Bill Tilden

William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953) was born to a wealthy family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Often known as "Big Bill," Tilden was an American tennis player who was the World No. 1 player a record ten times (1920-1929).

Among his numerous achievements were ten Grand Slam singles titles and seven Davis Cup victories before he turned professional. He was among the most famous American athletes of his generation, and won fans with his penchant for drama and with his wide array of shots.

Lavish spending and aspirations as both writer and actor were among his activities off the court, but it was his convictions on charges of sexual molestation that tarnished his image in later years.

Still, his outright dominance of his sport could not be ignored, and he was voted in 1950 by the Associated Press as the best tennis player of the first half of the 20th century.

Early life

Tilden was born to his parents Selina Hey and William T. Tilden, Sr. Before his birth, his parents were beset early by tragedy—diptheria had brought about the deaths of three of his siblings in 1884, all in the span of three weeks. Bill Tilden lived a sheltered life as a child, and was tutored at home until junior high school. His father built a prominent profile in business and politics and was ever-distant from his young son. His mother, in turn, succumbed to poor health, first contracting Bright's disease and then dying of a stroke when he was 15, leaving him devastated by grief. Even though his father was still alive and maintained a large house staffed with servants, he was sent a few houses away to live with a maiden aunt. He would call this place his home for 33 years. He found success in tennis at a young age, though he did not make the tennis team at the University of Pennsylvania in his first try.

Tennis career

As an amateur

Unique among tennis players, Tilden became a great player only at the relatively advanced age of 27, first finding recognition as the losing finalist at the U.S. Nationals the previous two years, in 1917 and 1918. He made considerable strides after the winter of 1919-20, when he moved to Rhode Island, and where, on an indoor court, he devoted himself to retooling his relatively ineffective backhand. He emerged with a new grip and a powerful new backhand in the summer of 1920, and for the rest of the decade he dominated world tennis.

In spite of his powerful serve, Tilden preferred to play mostly from the backcourt, where he dazzled opponents with his ever-changing tactics: a mixture of guile, of chopped and sliced shots, of dropshots and lobs, and of sudden powerful groundstrokes deep to the corners. He hit superbly angled shots on nearly impossible returns and liked nothing better than to face an opponent who threw powerful serves and ground strokes at him and then rushed the net—one way or another Tilden would find a way to hit the ball past him.

In addition to his seven U.S. National singles titles, he captured three Wimbledon titles. He also brought the U.S. Davis Cup team to seven consecutive wins from 1920-1926.

His lasting dominance was attributed to relatively consistent good health. Floating cartilage in his knee hindered him seriously from time to time. But it was during the mid-1920s that an infection from a cut on his right hand's middle finger put his playing career in doubt. Amputating his finger and even his entire hand was considered, but luckily only the tip of Tilden's middle finger was removed, leaving a short stump. After some adjustments to his technique, Tilden was able to continue his winning ways.

In the late 1920s the great French players known as the "Four Musketeers" finally wrested the Davis Cup away from Tilden and the United States, as well as his domination of the singles titles at Wimbledon and Forest Hills. Tilden had long been at odds with the rigid amateur directors of the United States Lawn Tennis Association about his income derived from newspaper articles he wrote about tennis. His last grand slam victory was in 1930, when at age 37, he was Wimbledon's oldest gentlemen's singles champion.

Over the course of his amateur career, from 1912-1930, Tilden boasted a tremendous 93.6 percent winning average.

As a professional

In 1931, in need of money, he turned professional and joined the young pro tour, which had begun only in 1927, alongside Vincent Richards, Hans Nusslein and Roman Najuch of Germany and Karel Kozeluh of Czechoslovakia. He played his first match as a professional against Kozeluh at Madison Square Garden in front of 13,500 people. He went on to win the debut tour against the Czech, 63 matches to 13.

As the marquee name on the young tour, Tilden set the path for other similarly popular players to turn professional. Still, even with greats such as Ellsworth Vines, Fred Perry, and Don Budge as his opponents—all of whom were current or recent World No. 1 players—it was often Tilden who ensured the box-office receipts. In 1934, he won nine of his first 20 matches against Vines. And in 1941, at 48 years old, he toured the United States playing head-to-head matches with Don Budge, who at that time was incontestably the greatest player in the world. Even at his advanced age, Tilden was able to play competitively against these younger players, for at least the first set, if not the whole match. In 1945, at age 52, Tilden and his long-time doubles partner Vinnie Richards won the professional doubles championship; they had won the United States amateur title 27 years earlier in 1918.

