The courts of Babylon

by Peter Bodo

A true insider's book, The Courts of Babylon is both a celebration and a stinging critique of tennis and the cult of celebrity that surrounds it. Beginning in the early 1970s, a new professional sensibility arose in tennis, one that ultimately transformed the game from a country club sport to a high-concept, multimillion-dollar industry. As a writer for Tennis magazine, Peter Bodo was there, chronicling the radical changes in sportsmanship, in the lifestyles of the players, and in the ethics of the sport. Here are the players - Lendl, Evert, Connors, Navratilova, McEnroe, Borg - who have shaped the game for the past generation, and here, too, are the rising stars - Capriati, Agassi, Sampras, Graf - who will lead tennis into the next century.