In the roaring 1920s, Bill Tilden was as famous as Babe Ruth, statistically dominating tennis with a 93.6 percent amateur winning percentage and hanging out with Hollywood royalty. Decades later, his home club tore his portrait from the wall, revoked his membership, and tried to erase his name from the sport he helped build.

Forged by profound family tragedy that left him orphaned by 22, Tilden turned obsessive practice against a backboard into untouchable greatness, then kept professional tennis alive through the Depression. But convictions involving minors led to prison and a sweeping social excommunication, leaving a legacy of unparalleled genius fractured by dark human failure.

• The childhood grief and displacement that drove his solitary obsession with the game
• Rebuilding his backhand in isolation to become an unstopp ...