--- title: Tennis: Vintage Photos of Men, Women and Kids Smacking Bouncy Balls description: As the Australian Open kicks off, LIFE offers a series of photos celebrating the singular pleasure of smacking the fur out of a yellow ball. canonical: https://time.com/3878643/tennis-vintage-photos-from-life-magazine/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-01-10T11:30:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:47.793Z og:title: Tennis: Vintage Photos of Men, Women and Kids Smacking Bouncy Balls og:description: As the Australian Open kicks off, LIFE offers a series of photos celebrating the singular pleasure of smacking the fur out of a yellow ball. og:url: https://time.com/3878643/tennis-vintage-photos-from-life-magazine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ec55b98ee5ba335/69884758cd1bba57db6fa65e/01_05503508.jpg?branch=production&width=794&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 794 og:image:height: 447 og:image:alt: Tennis player Alice Marble jumping in 1939 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tennis: Vintage Photos of Men, Women and Kids Smacking Bouncy Balls twitter:description: As the Australian Open kicks off, LIFE offers a series of photos celebrating the singular pleasure of smacking the fur out of a yellow ball. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ec55b98ee5ba335/69884758cd1bba57db6fa65e/01_05503508.jpg?branch=production&width=794&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Old Back and Forth: LIFE Plays Tennis > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Jan 10, 2014 11:30 AM UTC  Alice Marble, the U.S. women's No. 1 in 1939. Alice Marble, the U.S. women's No. 1 in 1939. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Jan 10, 2014 11:30 AM UTC Big-time tennis appeals to all sorts of people for reasons as varied as the crowds that fill tennis stadiums in New York (rowdy), Paris (coolly critical) or [Wimbledon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FChampionships,%5FWimbledon) (politely appreciative). Some people enjoy the simplicity of the sport. Some enjoy the human, immediately graspable physical scale of the court itself, while others — accomplished amateur players, for example, who know how hard it is to stay mentally tough and physically strong during a long match — stand in awe of how jaw-droppingly good the professionals really are. Then there are those fans who thrill at the prospect of a singles final at center court — the tennis equivalent of a heavyweight title bout, but without all the split lips, swollen eyes, bloody noses and controversial, brawl-inducing decisions that boxing is heir to. The idea, after all, of two physically formidable combatants facing one another in an arena — surrounded by the immediate presence of several thousand riveted, vocal fans — has something almost primal about it: there will be a battle; the contestants are on their own; and at the end, there’s only one winner. And, of course, one loser. Tennis is after all, a pitiless sport. But pitiless or not, it’s also a sport that, every once in a while, is able to get people who ordinarily don’t pay any attention at all to the ATP or the WTA quite frantically worked up about tournament seeds, court conditions, ball boys and ball girls, line judges’ calls and Williams sisters’ outfits and, as the quarters and the semis and finals approach, about the matches and the players themselves. Here, as the Australian Open begins Down Under, LIFE.com offers a selection of photographs celebrating the sport: kids, adults, amateurs, professionals, men and women, all enjoying the singular pleasure of smacking the fur out of a yellow ball.  Alice Marble, the U.S. women's No. 1 in 1939. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A Vassar student waits to return a serve in 1937. Alfred Eisenstaedt—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Private tennis court, Westhampton New York, 1972. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Rita Hayworth models tennis fashions in 1940. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Tennis players near Pasadena, California, in 1950. Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Joan Crawford plays tennis in 1937 in California. Rex Hardy Jr.—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Bobby Riggs serves in 1938. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Tennis players, 1946. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Tennis veteran Florene Sutton shows the correct forehand motion to school children at a weekly clinic in 1950. Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Tennis player Yvon Petra in 1946. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  An aide hands Col. Fulgencio Batista, future president and dictator of Cuba, a tennis ball in 1938 Cuba. Thomas McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Champion Don McNeill's tennis form, 1940. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  National Tennis Championships at Forest Hills, New York, in 1954. 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