Controversy

Tilden was a closeted homosexual, but in later years his sexual orientation was given much attention. Tilden was first arrested on Nov. 23, 1946 and was charged with a misdemeanor—contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was sentenced to a year in prison and served seven and a half months.

He was arrested again on Jan. 28, 1949 for a similar offense and was sentenced to a year for violating his probation. He served ten months in prison.

After his second incarceration Tilden was increasingly shunned by the tennis world. He was unable to give lessons at most clubs and even on public courts he had fewer clients. At one point he was invited to play at a prestigious professional tournament being held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, but at the last moment he was told that he could not participate because of the negative publicity that it caused.

Legacy

The outstanding tennis player of the 1920s and 1930s, and perhaps the single most influential person in the history of tennis, Tilden brought a refreshing and revolutionary mind to the sport. Tilden may have spent more time analyzing the game of tennis than anyone before or since. He wrote many books about tennis strategy, including Match Play and the Spin of the Ball, which is still in print and is the definitive work on the subject.

He was tall and lean, with long arms, enormous hands, and a devastating serve. Although he had the ability to serve aces almost at will, he had little interest in advancing to the net behind his serve. Instead he relied on spin and slice serves, reserving his famous cannonball for crucial moments in the match. Uninterested in outright domination in matches, he sought to create art, relying on his mastery of strategy and tactics, and adapting himself to his opponent's style and turning his strengths against him. He recognized the game's entertainment value and was known to deliberately lose the opening sets of a match in order to prolong the battle and to make it more interesting for both himself and the spectators, though Tilden would never admit this. Ever the showman, when serving for the match against lesser opposition, he was often seen holding up four balls in his massive hand and proceeding to serve four aces, one with each ball. In spite of his occasional overly colorful behavior he was a devout believer in sportsmanship at all costs and above all other aspects of the game, including the final score; he would readily cede points to his opponent if he thought the umpire had miscalled a shot in Tilden's favor.

His affinity for theatrics was also manifested off the court, as he wrote many unsuccessful short stories and novels about misunderstood but sportsman-like tennis players, and dreamed of being a star on Broadway and in Hollywood. Much of his off-the-court time — as well as his money — was devoted to these pursuits, with failure the inevitable result.

Although Tilden had been born into wealth, and earned large sums of money during his long career, particularly in his early years on the pro tour, he spent it lavishly. Much of his income went towards financing Broadway shows that he wrote, produced, and starred in.

In the United States' sports-mad decade of the Roaring Twenties Tilden was one of the five dominant figures of the "Golden Era of Sport," along with Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Bobby Jones, and Jack Dempsey, but his subsequent arrests and convictions on charges of soliciting underage males cast a shadow over his illustrious career. The last part of his life was spent quietly and away from his family, occasionally participating in celebrity tennis matches. He died, with very little money, on June 5, 1953, in Los Angeles, California. He was preparing to leave for the United States Professional Championship tournament in Cleveland, Ohio, when he fell dead of coronary thrombosis, at age 60.

Tilden was posthumously inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1959.

Grand Slam record

• French Championships
  • Singles finalist: 1927, 1930
  • Mixed champion: 1930

• Wimbledon Championships
  • Singles champion: 1920, 1921, 1930
  • Doubles champion: 1927

• U.S. Championships
  • Singles champion: 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929
  • Singles finalist: 1918, 1919, 1927
  • Doubles champion: 1918, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1927
  • Doubles finalist: 1919, 1926
  • Mixed champion: 1913, 1914, 1922, 1923
  • Mixed finalist: 1916, 1917, 1919, 1921, 1924

Professional Tennis Championships highlights

• Wembley, England
  • Finalist, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938

• United States Professional Championship
  • Singles, 1931, 1935

• French Professional Championship
  • Singles, 1934

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• DeFord, Frank. Big Bill Tilden, The Triumphs and the Tragedy. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1976. ISBN 0-671-22254-6
• Tilden, William Tatem. My Story: A Champion's Memoirs. Classic Textbooks, 1948. ISBN 140478652X.
• Tilden, William Tatem. Match Play and Spin of the Ball. Kennikat Press, 1969. ISBN 0804617716.

External links

• "William Tatem Tilden", International Tennis Hall of Fame, Retrieved July 16, 2007.
• Schwartz, Larry, ESPN.com, 2007; "Tilden Won With Style", ESPN.com, Retrieved July 16, 2007.

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