{"id":3707,"date":"2016-05-17T15:24:48","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T15:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/?p=3707"},"modified":"2024-03-12T11:20:02","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T11:20:02","slug":"tennis-anyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/spring-2016\/tennis-anyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis, Anyone?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Social Game for the Ages<\/h4>\n

By David Chauner<\/p><\/p>\n

H<\/span>umphrey Bogart, lore has it, wearing a natty blue blazer with tennis racket under his arm, bounced on stage in a forgotten 1927 play and uttered the famous line, \u201cTennis, anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n

True or not, this ubiquitous clich\u00e9 arguably defined the early days of tennis as a social sport played on grass courts at the private estates and clubs of the well-heeled. The image of slicked back hair, white flannel pants and sweaters knotted jauntily over the shoulders was one of the first upscale fashion statements of the Roaring Twenties and beyond.<\/p>\n

Back and Forth Popularity<\/h4>\n

In fact a good case can be made that the back and forth popularity of tennis, perhaps more than any other sport, has mirrored the evolution of how society sees itself and plays and watches its games.<\/p>\n

The popularity of tennis spans the male dominated and genteel all-amateur philosophy of early 20th Century sport to today\u2019s nondiscriminatory era of sweat-soaked action athletics. Along the way tennis caught on in recreational popularity, spawning the development of community courts and tennis clubs where the price of entry was often as low as the cost of a wooden racket and a can of tennis balls.<\/p>\n

And believe it or not, the modern boom in tennis popularity can be traced to one seminal event that occurred in Houston, Texas on September 20, 1973. It was one of those rare moments in sport when the game itself became secondary to a message that resonates beyond athletics.<\/p>\n

\"Billy

Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs, “The Battle of the Sexes”. Photo: AP<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cBattle of Sexes\u201d Contest<\/h4>\n

In 1973 the great social debate of the day was the feminist movement, an often shrill argument that questioned male dominance in everything from the board room to the playing field. So Bobby Riggs, an aging tennis player and self-promoting impresario, loudly proclaimed that he, as a man, was still good enough to beat even the best female tennis player on any day, on any court. At the time, the world\u2019s top ranked player was Billie Jean King.<\/p>\n

Tennis, as a sport, became center stage for what was labeled the \u201cBattle of Sexes,\u201d the once-and-for-all contest to dispel the conventional wisdom that men were better than women in just about anything. Still the biggest ever audience for a tennis match in history\u201490 million worldwide TV viewers (50 million in the U.S.) and 30,472 ticket holders at Houston\u2019s Astrodome watched King beat Riggs and pocket the $100,000 winner-take-all prize.<\/p>\n

Not only was the \u201cBattle of the Sexes\u201d a grand slam for women\u2019s rights, it exposed tennis to a new mainstream audience. The sport exploded. Men\u2019s and women\u2019s tournaments were suddenly televised, Virginia Slims sponsored an all-women\u2019s pro circuit and prize money made players wealthy.<\/p>\n

Tennis Today<\/h3>\n

More rigorous than golf and more social than long-distance running, tennis now rides the wave of lifetime sports. As a recreational diversion or top-level competitive sport into one\u2019s 90s, tennis offers social, physical, and mental benefits from following the pro tennis circuit to improving one\u2019s game served up at your local club or at a host of specialty camps and posh resorts.<\/p>\n

Tennis is good for your health. The U.S. Tennis Association<\/a> (USTA) lists these reasons as some of the positive benefits:<\/p>\n