Lawn Tennis

pany in Paris. All Davis cup ties comprise five matches, four singles and one doubles match.

The Davis

Davis cup, the international team cham pionship, was founded in 5900, originally to promote an annual contest between America and the British Isles. The donor was Dwight F. Davis, of St. Louis, Mo., American doubles champion from 1899-1901, afterwards secretary of war in President Cool idge's cabinet. From two, in its first three years, the competing countries increased steadily until, in 1928, the total number was 34. In 1923, to ease the time and expense of travelling teams, the challenging nations were divided into two zones (Europe and America), the winner of each meeting to decide which should chal lenge the champion country. The appended table shows the results of the challenge rounds. America has won the cup 1 o times, England (with Ireland) eight times, Australia (with New Zea land) six times, and France six. Until 1927, when France gained her first victory, the championship had always been held by an English-speaking country employing turf courts for the challenge round. In 1928 the decisive round was played for the first time on an artificial surface (tennisol), manufactured by a French com The Wightman Cup.—An international match between Brit ish and American women players was founded in 1923, Mrs. George W. Wightman, of Boston, American champion for four years, presenting a cup for annual competition, decided alter nately in the two countries. Five singles and two doubles matches are contested. Up to 1936, America won io contests and Eng land four.

Just when lawn tennis was introduced into the United States, and by whom, is a matter of conjecture. It is said that Miss Outerbridge spent the winter in Bermuda in 1874, and found the game being played there by British officers attached to the regi ments stationed in Bermuda. She obtained from the regimental supply, some rackets and a net, which she brought back with her in the spring of that year. There was some difficulty in getting the outfit through the custom house, as no one knew what it was, or at what rate to assess duty on it. Miss Outerbridge obtained permission from her brother, who was a director of the Staten island cricket and baseball club, to mark off a court there.

Shortly afterwards, James Dwight obtained a set from England. Dwight always claimed that the first court in the United States was laid out along one side of the Longwood cricket club's grounds. Others claimed the distinction for Nahant, near Boston. In the autumn of that year (1874), Sherman of Newport had imported a set and within the following year Newport could boast of three sets of equipment, all privately owned. It is generally agreed that lawn tennis made its appearance in America a few months after its introduction in England. By 1878 it was being actively played by a few enthusiasts. The first two players on record in America were James Dwight, and F. R. Sears, the brother of R. D. Sears who was later to be the first national champion. Tournaments were held as the interest in tennis grew, but conditions varied at each meeting, and the implements and equipment were not stand ardized. On May a1, 1881, a meeting was called, 33 clubs taking

part, and the United States Lawn Tennis association was formed, with Gen. Oliver as its first president. From that time the asso ciation has had control of all national championship tournaments played in the United States.

Championships.—The first championships for men, sanctioned by the new association, which were open to all-comers and played under uniform conditions, were held at the Casino, Newport, R.I., in Aug. 1881, the winner in the singles being R. D. Sears, and the winners in the doubles, C. M. Clark and F. W. Taylor. The championship was held at Newport for 34 consecutive years. From 1915 to 1920, the contest took place at the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, L.I., and from 1921 to 1923 at the German town Cricket Club in Philadelphia. In 1924, after the completion of the West Side Tennis Club stadium, the championship contest returned to Forest Hills. National championships have been held each year since 1881, with the exception of 1917. In that year, only patriotic tournaments were sanctioned by the association, on account of the World War. The "challenge round" was instituted in 1884, and abandoned after the 1911 championship. During these years, the champion "stood out"—did not play through the tournament—and met the winner of the "all-corners" in a chal lenge round for the title. The development of women's tennis has followed, more or less, the same course as has that of men's ten nis. The first national women's championship was held at the Philadelphia cricket club in 1887, and was won by Miss Ellen F. Hansel!. The meeting was held there annually until 1921 when it was changed to Forest Hills.

The annual events for the various championship titles of the United States which are sanctioned by the Tennis Association are —the men's singles and doubles, the women's singles and doubles, the mixed doubles, the veterans' singles and doubles, the father and son doubles, the junior singles and doubles, the boys' singles and doubles, the girls' singles and doubles, the indoor singles and doubles for men and for women, the indoor mixed, the indoor junior singles and doubles, the boy's indoor singles, the girls' indoor singles and doubles, the hard-court girls' singles and doubles, the men's clay court singles and doubles, the intercollegiate singles and doubles, first held at Hartford in 1883, the public parks sin gles and doubles and the interscholastic singles, first held at Cam bridge in 1891.

A word must be said of the part that the U.S. Lawn Tennis As sociation has played in the advancement of the game. It is re sponsible for the organized development of tennis in the United States, and has furthered and encouraged the sport since 1881. It has a constitution and its officers are elected annually. It is a member of the International Federation of Lawn Tennis Playing Countries. The lawn tennis clubs throughout the United States belong to sectional associations, which in turn, are members of the national association. Each section has its championship meetings, and the winning players are eligible to compete in the national championships.