Tennis - The Modern Era

From 1890-1900 Lawn Tennis spread throughout the world, largely due to the English presence on all continents. The term "Lawn Tennis" was gradually abandoned in favour of simply "Tennis" because of the variety of surfaces (Clay, Cement, Grass...).
While continuing its development in England (1885: indoor competitions, 1888: creation of the National Lawn Tennis Association), Lawn Tennis moves abroad (with English tourists) arriving on French territory in 1878. Le Havre, Dinard and Cannes are the first French clubs and by 1890, the Racing Club de Paris, the Stade Français and the sports club on the l’Ile de Puteaux start to build tennis courts. In the same year, the USFSA (the French Union of Athletic Sports Societies, the first sports federation), published the rules of Lawn Tennis following the English model. But the establishment of Lawn Tennis was accompanied by a virulent press campaign accusing, among others, the USFSA of importing English sports and demanding the ban of Lawn tennis in France. The state education system even becomes involved in supporting French games.

It takes the intervention of Pierre Coubertin (founder of the International Olympic Committee) to calm the situation. In June 1891, the first French Lawn Tennis championship was held on the Ile de Puteaux. Along with the growth of this tournament on the Ile de Puteaux and under the influence of British tourists, hotels, holiday camps and tourist agencies build tennis courts on their vacation sites, showing the increasing popularity of Tennis as a hobby.

Italy saw the birth its first club in 1878 in Bordighera, again because of the English tourists. In 1903, tennis courts are found in Barcelona, Spain. The club is affiliated to the English Lawn Tennis Association. In Germany, the first club appeared in Baden-Baden in 1881, and in 1887 there is also a English tennis club founded in Bad Hamburg. Norway set up its first tennis court in 1881 in Tullgarn. The Netherlands in 1882, Portugal in 1889, Belgium in 1890...

In the U.S., the first tennis club was founded in 1876 in New Orleans and only a few years later (1881) the American Tennis Federation is formed and the U.S. Open holds its first championships. Australian tennis was also expanding and in 1905 the Australian Open was born.

Tennis can now be found around the world. In Paris in 1912 the IFLT (International Federation of Lawn Tennis) is created. This later becomes the ITF (International Tennis Federation), a new organization aiming to promote and protect the interests of world tennis.

Since its invention tennis had been played by women just as much as by men. But competitions were not immediately open to them. This changed in 1879 when Dublin organized the first women's tournament. Other European cities then followed this example. As for the Wimbledon tournament, women won the right to participate in 1884. Maud Watson and Charlotte Dod (aka Lottie) are the first champions.

Since 1900, each country has been holding both national and international tournaments. The Davis Cup, created in 1900 by Dwight Davis, has become exceedingly popular and is now the largest team competition in the world. Between 1896 and 1924, Lawn Tennis was presented at the Olympic Games. As Wimbledon started only a week later it was decided that the two competitions were too close together leading to tennis being removed from the Olympics. It took 64 years until Tennis was considered a ‘major’ world sport, making its appearance in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, and is still contested at the Olympics today.

The twenties was perhaps the most beautiful era in the history of world tennis. In 1925, the French Championships became an international event with the birth of Roland Garros. The largest tournament played on a clay court. At the same time, the Wimbledon and Australian tournaments begin to really take off.

During the 1920’s, French players ruled the tennis world. With the ‘Musketeers’ - Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet, Rene Lacoste, "Toto" Brugnon, representing the men and Suzanne Lenglen representing the women. For a period of 6 years French tennis players won virtually every Grand Slam and the Davis Cup. This French domination ends in 1932 with one final victory for Henri Cochet at Roland Garros. The next 30 years are then dominated by American player, including Helen Wills, Donald Budge and Fred Ferry.

During the Second World War all Tennis competitions were stopped for a period of 5 years.During this time, however, there were some exhibition matches to raise money for the allied forces, with the biggest stars of the time taking part. Look our for Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Charlie Chaplin and others in this video.

We must wait until the 1950’s and 1960’s for another great evolution to occur - the dominance of Australian players. Their coach Harry Hopman helped produce the following champions: Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Fred Stolle, and the "Whiz Kids": Ken Rosewall and Lewis Hoad and later, Margaret Smith Court. She was the woman’s champion that led to a better recognition of female players by tournament organizers in the 1960-70’s. Other notable champions of this period are: Arthur Ashe, becoming the first black American to win a grand slam in 1968, Maureen Connolly, who in 1953 became the first female Grand Slam winner and Billie Jean King, who won 12 single Grand slam titles between 1966 and 1975, and who, in 1973 won the first “Battle of the Sexes” against former Wimbledon Champion Bobby Riggs.

In 1968, the tennis world will experience its biggest revolution. Since the organization of the first tennis tournaments in 1877, only amateur players could participate in the various competitions (professional players were banned). However, in 1967, millionaire Lamar Hunt and New Orleans sports promoter David Dixon created the World Championship Tennis (W.C.T), only open to professional players. This new circuit introduced other tournaments, put logos on clothing, corporate sponsorship and considerable prize money. By 1971, 21 tournaments were part of the W.C.T, including the Australian Open. This many champions to turn professional, as the traditional tournaments did not offer prize money.

After years of fighting between those who defended the amateur game and those who wanted a sport that was open to all, the All England Club (Wimbledon organizer) decided, in 1968, to open its tournament professionals, despite the opposition of the IFLT (International Federation of Lawn Tennis). Other tournaments followed this example. In 1968, IFLT formalized the situation. Thus, Tennis became "Open" (i.e. open to amateurs and professionals), and giving birth to what is now referred to as the “Open Era”.

In 1972, ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) was created. A year later, on 23 August, A.T.P. established the world ranking system. The first World N° 1 in tennis history was the Romanian Ilie Nastase. In 1973, the women's circuit in turn creates a professional players association, the W.T.A. The first women's world rankings appear on 3 November 1975, with the American Chris Evert in the top sport.

The W.C.T ran alongside the A.T.P., but the tournaments involved were not eligible to earn points for the ranking system. The W.T.C. eventually gave way to the A.T.P in 1990.

Taking over the men’s circuit in the 1970’s were: the Romanian Ilie Nastase, the Americans Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, and the Swedish Bjorn Borg. Borg’s style of play influenced many Swedish players, producing World Number 1’s Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg. The Swedish dominance was kept in check during the 1980’s and 1990’s by Connors and McEnroe, the Czech Ivan Lendl, Australian Pat Cash and the German wonder-kid - Boris Becker.

The dominance of women’s tennis at this time is shared between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. These two shared the top rank until the late 1980’s, when we see the emergence of German player Steffi Graf, American Monica Seles and the Spanish Anantxa Sanchez Vicario.

The biggest names of the last 10 years on the tour include Pat Cash, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Raphael Nadal, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin, and Venus and Serena Williams.

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