National Tennis League
Encyclopedia
There are "National Tennis Leagues" in many countries but this article is about the US National Tennis League.
1. Rod Laver 30 weeks $123,405
2. Roy Emerson 30 weeks $62,655
3. Ken Rosewall 20 weeks $46,800
4. Pancho Gonzales 22 weeks $46,320
5. Fred Stolle 28 weeks $43,115
6. Andres Gimeno 21 weeks $35,115
From BP Year Book of World Tennis 1970; compiled by Lance Tingay; edited by John Barrett
; p. 134
History
The National Tennis League (NTL) was formed by George McCall in 1967, as a governing body to a US Professional tennis tour. It was key in moving tennis from a mostly amateur sport to a professional sport.- Proposals for Open Tennis were always defeated by conservative elements within the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF—later the ITF). In 1967, however, two new professional groups were formed: the National Tennis League (NTL), founded by former U.S. Davis Cup captain George McCall, and World Championship Tennis (WCT), co-founded by New Orleans Sports Promotor, David Dixon, and Lamar HuntLamar HuntLamar Hunt was an American sportsman and promoter of American football, soccer, basketball, and ice hockey in the United States and an inductee into three sports' halls of fame. He was one of the founders of the American Football League and Major League Soccer , as well as MLS predecessor the...
. - Billie Jean KingBillie Jean KingBillie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
has had a career of firsts. In 1968, she was the first woman of the Open EraOpen eraOpen era or Open Era may refer to:* Open Era , the period since 1968 where professionals can compete in Grand Slams* Glasnost era, the increased openness in the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s...
to sign a pro contract to tour in a female tournament group with Rosie Casals, Françoise DurrFrançoise DurrFrançoise Durr is a retired tennis player from France. She won 26 major singles titles and over 60 doubles titles....
and Ann Haydon Jones as the women's auxiliary of the National Tennis League. It also included six men Rod LaverRod LaverRodney George "Rod" Laver MBE is an Australian former tennis player who holds the record for titles won in career, and was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970...
, Ken RosewallKen RosewallKenneth Robert Rosewall AM MBE is a former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player from Australia. He won 23 Majors including eight Grand Slam singles titles and before the Open Era a record fifteen Pro Slam titles . Rosewall won 9 slams in doubles with a career double grand slam...
, Pancho GonzalesPancho GonzalesRicardo Alonso González , generally known as Richard "Pancho" Gonzales was an American tennis player. He was the world no. 1 professional tennis player for an unequalled eight years in the 1950s and early 1960s...
, Andres GimenoAndrés GimenoAndrés Gimeno Tolaguera is a retired Spanish tennis player. He major achievement came in 1972, when he won the French Open....
, Fred StolleFred StolleFrederick "Fred" Sydney Stolle is an Australian tennis player. He was born in Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. He is the father of former Australian Davis Cup player Sandon Stolle....
and Roy EmersonRoy EmersonRoy Stanley Emerson is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles. He is the only male player to have won singles and doubles titles at all four Grand Slam tournaments. His 28 Grand Slam titles are an all-time record for a male...
. - George McCall served as U.S. Davis Cup Captain from 1965 to 1967, when he had Arthur AsheArthur AsheArthur Robert Ashe, Jr. was a professional tennis player, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States...
, Dennis RalstonDennis RalstonRichard Dennis Ralston is an American former professional tennis player. He attended the University of Southern California and won NCAA championships under their legendary coach, George Toley. He was coached in his earlier years by the legendary tennis player, Pancho Gonzales...
and Marty RiessenMarty RiessenMarty Riessen played amateur and professional tennis in the 1960s and 1970s. He was ranked as high as No. 11 in the world in singles on the ATP Rankings...
on his squad. During that time, MacCall organized a professional tennis circuit, the National Tennis League. Tennis still largely comprised amateurs at the time, but MacCall convinced some of tennis' biggest names, including Ashe, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and Stan Smith, to take part in his pro circuit, despite the fear that they could be shut out of Wimbledon, which at that point was an amateur event. The players were able to play Wimbledon while keeping their prize money. It launched a new era in tennis. - Nevertheless, except for the 1969 and 1971 tournaments, many of the best players missed this championship until 1982, because of the remoteness, the inconvenient dates (around Christmas and New Year's Day), and the low prize money — in 1970 the National Tennis League (NTL), which employed Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Andres Gimeno, Pancho Gonzales, Roy Emerson and Fred Stolle, prevented its players from entering the tournament because the guarantees were insufficient, and the tournament was ultimately won by Arthur Ashe.
