Vying
for the Prize
Tennis competitions quickly attracted more
and more participants and spectators. By the
early 1900s, the game had become truly international
and the best players were traveling to tournaments
in other countries. The International Lawn
Tennis Federation (now the ITF after the word
lawn was dropped) was formed in 1912 with
13 member countries. The
first Davis Cup competition between a team
of Americans and a Team of British tennis
stars was played in 1900. The team competition
was the brainchild of a young American player,
Dwight Davis. The Americans won the first
two Davis Cups. (The second competition
was not played until 1902). Britain won
the next four. Today, more than 100 countries
vie for the Davis Cup. In 1923, Hazel Hotchkiss
Wightman began a similar competition for
women awarding the (can you guess?) Wightman
Cup to the champions.
In addition to the team
competition, tennis has four major tournaments
each year, called Grand Slam events. These
tournaments are Wimbledon, the Australian
Open, The French Open and the U.S. Open.
On rare occasions, a player will win all
four Grand Slam events in a single year.
Only five people have achieved this spectacular
feat. One of them, Rod Laver of Australia,
did it twice.
Men’s Grand Slam
Winners
1938 - Don Budge, United States
1962 - Rod Laver, Australia
1969 - Rod Laver, Australia
Women’s Grand Slam
Winners
1953 - Maureen Connolly, United States
1970 - Margaret Smith Court, Australia
1988 - Steffi Graf, West Germany
Graf’s Grand Slam
is known as a “Golden Slam”
because she also won the Olympic gold in
the same year.
Tennis and Olympics: An On-Again,
Off-Again Relationship
When the first modern Olympic games were
held in Athens, Greece in 1896, Tennis was
part of the athletic festival. John Boland
of Ireland won the first gold medal awarded
in Olympic tennis. He won a second gold
that same year for doubles. Women first
played Olympic tennis in 1900. “Chattie”
Cooper of Britain won the gold.
Top tennis players couldn’t
always make it to those early Olympic games
because of their tournament schedule. In
1912, the Olympics and Wimbledon were at
the same time and all of the best players
chose to compete at Wimbledon.
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This
drawing shows the tennis equipment
and portable case developed by Major
Walter Wingfield in 1874. Mary uterbridge
brought a set like this to the US
later that year. Notice the small
racquet heads.
(Click image to enlarge) |
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All Things Tennis at Amazon.com
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What does
the game clock have to do with how tennis
is scored? Click the image to find out!
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