Reading the 20th Century discussion
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All In
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All In: An Autobiography by Billie Jean King (June 2022)
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Looking forward to this Judy.With the French Open starting this coming weekend, and with global politics entwined with tennis right now, this is a good time to read about a true legend.
I will start my read soon.
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Judy wrote: "I've just taken a peek at the first few pages, and it looks as if it will be a compelling read."I'm underway now and relishing a book that combines pure enjoyment (tennis) with big issues.
From the very start the reader knows that this is going to be properly thought provoking.
The epigraph is a quote from Ruth Bader Ginsberg
“Fight for the things you care about but do it in a way that will lead others to join you ”
I've reached the halfway mark now.I guess the book is broadly what I was expecting, having read a few tennis life stories... as told to.....
I think it does help if you have a) some interest in descriptions of individual tennis matches (which not a lot of people do), and b) some knowledge of the players who were at the forefront of the game in the 1960s and 1970s. Not too many of us around now, I fear.
What comes across strongly is the insersection of different challenges in which Billie-Jean found herself embroiled.
1. Taking tennis out of the old fashioned members only clubs
2. Same sex relationships
3. Gender equality
Its a heady brew and I am enjoying the account very much indeed.
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My book just came and haven't started yet.
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King mentions that she used to sleep with her copy of Gibson's memoir, Althea Gibson: I Always Wanted To Be Somebody, in her bed. More in hope than expectation, I just looked to see if the book was available, and saw it has been issued on Kindle in the last few months. I will hope to read it soon.
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As a teenager, just starting out I was struck by the comment of her coach, Frank Brennan, who said of B-J “you’ll be good, because you’re ugly”.
This is in the late 1950's. It couldnt happen now...
Then I recalled John Inverdale commentating on the BBC in 2013 and his comments about Wimbledon winner Marion Bartoli:
‘Do you think Bartoli’s dad told her when she was little “you’re never going to be a looker?”’
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I'm about 100 pages in now and getting more into the book now, although it does have a certain ghostwriter smoothness to it which means the writing doesn't have much personality.
Amazing to read that Billie Jean had to work as a cloakroom attendant to fund her way through college in between winning Wimbledon doubles titles and beating world number one Margaret Court in singles!
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I watched the (Emma Stone) Battle of The Sexes at the weekend on the back of reading the book.The film and the book are broadly similar in the telling and I wondered whether Billie Jean’s involvement in the (2017) film had facilitated her decision to produce the autobiography.
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You are right about the tobacco question, Judy.The only defence (and one that I have heard from multiple discussions - including with my mother) is that the health dangers from smoking were not known in the 1960’s.
I think the dangers of tobacco were well-known, at least in the US. There was a significant report by the US Surgeon General in 1964, which prompted my mother to quit smoking that year, but the tobacco companies manufactured scientific doubts for many years after that, in a "more research is needed" strategy that dated back to the 40'sPhilip Morris also had a long term strategy (which continues to this day) of "greenwashing" their brand by contributing to liberal causes and the Arts, not unlike the philanthropy of the Sacker family.
Back to tennis, I really enjoyed the stories of BJK's battles against the tennis establishment for prize money and recognition. What a lot of courage and energy she had, while managing to keep up the quality of her game.
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So I think the awareness was growing - also in the UK, where TV cigarette advertising was banned from 1965 onwards. The whole idea of the women's tour being sponsored by a cigarette being specifically marketed at women brought me up short, especially when Billie Jean talks about what a wonderful partnership it was!
I also really enjoyed the stories of her battles with the establishment, as you say, and it's good to see how much of a community the tennis world was, with the players often battling for one another away from the court. I do remember when the women's game didn't get all that much coverage, and I couldn't watch Virginia Wade's historic Wimbledon win on TV because the match was played on a Friday, when I was at school.
It's also interesting that Billie Jean had so many health problems - I felt it was brave of her to be open about her binge eating disorder, something which there isn't all that much awareness of. I had never realised this was quite widespread among athletes, as she discusses.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/202...
Dame Kelly talks here about all the problems of having to hide her sexuality while serving in the military.
