Off with the Shackles

The American twist wins a lot of tennis matches-- but a British twist finally won the big one. A twist of the arm that is. Faced with Britain's decision to ermit professionals as well as amateurs to compete at Wimbledon this year, representatives of the 65-nation International Lawn Tennis Federation met in Paris and voted "unanimously" (two unidentified nations abstained) to sanction open tennis on a worldwide basis thus granting the pros first-class citizenship at last and freeing the sport from the shackles of "shamateurism."

Reaction was swift and encouraging. Australia, France and the U.S. all began planning last week for open tournaments of their own; in Forest HilHills, N.Y., the governors of the West Side Tennis Club, long a shrine of amateurism and site of the U.S. National grass court championships, voted to convert the Nationals into a U.S. Open and ante up prize money for the pros. With a whole series of open tourna ments in prospect, there was talk of such old pros as Lew Hoad, Frank Sedgman and Althea Gibson coming out of retirement. And the thought of making an honest living from their sport --as golfers do -- seemed pretty good to the younger amateurs too.

In California, Australia's Roy Emerson and the U.S.'s Billie Jean King the No. 1 -ranked male and female amateurs in the world, both signed pro contracts, along with three other ranking women: Britain's Ann Haydon Jones, France's Francoise Durr and the J.S.'s Rosemary Casals. "This does a great deal to clear my conscience," said Billie Jean. "I'll admit I made my living as an amateur--but it wasn't close to what I can make as a pro."

The vote for open tennis most immediately benefits the pros, who had been relegated to barnstorming tours and gimmicks--colored uniforms, pingpong scoring--in their efforts to' make buck. It may hurt some amateurs who are not quite good enough to compete successfully as pros and can no longer expect a free ride from tournament promoters. But it will also attract new talent to the game. "There will be a lot more interest in tennis now," said Bilhe Jean King. "It will be a strong motivation to young athletes to take up the sport."

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