Here’s some helpful information. if you get totally lost and disoriented in the jungle look for a tennis court. They are almost always laid out North to South.
Roger Federer has earned over one billion dollars from tournament and endorsements during his career. Last year was a Covid disaster, nevertheless, even fighting injuries Djokovic made 38 million, Nadal 27 million, Osaka 60.1 million and Williams 41.8 million. Not bad for what was not too long ago an amateur gentlemen’s game. One of the grand slam championships paid the male singles winner about $400. I can remember in my lifetime, amateur players getting money under the table, sometimes getting paid for nonexistent jobs and receiving travel expenses with which they had to support themselves. Of course, there were always some professionals.
I know that in 1926 Vincent Richards played professional tournaments and made a good bit of money but was precluded from playing in all the major tournaments which were for amateurs only. Professional tennis was really born in 1968.
I had played on my college freshman team in 1948 and the courts were manually lined with a rolling cart with an open bucket painting the white lime on to the ground. The lines weren’t always straight, and the lime paint turned to dust and often disappeared. I was a ball boy at the Open at Forest Hills that year. I believe that all the majors were played on grass and that the West Side Tennis Club was “restricted”. As a matter of fact, it was restricted, because I remember that as late as 1959 Ralph Bunche the U.N. Undersecretary and his son were denied membership because the club admittedly “excluded Jews and Negroes”. It made the New York newspapers. It forecast the end of discrimination in public sports.
Tennis appeared to have started in a monastery in southern France in the 1100’s and involved striking the ball with the palm of the hand and gradually became popular in England with the introduction in 1873, of an hourglass shaped court and the development of the racquet. It was called “The royal game” because of its popularity with the king. The Wimbledon Championship was created in 1877. The name “Grand Slam” was taken from the card game of bridge. It includes Wimbledon, The U.S. Open, The French Open and The Australian Open.
I can tell you that the tennis courts have been the scene for many an epic competition. It was at the tennis court that I met my first and biggest law client. How many love affairs that blossomed at the courts are uncountable… and the divorces? Then there was the contract murder at the North Miami Beach Tennis Courts, which surprisingly enough were known as “The Monastery Courts”, being located immediately next door to the oldest building in the United States, an imported ancient building going back to Spain in the 12th century. That is pretty close to completing the circle. ~ Lewis