Tennis girl, the 70s picture that made tennis interesting
Tennis Girl is one of the most famous pictures in the sports photography: if you never saw it, you may be too young, or simply a liar. This Martin Elliott’s picture filled many walls from 1976, showing a girl from behind on a tennis court. She’s holding a tennis racket in her right hand and the left hand is lifting her short tennis dress, showing no underwear. The funny thing of this picture is that both photographer and model never had anything to do with tennis. And that Fiona Butler, the girl in the picture, did never use this fame — not revealing her role for 35 years — for a further career in modeling. The other funny thing is that if I am sharing this in my facebook page, i may risk the ban by Mark.
The story behind this picture is as simple as incredible: in September 1976, photographer Martin Elliott took a walk with Fiona, his 18-years old girlfriend of the time. They went to Birmingham University Tennis Courts (Edgbaston, England). Fiona was wearing his father’s shoes and a dress hand-maded by a friend. Tennis balls where Martin’s dog toys: they actually look chewed up but don’t worry, we all know it’s the last thing you’ll look at. The image was published by Athena in a calendar in 1977, same year that Uk tennis movement was hyped up by the victory of Virginia Wade at Wimbledon. In a second time, picture was sold as single poster, selling 2 Milion copies and becoming a must among teenagers’ bedrooms — and dreams — of the time. It’s now available in Amazon.
How come that such a simple picture became so famous? “It was just a picture of an ordinary girl and there’s something in that that appeals to people”, said Fiona, in one of her few public appareances. And that’s exactly the point: the one in the picture could be any girl, scenario is simple, she’s sensual. Guys are teased by the fantasy that such scene could appear for real and many women enjoy the idea of being feminine and sensual in such simple way. Don’t forget that the picture has a great technical quality too — according to lights and composition — but we all know you won’t look at it.
What about now? What happened to Martin and Fiona? If Martin Elliott died of cancer in 2010 at 63, the now Fiona Butler Walker is married and has three kids, working as freelance illustrator. She never accepted to pose again and she has never earned a single pound from royalties. She just appeared a few times in some charity events: “My children have told their friends that I was the girl in the poster, but most people don’t believe it. I’ve never gone out of my way to court attention, and have declined being photographed publicly since then, because I am quite a private person.”, said Fiona. For sure, after seeing this picture, you’ll never watch a Tennis match in the same way.
