Continue Reading
This is a preview of the article. The full content is available to TennisPlayer.net members only.
A blizzard couldn’t keep 15,000 fans from the inaugural tour match.
After his loss to Bobby Riggs on opening night of their 1947 tour in front of 15,000 fans in blizzard conditions in New York (Click here), Jack Kramer admitted he had been nervous.
He said also that he had trouble adjusting to the indoor conditions and the canvas court. “But that’s no alibi,” Kramer said. “I got jittery and missed the easy ones.”
The next day, flush with victory and $20,000 in collected bets, Bobby demanded a meeting with Kramer and the promoter Jack Harris. As they sat on a train bound for Pittsburgh, the second stop on the tour, Bobby announced he wanted to renegotiate his contract.
Riggs and promoter Jack Harris renegotiated on a train ride after the first match.
The original deal signed by the two players called for Kramer to get 35 percent of the net profits and Bobby to get 17 and a half percent. Logic and fairness might dictate that Bobby, the reigning champion, receive more than the challenger, but tour economics dictated that the challenger get the big money because the amateurs retained all the power and publicity in tennis.
Bobby understood…
