for the series.
Arthur Ashe is also celebrated in the first episode. In 1975, he became the first Black man to win Wimbledon, defeating another tennis legend, Jimmy Connors. Ashe confronted racism head on when he played in apartheid-governed South Africa in 1973. He would go on to become a symbol of strength for Black South Africans, fighting against the injustices of a political system based on segregation and limited freedoms.
Most of the players on the tour today don’t have such enduring histories, according to Draper.
“The commercialism of the sport has driven out the ability to get to know players,” Draper said. “There are obviously some fantastic players. But if you spoke to somebody in the street, I'm not sure they'd be talking about them as easily.”
Transcript
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "GODS OF TENNIS")
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: This is the inside story of how, in the '70s and '80s, a cast of unapologetic mavericks revolutionized the tranquil world of tennis.
JOHN MCENROE: You can't be serious. You cannot be serious.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yes, we are serious. John McEnroe would become famous for his outbursts on the court, Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs would face off in the Battle of the Sexes, and we'd witness a long rivalry between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Their stories are being told now in a new three-part series on PBS. It's called "Gods Of Tennis." Simon Draper is the director. Simon, so you use Wimbledon as the through line to look back at these legends of history - obviously, a very beautiful backdrop, but why use this backdrop historically?
SIMON DRAPER: Well, I mean, listen, I'm not a professional tennis player, but everybody that we spoke to probably put Wimbledon at the top of the Grand Slam tournaments that they wanted to win. I think the idea of having Wimbledon as this sort of tranquil, ridiculously English institution - I think it's a soap opera that was allowed to happen in this extraordinary environment where, for whatever reason, we seem to love it as the sport, and tennis seems to embrace Wimbledon.
MARTÍNEZ: So, Simon, what was it like to sit down with some of these players and have them sort of walk you through their journeys because you're talking to them long after they made these accomplishments?
DRAPER: I guess I wanted to take them back to the specific points of a game. For example, there was a moment with Martina's match in 1978 where she air-shots a shot against Chris Evert, and there's a big gasp from the crowd.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "GODS OF TENNIS")
UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #1: Oh.
(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIENCE GASPING)
UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #1: Well, that's incredible.
DRAPER: And that was a moment where perhaps you could just sort of stop everything for a second and to ask that person what that felt like.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "GODS OF TENNIS")
MARTINA NAVRATILOVA: It was heartbreaking. I was on my own. Tennis was my sanctuary, really.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. The first episode focuses on Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King. They were both tennis superstars. They were both activists, but it didn't seem like they were necessarily allies in their early years. Both had different social agendas, Arthur Ashe playing in South Africa during Apartheid and Billie Jean King fighting for equal pay. Would you, Simon, consider them rivals in terms of what they were trying to achieve individually?
DRAPER: Well, I did beforehand, actually. I think their rivalry was there. He was in the men's game, and he's documented as having issues with women and how much they earn, but interestingly, I think they had a sense of togetherness and that they were unified by being on the edges of society, or the edges of the game - Black player, a women's player. You know, they sort of were stronger together.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, second episode - Bjorn Borg, a very quiet, focused Swede, and then the bad boys from the United States show up - John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors. What made each of them gods of tennis?
DRAPER: I think there's something about their natural ability, but the general sort of pantomime and performance that maybe you get occasionally nowadays, but then, it was just, like, this intoxicating mixture of excitement and tennis and then this personality that might, at any minute, just explode. So it doesn't necessarily mean that's what makes gods, but there is a reason why we all remember them. They had something else in their makeup that no one else had.
MARTÍNEZ: Well, with McEnroe, I mean, it was the drama, the emotion...
DRAPER: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...Right in the middle of center - I mean, not caring who heard him, not caring if the crowd didn't necessarily like it. A great moment in this episode was when McEnroe could have been arguing a call that didn't go his way, but he showed restraint.
DRAPER: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "GODS OF TENNIS")
UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #2: McEnroe really biting his lips, not to say a word.
(APPLAUSE)
MARTÍNEZ: And the crowd seemed to appreciate it, even though they still liked his emotions.
DRAPER: Yeah. Well, actually, funny - when people talk about moments in games, I remember talking to him, and I reminded him of that bit, which he'd sort of forgotten about, bizarrely, and he sat there in a moment of a few seconds, but it felt significant, and that's how it felt like when you watched the archive - you know, you're sort of remembering. In his head, he's having to go through, what do I do in this situation? And as he says, you know, it turns out (laughter) when I don't shout, I get applauded.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
DRAPER: And that was really interesting, isn't it?
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "GODS OF TENNIS")
MCENROE: You know, I got people applauding me for not blowing my top. I didn't have to do anything except play, just focusing on the tennis.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. Now, to one of the greatest rivalries of all time in sports - not just tennis...
DRAPER: Yes.
MARTÍNEZ: ...But in sports, and that's Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. What surprised you about the conversations you had with each of them, as they reflected on the years on the tour and their years battling against each other because, I'll admit, their rivalry was the thing that sucked me into tennis?
DRAPER: Oh, that's interesting. Yes. What sort of struck me the most was now their affection for each other is beautiful - Chris Evert's sort of recollection of how hard it was for Martina, defecting from Czech Republic and coming to America and dealing with it all - but at the time, the much more interesting story was the sort of good v. bad - you know, the American, all-American girl versus the sort of machine that was Martina. So I was really impressed with her as somebody who was quite modest in what she'd achieved, not just on the court, if you see what I mean, and with Chris Evert, her sense of humor was just delightful.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
DRAPER: If you were to program, you know, a sports star celebrity, everything about Chris Evert would be there.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Now, in this episode, Pam Shriver, a tennis great of her own, said this.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "GODS OF TENNIS")
PAM SHRIVER: In the late '70s, women's tennis was already established as the most powerful, most prominent, women's professional sports in the world.
MARTÍNEZ: So, Simon, 40 years later, where do you think women's tennis fits in now? Is it still at that level, or - I don't know if I necessarily see the personalities being there to kind of have that title.
DRAPER: Yeah, I think you're right. I feel like - I don't want to say the cliched thing, but I think the sport and the commercialism of the sport has driven out the ability to get to know players, so I think there are obviously some fantastic players, but if you spoke to somebody in the street, I'm not sure they'd be talking about them as easily. I don't know we will ever emulate what Pam was talking about. You had such big characters who were allowed to be big characters, who didn't worry about sponsorship as much - you know, Billie Jean King can be loud and aggressive on court and deal with all the slack, because she's not worrying too much that no one's going to like her, 'cause you just think, well, I'll just do what I want. So I think - for the women's game, I think they're always going to struggle, unless someone's allowed to be the character that people need to latch on to and have the confidence to be themselves. I don't think it's for the lack of trying. I just don't think they're allowed to. There's no room for it.
MARTÍNEZ: Well, if Serena Williams wants to make a comeback...
DRAPER: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: ...I think tennis fans would love it.
DRAPER: There you go.
MARTÍNEZ: Simon Draper is the series director of "Gods Of Tennis," airing on PBS. Simon, thanks.
DRAPER: No problem.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
300x250 Ad
300x250 Ad