Mayukh Ghosh

If there was Kerry Packer for cricket, then there was David Dixon for tennis. In fact, for a few other sports as well.

Dixon was successful in the plywood business before making history-making changes in American Football.
Then , towards the end of 1967, he decided to 'change' tennis forever.

He brought colour to the game, he brought sound to the game. He gave birth to World Championship Tennis (WCT).
Dixon picked talented players who were good-looking. There were eight of them . He called them 'The Handsome Eight'.

John Newcombe, Tony Roche, Roger Taylor, Nikki Pilic, Pierre Barthes, Butch Buccholz, Dennis Ralston and Cliff Drysdale.
100,000 dollars. 80 venues. One year.

The scoring was different. 31 up per set. If it was one set all, a nine-points sudden death. Wearing whites was strictly prohibited!

"At no point our umpires will demand silence", was Dixon's dictum. Revlon was one of the sponsors and then gave away 3000 bottles of perfume and after shaves to worthy people who could shout at the top of their voices.

It was played in extreme cold. The Guardian described it as ' Kansas City makes Wolverhampton look like Athens'.

On February 2 1968, Ralston defeated Barthes 31-27 31-29.
Then, later that night, John Newcombe made headlines by wearing brown trousers.
Between matches, there was entertainment in the form of performances by dance groups.

Dixon soon left the venture but it was his vision which helped tennis in its watershed year.
Two months later, the first open era tournament was held in Bournemouth.
And then, in May, a grand slam in Paris.

The likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal deserve the money they are earning from playing tennis. They should be grateful to this man from New Orleans, though.