Gods of Tennis
Rebels, rockstars, revolutionaries. On court, they were legends. Off court, they challenged the world. Ashe, McEnroe, Borg, King, Navratilova, Evert - the golden age of tennis.
- 2023-2023
- 1 season
- Documentary, Sports
Rebels, rockstars, revolutionaries. On court, they were legends. Off court, they challenged the world. Ashe, McEnroe, Borg, King, Navratilova, Evert - the golden age of tennis.
Season 1 Episode Guide
3 Episodes 2023
Episode 1
Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe
Sun, Jun 4, 2023 51 mins
Both Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe were well aware of their place in the annals of tennis history, in each wanting to change the status quo where white men were the focus of the sport. They, however, came to their activism from different backgrounds, King from a suburban middle class, and Ashe from a poor and segregated southern upbringing: while King had always supported Ashe's plight, he was a little less complimentary in return in indeed seeing that tennis should support men over women, men, led by Ashe, even fighting for more for themselves. For the Open era (i.e. when Wimbledon became a professional tournament with prize money in 1968), King saw equality as meaning equal pay for men and women. King and Ashe's parallel stories for social change are told during the start of the Open era in 1968 to the twilight of their careers in the 1975 Wimbledon championships, highlighted by milestones that started to converge their respective fights for change.
Episode 2
Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe
Tue, Jul 30, 2024 52 mins
The tennis rivalry between Björn Borg and John McEnroe, regarded as two of the greatest players ever, is presented, mostly as it applies to Wimbledon. The careers of the two men had generally a similar arc with McEnroe's about a six or seven year lag after Borg's. What made the rivalry so compelling, beyond the greatness of their play with their first Wimbledon final in 1980 considered one of the greatest matches of all time, is the obvious differences between the two, especially in temperament. Often considered the sport's first superstar in fans clamoring for any piece of him, Borg, beyond being a sex symbol, was all about a steady demeanor in public, especially on the court where he never showed any real emotion until the end of a match, or more specifically tournament, more often joy in winning more often than losing at the peak of his career. Conversely, McEnroe was not averse to displaying especially negative emotion in striving for what he considered justice in what was and is an imperfect game in its calls. As such, he was considered brash, outspoken and belligerent, which led to he being the first player ever to be fined on Wimbledon's Centre Court for bad behavior and why tennis watching fans either loved him or hated him. Conversely, the control that Borg demonstrated arguably led to the end of his career in he having no outlet to let go of his emotions.
Episode 3
Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert
53 mins
Much like the men, the women's tennis game in the late 1970s and the 1980s, considered as the golden age of the game overall and the most watched of any women's sports in the world, was marked by the rivalry between two players, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who for twelve consecutive years were ranked interchangeably #1 and #2 in the world and who have an unprecedented eighty match record against each other. And much like the men, they were two opposite types: Chris was golden one in general loved by the tennis watching fans, while Martina was the brash, volatile one, largely seen as being unbecoming not only of a woman but especially by the Wimbledon crowd, the most conservative of any of the major tournaments. Extra strikes against Martina early in her career were that she was from the eastern bloc country of Czechoslovakia, that strike despite she having defected in 1975 to the United States in knowing that she could not thrive as a tennis player otherwise, and that she was outed as a lesbian in the early 1980s when homosexuality was still taboo in many circles. Much of what happened between them on the court was affected by what was happening individually in their personal lives off the court. The game and rivalry shifted when Martina was the first player, man or woman, not only to have an entourage, but that entourage which consisted of people who worked on different aspects of her game, most notably her athleticism. Always wanting to be accepted, Martina saw that ultimate acceptance as trying to become the winningest player in Wimbledon singles history in chasing her ninth singles victory, which became more and more elusive as other younger players came onto the scene mirroring her training regimen, as she grew into the twilight of her career due to age, and as she faced chronic injuries due to years of physically punishing tennis.