Judy wrote: "it's good to see how much of a community the tennis world was, with the players often battling for one another away from the court. I do remember when the women's game didn't get all that much coverage, and I couldn't watch Virginia Wade's historic Wimbledon win on TV because the match was played on a Friday, when I was at school...."I agree with your post in general, Judy.
What I did pick up though, about the sisterhood in tennis was a certain amount of friction too.
After all, the original breakaway group was (only) eight, and the majority of players didn't rock the boat. Margaret Court was especially non committal, and it was said that having a husband "to provide" (the old school of thought) played a big part there. Also Virginia Wade (who you mention) was at best lukewarm about the renegades, and was quite different to Ann Jones in this respect.
Judy wrote: "After reading Billie Jean King's account of all her worries about coming out as gay, it was interesting to see this article about Dame Kelly Holmes today - she is now 52, about the same age as BJK ..."Isn't it amazing how little things seem to have changed in some respects. Not only Kelly Holmes, but also Rebel Wilson last week. I would have thought that it really wasn't/shouldn't be a big thing in 2022, and that it would be quite different from Billie Jean's era.
Ben wrote: "I think the dangers of tobacco were well-known, at least in the US. There was a significant report by the US Surgeon General in 1964, which prompted my mother to quit smoking that year, but the tob..."Prompted by your observation, Ben, I looked up tobacco/health, and the 'greenwashing' you refer to is spot on.
After a 1953 medical study the leading tobacco purveyors orchestrated a far-reaching plan to refute the accumulating evidence, using adverts, ‘white papers’, press releases and corporate schmoozing with popular science writers and journalists. Support for (industry-friendly) science was a vital part of this enterprise: cigarette manufacturers called for ‘more research’ to resolve a purported ‘controversy’, and set out to reassure the public that the companies were taking charge. That campaign was by and large a success, judging from the fact that per capita consumption rebounded from its dip in 1953. Cigarette consumption in the USA would in fact continue to grow throughout the 1960s and 1970s, peaking at about 630 billion sticks in 1982 before starting to decline.
This is so reminiscent of the Sackler scandal as described in Patrick Radden Keefe's Empire of Pain
Vis a vis Virginia Slims (Philip Morris), I was interested to see that prior to the cowboy campaign (In the United States, the Marlboro Man campaign was used from 1954 to 1999), Marlboro was considered a “women’s” cigarette. The debut slogan in 1924 was “Mild As May.” Early ads presented black-and-white sketches of listless flappers, slouched over an ashtray at a bistro table—or a sultry profile of a Gibson girl whose dark lipstick remained unblemished after a drag.
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Following our earlier discussion, I found an article online published in 1983 , when Virginia Slims/Philip Morris returned as sponsor of the women's tour after a few years with another sponsor - there were protests about this from anti-tobacco campaigners, but BJK is said here to have defended the sponsorship and argued smoking was a personal choice.
The risks were certainly well known by the 1980s so I find this a bit dismaying all round.
https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/0211/0...
I'm also currently reading One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858, and was interested to see a mention of an article published in 1878 warning over the diseases caused by tobacco- strange how anything you read connects with something else you have been reading!
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What I did pick up though, about the sisterhood in tennis was a certain amount of friction too...."
There definitely is some friction mentioned, I agree, and probably a lot more over the years that BJK chose not to mention, but it was good to see that there was a strong element of sisterhood and support alongside the rivalries and tensions.
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Susan, I’m not sure that anybody else is going to read this autobiography now? With Wimbledon starting today I thought it timely to offer some of my tennis (and other) observations from the book (which I thought was excellent):• Margaret Court is a permanent (albeit background) figure in the book. She still holds the Grand Slam record (Serena Williams surely cannot produce something truly incredible now?). What a difficult and decisive figure Court always was. Plus ca change. I thought Billie Jean was very considered in her comments about her: “her stance was regrettable”
• Roe vs Wade has been reversed in the last couple of days. Billie Jean fought for women’s rights and Roe vs Wade is cited numerous times in the book. Billie Jean’s own public discussion of abortion was incredibly brave and trail blazing.
