Courts of Babylon: Tales of Greed and Glory in The Harsh New World of Professional Tennis

486 Pages·1995·20.68 MB·English

by  Peter Bodo

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THE
Courts
OF
Babylon
Tales of Greed and Glory
a Harsh New World
in
of Professional Tennis
bodo
peter
SCRIBNER
NEWYORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY TOKYO SINGAPORE
SCRIBNER
1230Avenue ofthe Americas
NewYork,NY 10020
Copyright © 1995 byPeterBodo
All rights reserved, includingthe rightofreproduction inwhole orinpart inanyform.
SCRIBNERand design are trademarks ofSimon & SchusterInc.
DESIGNEDBYERICH HOBBING
Manufacturedin the UnitedStates ofAmerica
13579 8642
10
LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bodo, Peter.
Thecourts ofBabylon : tales ofgreedand gloryin a harshnew
world ofprofessional tennis/ PeterBodo.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1.Tennis. 2.Tennis players. I.Title.
GV995.B6832 1995
—
796.342'64 dc20 95-14760
CIP
ISBN 0-684-81296-7
;
This book isforMarion Gengler
.
whose copious knowledge oftennis was the least ofit.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2015
in
https://archive.org/details/courtsofbabylontOObodo
Contents
Acknowledgments 9
Author’s Note 11
Introduction 15
PARTI
1. Australia: So Golden It’s Almost Freakish 29
A
2. Ivan Lendl: Spartan in Babylon 46
3. Privileges and Perks in the Global Tennis Community 65
4. The Gals of Babylon, Part One 81
5. Evonne Goolagong: The Nose of the Kangaroo 104
PART
11
6. France: OfJerry Lewis, Philippe Chartrier, and the
Alphabet Wars of the Open Era 121
7. Bjorn Borg: Hey-doo, and Little Else 150
8. Style: Pajama Tops, Pukka Shells, and Bad Hair Days
in Babylon 175
9. Chris Evert: The Cold and Absolute Fire 198
PART
111
10. Wimbledon: Bath Buns, Bad Bounces, and Why Nigel
Can’t Play 225
11. Race: The Hard Road to Tennis Glory 247
12. The Gals of Babylon, Part Two 272
13. Martina of Starwood 295