Tennis As Played in 1880

There was initially great variation in the rules of lawn tennis as the sport first took hold in the United States. That is apparent when examining various newspaper accounts of the first organized competitions. The format of play could vary widely from event to event. Additionally, it is obvious that the press didn’t quite know what to make of the sport.

Last week, in “The Rules of Lawn Tennis: 1880 Variations,” I wrote about some interesting details of how the sport was to be played at a national “grand tournament” in 1880. The following year in 1881, the Newport Casino started hosting what is now generally recognized as the first national championships for the sport. It begs the question as to why Newport tournament gained that distinction.

One possible reason is that the Newport event bears a close resemblance to modern tennis tournaments. The players were to play best of three sets with no “vantage” scoring in the early rounds. The finals were contested as best of five with vantage scoring. The news coverage even describes how the draw was to be constructed. I am profoundly disappointed to see the roots of no-ad scoring at the first national championship.

Coverage of the Staten Island tournament from the previous year is… from Mars. Without the word “tennis,” I don’t think that modern readers would readily associate it with the sport. As an example, The New York Times reported that the most interesting match of the day was contested between O.H. Woodhouse and W.H. Davidige.

Some of the batting was very excellent. In the eighth inning Woodhouse served a ball which was returned by Davidige. Woodhouse caught it on the fly and again returned it. Davidige sent the ball back, and it passed six times between the two players, when Woodhouse finally sent it under the net. The result was that neither side scored a point. According to the rules of the games, a ball must be sent over the net and beyond the boundary of the court in order to score.
Fine Playing at Lawn-Tennis, New York Times, September 3, 1880.

I don’t know what sport that is, but it sure doesn’t sound like tennis. Consequently, Newport has a credible claim to hosting the first tennis national championships in the United States, despite the national “grand tournament” conducted on Staten Island the previous year. In any case, both events are a fascinating glimpse into how the sport was initially played before convergence into a standardized set of rules.

The news coverage of the 1880 Staten Island tournament also mentioned compelling “practice matches” played by the women during the event. Essentially they showed up and played anyway despite the decision that this grand national tournament was for men only. That is a further testament to how popular tennis was with both genders from the onset.