1930's Sports | Tennis

After Tilden.

In the 1920s both Bill Tilden and the French tennis star Suzanne Lenglen were largely responsible for the upsurge in popularity of lawn tennis in America and Europe in the following decade. It became increasingly clear, also, in the 1930s that this resurgence of interest and the financial benefits (in the form of "expenses") that accompanied it made it more and more difficult to distinguish between pure amateurs and professional players, who were mainly supposed to be involved in coaching. There were many disputes and irregularities regarding the issue, and by 1939 three other American Wimbledon champions (Ellsworth Vines, Don Budge, and Bobby Riggs) followed Tilden's lead and turned pro after winning a big event—a trend that would be almost routine after the war.

Tennis for Everyone.

Tennis was still not a sport for the everyman in the 1930s. The Italian Championships, won first by Tilden,...