by Steven Blush
Feral House
11/24/2020, hardcover
SKU: 9781627310994
Bustin' Balls tells the strange but true story of World Team Tennis (1974-1978) that attempted to transform the prim and proper individual sport of tennis into a rowdy blue-collar league.
Billie Jean King and her partners merged feminism and civil rights with queer lifestyle, pop culture and a progressive political agenda to create a dazzling platform for the finest tennis players of the day to become overnight stars. Iconic trailblazer King infamously played a hyped 1973 Battle of the Sexes against Bobby Riggs proving definitively that women athletes were competitive equals and changed the sports landscape forever.
The vision of the World Tennis League with its mixed-sex teams and looser rules that encouraged fast and aggressive play, propelled tennis into a television fixture and the players into household names.
Evonne Goolagong, who fought racism throughout her life, was the first indigenous woman to win at Wimbledon and was a member of the Pittsburgh Triangles. She was America's introduction to a person of Aboriginal heritage. Chris Evert of the Los Angeles Strings became America's sweetheart. Billie Jean King played for the Philadelphia Freedoms at the height of Bicentennial fervor and was feted by Elton John in the song, "Philadelphia Freedom". And there's no forgetting the bad boys of the court! Tabloids followed the nightlife exploits and made pin-ups of Ilie Nastase, Jimmy Connors, and Vitas Gerulitis.
Relive the most fun tennis ever had in the photo-filled history, Bustin' Balls.
Full color.
About the Author:
Steven Blush has written five books about rock music: American Hardcore (2001), .45 Dangerous Minds (2005), American Hair Metal (2006), Lost Rockers (2015) and New York Rock (2016). His journalism has appeared in over 50 publications, such as Spin, Details, Interview, Village Voice, and The Times Of London, and for years was a contributing editor to Paper Magazine. He wrote and produced the theatrically released Sundance Film Festival-premiered doc film American Hardcore (Sony Pictures Classics, 2006).