Athletic type shoe for tennis and other court games

An athletic shoe for tennis or other court games comprising a foot-receiving upper, separately formed forefoot and rearfoot sole units, said upper having a flexible bottom underlying the wearer's foot and extending throughout the region underlying at least the wearer's midfoot and rearfoot to define a sliplasted upper construction in at least the wearer's midfoot and rearfoot regions, said sole units being spaced apart from each other and being connected together only through said upper, said forefoot sole unit underlying just the forefoot of the wearer, said rearfoot sole unit underlying just the wearer's rearfoot, said flexible bottom having a portion underlying the midfoot and extending between said sole units to form an unsoled, flexible coupling flexibly interconnecting said sole units to allow the wearer's forefoot and rearfoot to act independently of each other, said forefoot sole unit comprising a first midsole attached to said upper and a first outsole adhered to said first midsole, said rearfoot sole unit comprising a second midsole adhered to said flexible bottom and a second outsole adhered to said second midsole, each of said first and second midsoles being formed from a compressible, energy-absorbing, foamed polymeric material, said second midsole being horizontally divided into upper and lower layers, and means cooperating with said second midsole for enabling the thickness of said second midsole to be reduced without reducing the energy which said second midsole is capable of absorbing, said means comprising a heel plate forming a part of said rearfoot sole unit and underlying just the wearer's rearfoot, said plate being disposed between and adhered to opposing surfaces of said upper and lower layers, said plate extending throughout the interface between said upper and lower layers, said plate being sufficiently stiff to spread the wearer's heel load over said second midsole, but being flexible enough to deflect under the influence of said load to curved configuration, the thickness of said forefoot sole unit being at least substantially uniform in the region underlying the wearer's forefoot, the thickness of said rearfoot sole unit being at least substantially uniform in the region underlying the wearer's rearfoot, a forefoot board disposed in said upper above said forefoot sole unit and underlying a portion of the wearer's forefoot, said board overlapping and being adhered to a portion of said flexible bottom, said board being sufficiently stiff to keep the forefoot support surface in said upper flattened throughout the width of said upper, and thin cushioning means disposed in said upper and having an upwardly facing foot-engaging surface region, said cushioning means overlying said board and the portion of said flexible bottom lying rearwardly of said board, the thickness of said sole units, said board, said flexible bottom and said cushioning means being such that the wearer's forefoot and rearfoot are supported in at least approximately in a common plan which extends at least approximately parallel to the ground surface.