By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
The top American tennis player caused waves when he announced he was skipping the Olympic Games in Paris.
This was not Taylor Fritz, the top American men’s tennis player, for the 2024 Olympic Games at Roland Garros, but rather it was 100 years ago and Bill Tilden heading into the 1924 Olympic Games.
It was 100 years ago on March 11, when Tilden made his announcement, as detailed in my book “On This Day In Tennis History” (for sale as a paperback, electronic book or audio book here: https://a.co/d/5Thegg3
The book excerpt and the details can be found here:
March 11, 1924 – Bill Tilden announces that he will not represent the United States in the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. Tilden’s reasoning is that even if he wanted to play for the United States, the U.S. Olympic rule that forbids athletes from writing for newspapers prevents him from competing since he is contracted to write two articles per week. Writes the New York Times, “The tennis champion had never definitely announced that he would go abroad this year if picked for the Olympic team. Two months ago, Tilden said he did not think he would go because of the sharp competition expected in the national singles and in the Davis Cup matches. He said he regarded the Davis Cup competition more important than the Olympics and that he felt he could husband his strength for those matches in the event he is to be one of the contestants.” The USLTA also had enacted a similar rule for amateur tennis, but it is not scheduled to take effect until Jan. 1, 1925.
Read more about the history of tennis in the Olympic Games in my ebook “The Olympic Tennis Fact Book” here: https://a.co/d/dO6Cj7j
