The Last Sure Thing: The Life and Times of Bobby Riggs

by Tom Lecompte

He lived by his own rules, and more often than not he broke them. Bobby Riggs was the original bad boy of tennis. Forever remembered as the motormouthed antagonist of Billie Jean King in the famous "Battle of the Sexes," he had a nose for action and an insatiable appetite for competition. The Last Sure Thing is the story of a hardscrabble kid in a highbrow, "sissy" game; the son of a fundamentalist minister who was a compulsive gambler; a self-proclaimed male chauvinist whose only mentors in the game were women; a short, wispy-haired fellow with a squeaky voice, a bad haircut, and horned-rimmed glasses who became, somehow, a sex symbol. Riggs’ life reads like a history of the modern game. He played and beat legends such as Bill Tilden and Don Budge; rose up the amateur ranks to Wimbledon and world champion; barnstormed on the early pro tours; and then, by sheer force of his personality, became the center of the biggest spectacle in tennis history, a match that transcended sports to become one of the iconic events of its generation.

471 pages, Hardcover

First published April 13, 2003

Reviews

[Richard Stowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining story of a time in tennis history I had very little knowledge of. Having always known only the side of Riggs portrayed in connection to the infamous " Battle of Sexes" against Billy Jean, it was an interesting perspective.