Three of the best phrases in the history of tennis correspond to someone who, although he has experience at the All England Club in Wimbledon and millions of fans, does not figure in any racquet sport statistics. “I have not invented the double fault; I’ve perfected it’, ‘It doesn’t matter if you win or lose a match, until you lose’ or, “It’s amazing what a kiss on the nose can deconcentrate your rival”, are three statements by Snoopy, the star character of the adventures tennis created by Charles Schulz for his famous Peanuts.
Tennis entered the lives of Charlie Brown and his friends in 1951, almost a year after Schulz’s first comic strip about the gang. A chubby Charlie Brown plays and discusses the rules with Shermy, a school friend and character who disappeared in the late 1960s. The strip ends with Charlie saying, “One point if you hit the ball, two if you go through it.” ”.
Born in Minneapolis in 1922, the son of a German barber and a waitress of Norwegian descent, Schulz was always connected to sports. He really liked baseball, but he didn’t have a place to practice it because the playground in his neighborhood was a complete disaster. Everything changed when in winter, taking advantage of the snowfall, his father built a small skating rink in front of his house. “He skated pretty well and we played ice hockey,” Schulz explained of those years.
Understandably, ice hockey and baseball were the star sports for the Peanuts. Tennis appeared occasionally, but it became more prominent in the 1970s for various reasons: Schulz’s new house had a tennis court. His wife, Jean, adored racket sports and her neighbor had 39 Grand Slam titles and was called Billie Jean King.
But there were two absolutely momentous things about the sporty Peanuts. First of all, in times that were not easy for women’s sports, all the girls created by Schulz played all kinds of sports, even if some of them were considered exclusive to men. Second, for Schulz, the competitive essence of the sport was secondary. In the Peanuts sports cartoons there were traces of philosophy, psychology and anthropology and, quite a lot of frustration with the world of adults. Somehow, Schulz brings out more spark in his characters in losses than in wins.
The first fully tennis-focused character was a girl: Molley Volley. She wore a red fisherman’s cap, a checkered dress, and she only cared about winning. Molley Volley became Snoopy’s doubles partner, and she was very clear about how to achieve success: “Do you know where champions are made? They are not made at Wimbledon or Forest Hills. They are made here, on these dirty, rutted, miserable courts where you are the linesman and scorekeeper,” he tells Snoopy. Anyone who has played tennis feels identified with those words.
Schulz defined Molley as “that tough girl who embodies the American belief that the only thing that matters is winning.” However, Snoopy, as expected, lived tennis from the world that he saw stretched out on the roof of his house. In one of the cartoons from 1976, when Snoopy and his sister Belle are preparing to travel to play the Wimbledon tournament, Snoopy believes that the All England Club is on the outskirts of Kansas.
There are also plenty of doses of current realities in Peanuts tennis. Snoopy and Molley’s regular adversaries were Benny ‘Bad Call’ and his sister Boobie ‘La Llorona’. Benny, in a clear example of the current bullying, calls Molley Fat Legs on several occasions. Benny is also extremely harsh with Snoopy, his on-court partner, whom he defines as “a Beagle with no second serve, who eats too many chocolate chip cookies during the game, because he doesn’t snack.” Boobie, for her part, has earned her nickname of ‘Llorona’ as a result of her continuous complaints that what happens to her is always unfair, except, obviously, when she wins a point.
In 1977, something momentous happens in Snoopy’s life. Billie Jean King invited Charles Schulze and his wife to the Wimbledon tournament and shows them every corner of the tournament. The special atmosphere of the Cathedral of Tennis, with so many traditions united in one setting, fascinated Schulz. But something opened her eyes wide. On the track, he encountered a real-life Peanut. This was none other than John McEnroe, who brought that cocktail of quality and frustration at all times.
Schulz explained that moment with absolute precision: “We were in the stands, and you could hear John McEnroe already arguing in his first game. You could see the talent but what I remember most is that two lovely British ladies were there to watch tennis and have a chat. When McEnroe began hostilities with him, one said to the other: What a pity, such a bright boy. He was a perfect Peanuts cartoon: agony, frustration, and humor.
It was not surprising that two years later, Schulz exalted Snoopy as a great world tennis star with ‘Snoopy’s Book of Tennis’. The famous Beagle appears in London accompanied by his friend Woodstock, the only bird capable of understanding him, and who contemplates his actions sitting in the referee’s chair. The book contains an introduction written by Billie Jean King. And of course, on the grass of the All England Club, Snoopy takes on the virtues of McEnroe.
Some of Snoopy’s lines are memorable, such as “It’s hard to serve when the grass tickles your feet” or “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to play center because I didn’t bring any balls” and “Today was a great day . I have eaten 12 glasses of strawberries and cream and I feel in love with Linky Boshoff. Boshoff was the winner of the 1976 US Open doubles event.
The acceptance of Snoopy the tennis player was so incredible that his racket merchandising skyrocketed in sales. After the book, the short film appeared, in which the tennis player’s frustration is such that Snoopy’s racket flies over and hits the court more than the ball. And also, for those who dare to challenge him, Snoopy also has his video game.
