BIG BILL TILDEN DOCUMENTARY SHORT

[@daniellamcgee4251]

This is NOT an example of homophobia. It is sickening that sexual assault of male minors has been passed off as homophobia. Just because he was an extraordinary tennis player doesn't mean he didn't rape under age boys, and yes, there is a problem with that. As with Kevin Spacey, who attempted to appeal to the public by bringing homosexuality into it. Fortunally most people knew better than to link his acts to being homosexual, and he didn't get away with it. Homosexuality has nothing to do with pedophilia! These men were sexual predators, not victims of stigma.

[@nordattack]

Agreed. I highly respect Tilden as one of the best and smartest tennis players of all time in the same way I respect and enjoy Michael Jackson's music. However, I separate the men from their art and pedophilia simply cannot be allowed or go unpunished.

[@RandallvanOosten-ln5wf]

The other comments have already brought proper perspective about Tilden. One comment theorizes that he may have been the best player up until 1969. I find that generous. Poncho Gonzales, Jack Kramer, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall and others would have probably beaten him. Yes, in his era he was pretty dominant. However, his legal "problems" were hardly homosexuality. He was a predator of boys. Additionally, he did crazy things that were essentially begging law enforcement to arrest him. Let's be honest, he was not a victim. The boys were victims.

[@joekavanagh7171]

Baron Gottfried Von Cramm was also gay

[@gregoryphillips3969]

Tilden was great no doubt but he could only be deemed the best until around 1950. Too many have come along since who would have been able to handle him. Plus tennis in Tilden's time was a very exclusive sport which at the highest levels wasn't going to allow all comers to participate. Whether it be tied to economic status, ethnicity or other considerations tennis in Tilden's time didn't provide a representative level of competition.

[@MrPernell27]

I’ve been a tennis player and coach for 40 years and love the history of the sport. But to start off by saying Bill Tilden is the greatest tennis player of all time is absolute horseshit! As far as him getting to the semi finals and winning the US championships so many times. It should be noted that only US players were allowed to play. So he wasn’t even beating the best players of the entire world. Bill Tilden is probably the greatest tennis player of all time up until 1969. But to think that he would be able to compete in today’s game is just silly. And to say that his legal problems were because he was gay? Why not mention that he was a pedophile and he was having sex with a boy that was 14. His legal issues were not that he was gay. And it wasn’t the 1st time he’d been caught with a young boy.

[@LazlosPlane]

Comparing eras is a pointless endeavor and you as a coach.... I"m surprised you don't know that. But "pre-1969"? Was he better than Pancho Gonzales is a more reasonable question, again, impossible. to say. Would he beat Ken Rosewall consistently? Who knows? Who cares? If he had grown up with Roger Federer and learned that style with THOSE rackets, no telling what havoc he would have wreaked.

[@tomcooper6108]

If Tilden is so great, how is it that nobody can name the people that he beat. This was the age of rich boys playing tennis. Everyone else was left out. He is not the GOAT.

[@LazlosPlane]

Next time please find someone who can read copy with some life to it? I nearly fell asleep.