It has never been easy to stage a world-class tennis event in October. Players are tired, managing injuries, or simply ready for a break. Fans have lost interest after the climax of the US Open, and Americans would rather watch football. In 1973, the ballyhooed Battle of the Sexes sucked the promotional air out of any tennis match within a thousand miles of the Astrodome.
In Boca Raton, Florida, organizers still thought they could beat the odds. The Virginia Slims Championships was the precursor of today’s tour finals, a one-week event designed to bring together the best of the best. The 1973 edition would feature a record-setting prize pool of $110,000, and it kicked off with a pro-celebrity doubles exhibition featuring none other than Bobby Riggs.
But problems reared up before the tournament even began. Riggs was there, but his vanquisher Billie Jean King–the indefatigable stalwart of the Slims tour–wouldn’t be. King was miffed that the tour championships would be decided on a clay court, since most Slims matches were played on cement and indoor carpet. She also objected to the inclusion of Chris Evert, a guaranteed gate attraction (especially in Florida) who, earlier in 1973, had snubbed the Slims in favor of a weaker circuit sponsored by the national federation.
A less charitable interpretation: Billie Jean didn’t want to go all the way to Florida just to lose to Chrissie on clay.
The tournament could live without one star. But another blow fell on October 16th. Top seed Margaret Court was hospitalized with stomach pains and had to withdraw. Would fans show up just to watch Evert’s unimpeded march to the title?
One woman, at least, could make things interesting. The same day that Court pulled out, fourth-seeded veteran Nancy Gunter played what she called “nearly perfect tennis” to knock out Chris’s little sister Jeanne, 6-0, 6-2.
She wasn’t afraid of the big sister, either. “I enjoy playing the Everts,” she said. “It’s a fun kind of tennis. Win or lose, it’s enjoyable.”
There hadn’t been much losing to test that hypothesis. Gunter had been the premier American clay-courter for nearly a decade, and she wasn’t giving up her claim without a fight. She had faced Chris five times already–three times on dirt–and dropped only a single set.
Evert and Gunter sat on opposite sides of the draw. Especially after the veteran’s opening performance, it was hard to imagine anyone displacing either of them on the road to the final. It wasn’t quite what the promoters had hoped, and it would hardly settle any questions about the best player on the women’s circuit. But the championship match had the potential to deliver a barnburner between the two strongest baseliners in the game.
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This post is part of my series about the 1973 season, Battles, Boycotts, and Breakouts. Keep up with the project by checking the TennisAbstract.com front page, which shows an up-to-date Table of Contents after I post each installment.
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