{"product_id":"9780252085888","title":"Tennis","description":"\u003cp\u003eAnalyzing how tennis turned pro The arrival of the Open era in 1968 was a watershed in the history of tennis--the year that marked its advent as a professionalized sport. Merging wide-angle history with individual stories of players and off-the-court figures, Greg Ruth charts tennis's evolution into the game we watch today. His vivid account moves from the cloistered world of nineteenth-century lawn tennis through the longtime amateur-professional divide and the battles over commercialization that raged from the 1920s until 1968. From there, Ruth details the post-1968 expansion of the game as it was transformed by bankable superstars, a popular women's tour, rival governing bodies, and sponsorship money. What emerges is a fascinating history of the economics and politics that made tennis a decisive, if unlikely, force in the creation of modern-day sports entertainment. Comprehensive and engaging, Tennis tells the interlocking stories of the figures and factors that birthed the professional game.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51185412047122,"sku":"9780252085888","price":47.57,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0508\/3093\/4173\/files\/9780252085888.jpg?v=1774735691","url":"https:\/\/bargainbooks.com.au\/products\/9780252085888","provider":"Bargain Books Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}