• Larry King came across to me as an heroic figure. The relationship between him and Billie Jean, before, during and after their marriage is truly remarkable. Theirs is a story of close human relationships that develop and change as people sometimes change with age. A fantastic example of open mindedness, compromise and mutual respect. Larry is a wise man: “you can’t control what happens to you, but I think you can control how you react” (100).
• By contrast, luminaries of the men’s game in the 1960s and 1970s, including John Newcombe and Arthur Ashe didn’t want to know women and generally belittled all aspects of women in tennis.
• Billie Jean conveys the real difficulties around the intersection of different causes. She says: “the women’s movement was not friendly to gays” I hadn’t come across Betty Friedan “The Lavender Menace”; cited by Billie Jean.
• Again, the relevance of Billie Jean’s life in microcosm was evident and relevant in the ongoing discussion about trans gender, and particularly in sport where the debate rages in 2022. Renee Richards, (still a good friend), took legal action to play US Open in 1975 . Billie Jean got news “that a man was playing on the Virginia Slims tour”. Billie Jean discusses the complexities of trans gender involvement in sport including the acknowledgement that Martina Navratilova, a friend, signed a letter of opposition
What a life, what an influence.
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I wish I was more interested in tennis having read all of that
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I wish I was more interested in tennis having read all of that"
Me too! Though tennis is probably the only sport I might watch, I'd still rather be reading ;))
Nigeyb wrote: "I wish I was more interested in tennis having read all of that"RC "Though tennis is probably the only sport I might watch, I'd still rather be reading"
If only either/both of you had been taught by a good tennis coach it might be a different story.
(My opportunity to put on record that I qualified as a coach, and taught tennis, for three years in the '80s)
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“A good life”Hard graft , Nigel. Nose to the grindstone.
Hitting place mats on the practice courts; hour after hour.
Bed by 10pm.
“zero hand to eye co-ordination”RC it’s all in the mind. A renowned sports book on the subject is “The Inner Game of Tennis” (years before the inner chimp), by Timothy Gallway
A half decent coach could have addressed your physical requirements and hide any immediate weaknesses. The difference between winners and the rest of the field is psychological.
I have no doubt you could have been trained to be a contender.
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What an optimist you are, Jonathan ;)
Jonathan wrote: "“zero hand to eye co-ordination”RC it’s all in the mind. A renowned sports book on the subject is “The Inner Game of Tennis” (years before the inner chimp), by Timothy Gallway
A half decent coac..."
This book did help my golf game.
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On another tack, I've belatedly noticed there was an interview with BJK on the BBC the other day (Amol Rajan Interviews) - I will watch it on iPlayer soon.
Reading the 20th Century
Books mentioned in this topic
One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858 (other topics)Althea Gibson: I Always Wanted To Be Somebody (other topics)
All In: An Autobiography (other topics)
An inspiring and intimate self-portrait of the champion of equality that encompasses her brilliant tennis career, unwavering activism, and an ongoing commitment to fairness and social justice.
In this spirited account, Billie Jean King details her life's journey to find her true self. She recounts her groundbreaking tennis career -- six years as the top-ranked woman in the world, twenty Wimbledon championships, thirty-nine grand-slam titles, and her watershed defeat of Bobby Riggs in the famous "Battle of the Sexes." She poignantly recalls the cultural backdrop of those years and the profound impact on her worldview from the women's movement, the assassinations and anti-war protests of the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and, eventually, the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
She describes the myriad challenges she's hurdled -- entrenched sexism, an eating disorder, near financial ruin after being outed -- on her path to publicly and unequivocally acknowledging her sexual identity at the age of fifty-one. And she talks about how her life today remains one of indefatigable service. She offers insights and advice on leadership, business, activism, sports, politics, marriage equality, parenting, sexuality, and love. She shows how living honestly and openly has had a transformative effect on her relationships and happiness. Hers is the story of a pathbreaking feminist, a world-class athlete, and an indomitable spirit whose impact has transcended even her spectacular achievements in sports