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Let's get your thoughts on Peter Underwood's article, "The Forgotten Era of Tennis: Bill Tilden Part 3"
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So I emailed Peter. Stotty and any others could you post questions for him in this thread? -
Peter,
When I was a young teaching pro in San Francisco in the late 70s, Alice Marble visited and I got to play doubles with her. Afterwords she volunteered that she thought Tilden was the greatest of all time. When she was on tour with Tilden and Budge, Tilden was like 50. Budge won the tour easily but on several occasions Tilden came to her before the match and told her something like "Tonight I will teach the young man a lesson." And on all those occasions Tilden won.
Thoughts?
John YandellComment
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Hello Peter,
I have a collection of old tennis books that date back to the 1880’s. However, my prized collectible is a book by Tilden written in 1928. The book is entitled Lawn Tennis for Match Players. The interesting aspect of this little book is that it is signed by Tilden. There is also a few words written in Tilden’s hand, it reads “To my grand little pal, Jimmie, With my love, Bill, William T. Tilden 2nd.” I purchased the book in the late 70’s at a small book store in Hollywood. I know Tilden spent his last days teaching tennis in the Hollywood area. I was able to show the signature to Dick Skeen who knew Tilden, and he said the signature was authentic. Skeen was an outstanding coach and player who Tilden mentions in his book, How to Play Better Tennis. Anyway, the books written by Tilden are very interesting because they are not ghost written. Tilden considered himself a writer, and he wrote many books both non-fiction and fiction. I would like to thank you for these wonderful articles on this great champion and tragic figure.
Sincerely,
Norman Ashbrooke
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Hello John,
I found your comment about Tilden very interesting. According to Dick Skeen, who played Tilden on many occasions, Tilden was a better player at 50 than when he won all those Grand Slam titles between the ages of 27 and 37. This seems to defy common sense, however Skeen maintained that the game of tennis had evolved so much between the early 1920’s and late 1930’s that Tilden just kept improving along with the overall game itself. Even though he was older he kept improving by playing younger players who were advancing the level of the game. I remember watching a video of Agassi at 19 playing Wilander then watching Agassi at 35 playing Federer. It was obvious that Agassi was playing at a much higher level at 35 than in his youth. I hope Peter will respond to our comments. Thank you for publishing these great articles.
Sincerely,
Norman Ashbrooke
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A great series of articles which I have throughly enjoyed.
I think it was in the book Match Play and the Spin of the Ball where Tilden described the 'heavy ball' light years before it was realised later. I always find that amazing. I don't think anyone studied or thought about the game more than Bill Tilden. I think his isolation played a roll in being able to think more deeply about the game than those before him.
What do we know about Tilden's incarceration? How did he cope with prison life and are there any eyewitness accounts by fellow inmates? As a sex offender back then, would he not have been treated badly or even been abused himself?StottyComment
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Well no word from Peter, but I did find this that gives the particulars of his trials and incarcerations:
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Shame Peter didn't show up. Thanks for the link. I will do my own investigations and report back. Do you remember the TV series called Columbo? I can be a bit like that. When I want to get to the bottom of something, I usually manage it. Let's see. It might take me a good few months but I will find and read everything out there about Tilden.Originally posted by johnyandell View PostStottyComment
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OK! Peter may still show...Comment
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I find it interesting that people have a somewhat "morbid" curiosity about Bill Tilden's sex life. It seems pretty lame to me. Not that it makes a hill of beans to me but it seems to me that he never reached orgasm with another human being contributing to it. Knowingly. It would be fun if the curious were forced to reveal everything there was to know about there own sex lives...as if anyone would be interested in hearing it. Geoff William used to go into a "Tilden Derangement Syndrome" every time I brought Tilden up. He had some unfortunate experiences in some way, shape or form. He exited the forum in a huff as a result of one of the discussions on Tilden's sexuality. I had zero interest in anything sexual about Bill Tilden. The only thing that interested me was his tennis writings. Obviously his sex life was pretty pathetic and so is the interest that people find in it how many years down the line.Originally posted by johnyandell View Post
On the other hand I have a book called "The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People". If somebody was interested in the sexual fetishes of famous people and read this book they would surely see how lame the reputed sex life was of Bill Tilden's. I have never once in my life every had any sort of thought or curious inclinations wondering about anything related to Bill Tilden's sex life. I don't make any judgements either seeing as all of the information is probably skewed in some way. The only way to certifiably "know" would be from the horses's mouth and as everyone knows...dead men don't talk.
Bill Tilden is a subject in the book "The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People" by the way. But good luck all the same in the investigation. Hope that you find what you are looking for. Try not too get to dirty digging around in the muck.
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