- By 1967, most consummate professionals were contracted to either the National Tennis League (NTL) run by George McCall or WCTWorld Championship TennisWorld Championship Tennis was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1968 and lasted until the emergence of the ATP Tour in 1990...
, Dave Dixon's and Lamar Hunt's baby. This caused problems in its own right, the promoters could effectively hold the tennis world to ransom by deciding whether their charges would play at a tournament or not, depending on the amount of money up for grabs. - Both professional bodies, the NTL and WCT, banned their contracted players from contesting the grand slams at some stage during their short tenure and this made the International Lawn Tennis Federation, the predecessor of the current ITF, very nervous.
- That was the catalyst that led to the abandonment of the distinction between amateur and professional tennis players and by 1968, the beginning of the Open Era, all tennis players could compete in all tennis tournaments!
- George McCall sold the NTL to Lamar Hunt. He then became the first Commissioner of World Team TennisWorld Team TennisWorld TeamTennis is a coed professional tennis league played with a unique team format in the United States. Each match consists of five sets. Each set features a different configuration . Coaches, before the match, decide the order in which the sets will be played...
. Some of the players he signed to contracts were: Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson, Pancho Gonzalez, Fred Stolle, Billie Jean King, Rosie Casals and many more. He traveled the world to sign players. Many tournaments had to get their players through George. - What happened in 1968 was in many ways nothing more than the culmination of the sins of previous years, starting in 1930 with Bill TildenBill TildenWilliam Tatem Tilden II , nicknamed "Big Bill," is often considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. An American tennis player who was the World No. 1 player for seven years, he won 14 Majors including ten Grand Slams and four Pro Slams. Bill Tilden dominated the world of...
, and was the result of the chaotic state in which world tennis found itself as it makes the awkward transition from an amateur sport to professional entertainment. The two touring professional groups, Lamar Hunt's World Championship Tennis and Tennis Champions, Inc. (formerly the National Tennis League), run by George MacCall want nothing to do with the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association, which presumes to run the game in this country. The USLTA is governed by committee, and is factionalized and fractionalized, mainly into anti-professional and pro-professional groups. The Association cries out for leadership, but when strong personalities do emerge, such as Presidents Bob Kelleher and Alastair MartinAlastair MartinAlastair Bradley Martin was a U.S. National Championships title winner, Tennis Hall of Fame inductee, and president of the United States Lawn Tennis Association...
, they are all too often reduced to ineffective power brokers for the 42-man Executive Committee. - "On April 1, 1968, we signed with the National Tennis League, as George MacCall's troupe was called. Frankie (Durr) and Rosie (Casals) received a guarantee of $20,000 per annum for two years, mine (Ann Haydon Jones) was $25,000 and Billie Jean King's was $40,000. George envisaged us playing a lot of matches and tournaments amongst ourselves and did not expect us to be as much involved in open tennis as later proved to be the case....We joined the six men that he already controlled - Emerson, Laver, Gimeno, Gonzales, Rosewall and Stolle. A group of ten was an attractive proposition to offer and he believed he was going to do very well from it. His main problem was one of administration. He had to keep flying all over the world to tie up arrangements with the various associations but didn't leave sufficient time to organize his professional tours in America, the most important part of the operation, and didn't seem to be able of willing to delegate."--From A Game to Love by Ann Jones. Published 1971 by Stanley Paul & Co Ltd; p. 135 and 136
- "Our contract was to play for 10 months of the year, but out of that we had one further month off, on location so to speak... In the end we played for about eight months".--From A Game to Love by Ann Jones. Published 1971 by Stanley Paul & Co Ltd; p. 144
- 1969 NTL Earnings
1. Rod Laver 30 weeks $123,405
2. Roy Emerson 30 weeks $62,655
3. Ken Rosewall 20 weeks $46,800
4. Pancho Gonzales 22 weeks $46,320
5. Fred Stolle 28 weeks $43,115
6. Andres Gimeno 21 weeks $35,115
From BP Year Book of World Tennis 1970; compiled by Lance Tingay; edited by John Barrett
John Barrett
John Barrett is the name of:* John Barrett , Irish track and field athlete who represented Great Britain at the 1908 Summer Olympics* John Barrett , Australian Senator...
; p. 134
See also
- Grand Prix tennis tournamentsGrand Prix tennis tournamentsThe Grand Prix tennis circuit was a professional tennis tour for male players that existed from 1970 to 1989. It was the more prominent of two predecessors to the current tour for male players, the ATP Tour, the other being World Championship Tennis ....
- USTA
- International Tennis FederationInternational Tennis FederationThe International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...