A Sound Portrait of Wimbledon, A Half-Century Ago

Something different and pretty cool this time: 50 years ago at Wimbledon, the two singles champions were two of the biggest pioneers in tennis history: Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe. It was also the first of many Wimbledons covered by then-young Canadian tennis journalist Tom Tebbutt, and he made a radio documentary for the CBC of a remarkable breadth of voices from around the tournament, from the stars to the various margins.  Tom revisited and revamped the documentary this year for the 50th anniversary, and he generously shared it with us here at NCR to build up the hype and heritage around Wimbledon a half century later. It's a time capsule of tennis history, dusted off and showing some things you just wouldn't see (or hear) in the sport anymore, for better and worse. Thank you for listening! Our Patreon is back up and running to ensure NCR keeps going and stays ad-free, and we hope you can join in supporting NCR! And we especially thank our GOAT backers: Pam Shriver and J. O'D. And please check out Ben's new writing home, Bounces! And Tumaini's work at The Guardian!