For Women, A Golden Age

Molla Bjurstedt Mallory, eight times U.S. champion between 1915 and 1926, thought a woman should admit "that she is a woman and adopt a style of tennis play which will call for all the generalship and strength which she can claim--but not for more." Whole new ball game, Molla. No self-respecting Williams would let "but not for more" cross her lips, and muscled-up Jennifer will sweat blood on the court just as soon as rock-hard Andre. You can credit Martina Navratilova for this, what with the way she gave Chris Evert her get-thee-to-a-gym marching orders. Or you can credit Title IX, which for 29 years has said it's illegal to give boys more PT than girls.

Don't forget to credit Billie Jean King for what she said off court as much as what she did on. And don't leave out Gloria and Germaine and Susan B. (Don't Call Me Babe) Anthony, the murderers row of women's rights. This is deeper than tennis, deeper than sport. It's about opportunity and encouragement; it's about cultural attitudes--or, as we say in the sports pages, 'tudes. We would not be in the Golden Age of Women's Sports if we hadn't had a sea change in sociopolitical 'tude.

Let's stick to sports here. My point is that in America, we are arrived at not only the Golden Age of Women's Tennis--and it certainly is that, with more talent than even the Mallory-Helen Wills-Suzanne Lenglen era--but also the Golden Age of Women's Soccer, the G.A. of Women's Hoops, of Women's Hockey (ice, not field), of Women's Track, of Women's Rock Climbing, of Women's Everything, including Bobsled (which will rattle and roll in Salt Lake City next February). I'm not talking about Q ratings here; I'm talking about competition. It has never, ever been better. Never even been close.

Wills-Lenglen was a great rivalry, and King-Margaret Court was a great rivalry; but Lenglen sipped brandy during changeovers, and King admits she couldn't powder the ball the way today's women can. What Navratilova taught Evert says that no woman before Martina--the original Martina--hit the ball hard, really hard. And no one since has survived without hitting hard. Also: six of the Top 10 at Flushing Meadows have won Slams, and the injured Mary Pierce would have made seven. There is power; there is depth.

How little depth there used to be in women's sports is truly stunning. In the 1930s and '40s, Babe (Call Me Babe) Zaharias could traipse nonchalantly from being the greatest female track star to being the best female golfer. As recently as the late '50s, Althea Gibson, who won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open twice each with a racquet, also enjoyed a swell career with a driver. Today sprinter Marion Jones, who starred in college hoops at North Carolina, would love to moonlight in the WNBA but knows she can't. If she shifts focus for a nano, she's lost.

The team sports cited above--soccer, hockey, basketball--not only never had a golden age; they never had an age. There weren't enough girls playing hard as kids to do things like win medals and start leagues when they grew up. In the past five years, the U.S. has won world or Olympic titles in all three sports, and in softball too. There are now pro leagues in soccer and hoops. There are now academic scandals in women's college basketball, an ultimate confirmation of arrival.