Princes Club Championships

Princes Club Championships
Defunct tennis tournament
Tour Pre-open era (1877-1967)
Founded 1880
Abolished 1883
Editions 4
Location Hans Place,[1] London, England
Venue Prince's Club
Surface Grass / Outdoor

The Princes Club Championships[2] also known as the Princes Club tournament was an outdoor grass court tennis tournament held in the later half of the 19th century.

History

The Prince's Club [3] was one of the earliest lawn tennis locations when the sport was introduced in the mid-1870s. The club had two lawn tennis courts and organised open and handicap events. When the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), in its capacity as the governing body for rackets and real tennis, issued the first unified rules for lawn tennis on 29 May 1875 they were not universally adhered to and, among others, the Prince's Club stuck to playing on rectangular courts instead of the prescribed hourglass-shaped courts.[4] It held an open tournament in 1880 which leading players Ernest Renshaw, William Renshaw and Herbert Lawford competed. In 1881 William Renshaw won the tournament while his brother Ernest won the handicap event. The following year, 1882, Ernest Renshaw won the open tournament.[5] Herbert Lawford won the title for a second time in 1883 the open event only lasted 4 years. In the summer of 1886 only the main rackets court and one of the tennis courts were left, and when its lease expired and its last buildings were demolished in the fall of 1886 the club closed in 1887.

The Old Prince's Club in 1857 with view of a rackets court.

Champions

Notes: Challenge Round: The Final round of a tournament, in which the winner of a single-elimination phase faces the previous year's champion, who plays only that one match. The challenge round was used in the early history of tennis (from 1877 through 1921) in some tournaments not all. * Indicates challenger

Men's singles

Year Champions Runners-up Score
1880 [6] England Herbert Lawford [7] England Edgar Lubbock 5-7 5-7 6-3 6-0 8-6
1881 [8] United Kingdom William Renshaw [9] Ireland Alfred John Mulholland 7-5 4-6 6-0 6-3
1882 [10] United Kingdom Ernest Renshaw [11] Ireland Peter Aungier 6-2 7-5 2-6 6-4
1883 [12] England Herbert Lawford [13] United Kingdom William C. Taylor 6-2 6-0 6-1

Notes

  1. ↑ Timbs, John. "Clubs and Club Life in London". googlebooks.com. Oxford University 1872 digitized 20 Mar 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  2. ↑ Mazak, Karoly (2010). The Concise History of Tennis. p. 8. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  3. ↑ Timbs, John. "Clubs and Club Life in London". googlebooks.com. Oxford University 1872 digitized 20 Mar 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  4. ↑ Todd, Tom (1979). The Tennis Players : from Pagan Rites to Strawberries and Cream. Guernsey: Vallency Press. p. 76. OCLC 6041549.
  5. ↑ "Lawn Tennis". London Standard. British Newspaper Archive. 26 June 1882. p. 6. (subscription required (help)).
  6. ↑ "Prince's Club Tournament 1880". tennisrachives.com. Tennis Archives. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  7. ↑ Mazak, Karoly (2010). The Concise History of Tennis. Karoly Mazak. p. 8.
  8. ↑ "Prince's Club Tournament 1881". tennisarchives.com. Tennis Archives. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  9. ↑ Mazak, Karoly (2010). The Concise History of Tennis. Karoly Mazak. p. 9.
  10. ↑ "Princes Club tournament 1882". tennisarchives.com. Tennis Archives. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  11. ↑ Mazak, Karoly (2010). The Concise History of Tennis. Karoly Mazak. p. 10.
  12. ↑ "Princes Club tournament 1883". tennisarchives.com. Tennis Archives. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  13. ↑ Mazak, Karoly (2010). The Concise History of Tennis. Karoly Mazak. p. 11.

References

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