British Hard Court Championships
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British Hard Court Championships
The British Hard Court Championships is a defunct Grand Prix tennis and WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1968 to 1983 and 1995 to 1999. The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 1924 in Torquay, moving to the West Hants Tennis Club in Bournemouth, England in 1927 and was held there until 1983. The 1977 and 1979 editions were cancelled due to lack of sponsorship. In 1995 the event was revived at Bournemouth as a women's WTA tournament but was only played there that year. The women's final edition in 1996 was held in Cardiff, Wales. The tournament was played on outdoor clay courts. Bournemouth was one of the world's major tournaments, second only to Wimbledon in England and on the same level as Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg. In the pre-war era, it was regarded as the most important event outside the four Grand Slams. Fred Perry is the record holder with five consecutive titles, from 1932 through 1936. Start of Open Era The Championships hold the distinct ...
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Grand Prix Tennis Circuit
The Grand Prix tennis circuit was a professional tennis tour for male players that existed from 1970 to 1989. The Grand Prix and World Championship Tennis (WCT) were the two predecessors to the current tour for male players, the ATP Tour, with the Grand Prix being more prominent. Background Before the Open Era, popular professional tennis players, such as Suzanne Lenglen and Vincent Richards, were contracted to professional promoters. Amateur players were under the jurisdiction of their national (and international) federations. Later professional promoters, such as Bill Tilden and Jack Kramer, often convinced leading amateurs like Pancho Gonzales and Rod Laver to join their tours with promises of good prize money. But these successes led to financial difficulties when players were paid too much and falling attendances resulted in reduced takings. In the early 1960s, the professional tour began to fall apart. It survived only because the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships, having ...
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Winnie Shaw
Winifred Mason Shaw (later Mrs. Wooldridge) (18 January 1947 – 30 March 1992) was a professional tennis player from Scotland whose career ran from the mid-1960s until the early 70s. In 2002, she posthumously was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. Personal life Winnie Shaw was born in Glasgow on 18 January 1947, the second and youngest child of Winifred Mason, also a tennis player who was Scottish national champion in 1930 and 1933, and journalist Angus Shaw. Career Shaw was a three-time winner of the Scottish Grass Court Championships in 1965, 1966 and 1970, three-time runner-up in the Scottish Hard Court Championships and twice runner-up in the British Hard Court Championships. In Grand Slam events, her best progress was reaching the Australian Open semifinals in 1970 and 1971, and the Wimbledon quarterfinals in the same seasons. In doubles events, Shaw reached the finals of both the mixed doubles (1971) and the ladies doubles (1972) at the French Open. ...
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Bunny Austin
Henry Wilfred "Bunny" Austin (26 August 1906 – 26 August 2000) was an English tennis player. For 74 years he was the last Briton to reach the final of the men's singles at Wimbledon, until Andy Murray did so in 2012. He was also a finalist at the 1937 French Championships and a championship winner at Queen's Club. Along with Fred Perry, he was a vital part of the British team that won the Davis Cup in three consecutive years (1933–35). He is also remembered as the first tennis player to wear shorts. Early life and education The son of stockjobber Wilfred Austin and his wife Kate, Austin was brought up in South Norwood, London. Austin concluded that the nickname "Bunny", bestowed on him by school friends, came from the ''Daily Mirror'' comic strip ''Pip, Squeak and Wilfred'' (Wilfred was a rabbit, or bunny). Encouraged by his father, who was determined that he become a sportsman, he joined Norhurst Tennis Club aged six. Austin was educated at Repton School, and studied ...
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Jacques Brugnon
Jacques Marie Stanislas Jean Brugnon (11 May 1895 – 20 March 1978), nicknamed "Toto", was a French tennis player, one of the famous " Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was born in and died in Paris. He was primarily a doubles specialist who won 10 Grand Slam doubles titles in the French, American, Australian and British championships. Additionally he won two mixed doubles titles at Roland Garros partnering Suzanne Lenglen. He was also a fine singles player but never won a Major title. He played in 20 Wimbledon Championships between 1920 and 1948 and achieved his best singles result in 1926 when he reached the semifinals, losing in a close five set match to Howard Kinsey. He also competed at the 1920 Summer Olympics and the 1924 Summer Olympics. Between 1921 and 1934 he played 31 ties for the French Davis Cup team, mainly as a doubles player, and compiled a record of 26 wins versus 11 losses. He was part of the famous Four ...
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Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working men's college, and forming labour cooperatives, which failed, but encouraged later working reforms. He was a friend and correspondent of Charles Darwin. Life and character Kingsley was born in Holne, Devon, the elder son of the Reverend Charles Kingsley and his wife, Mary Lucas Kingsley. His brother Henry Kingsley (1830–1876) and sister Charlotte Chanter (1828–1882) also became writers. He was the father of the novelist Lucas Malet (Mary St. Leger Kingsley, 1852–1931) and the uncle of the traveller and scientist Mary Kingsley (1862–1900). Charles Kingsley's childhood was spent in Clovelly, Devon, where his father was Curate in 1826–1832 and Rector in 1832–1836, and at Barnack, Northamptonshire. He was educated at Bristol G ...
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Patrick Spence
Patrick Spence (11 February 1898 – 22 November 1983) was a South African tennis player. He was born in Queenstown, South Africa. He competed mainly in Great Britain and found his form in hard court tournaments. He notably won the mixed doubles championships at Wimbledon in 1928 with Elizabeth Ryan and at the French Open in 1931 with Betty Nuthall. He also competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Tennis career Patrick Spence began his tennis prominence in Great Britain in 1922 when he became Scottish champion after winning the local tournament. The next year he defended his title. In 1924. he took the Middlesex Championships against compatriot Louis Raymond, with whom he also won the doubles title, but lost the mixed doubles title against him. He first became the covered courts champion at the Queen's Club the same year by beating reigning champion Patrick Wheatley in three sets. In April 1925 he won the British Hard Court Championships over Charles Kingsley. He also w ...
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Christiaan Van Lennep
Christiaan van Lennep (; 3 January 1887 – 5 December 1955) was a Dutch tennis player and multiple Dutch champion. He won the singles title at the Dutch National Tennis Championships in 1905, 1907, 1919, 1921, 1925 and 1926. He was also a seven times doubles champion. Van Lennep participated in the singles and doubles events at the 1908 and 1924 Olympics. His best result was reaching the third round in the singles event at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. In the third round he lost to American Watson Washburn by three sets to one. He reached the final of the singles event at the inaugural British Hard Court Championships, played in Torquay in April 1924, in which he was defeated by Randolph Lycett in four sets. He was more successful in international doubles competitions as he reached the semifinal of the 1926 Wimbledon Championships partnering Béla von Kehrling. Van Lennep played in 12 ties for the Dutch Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event ...
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Randolph Lycett
Randolph Lycett (27 August 1886 – 9 February 1935) was a British tennis player. Lycett is primarily known for his success in doubles, winning 5 men's doubles and 3 mixed doubles slams. He was also the runner-up at the 1922 Wimbledon men's singles (where he lost to Gerald Patterson). Lycett was recognised as one of the dominant players in men's doubles. He was the champion at both the Australasian Championships and Wimbledon multiple times. In April 1924 he won the singles title at the inaugural British Hard Court Championships in Torquay defeating Christiaan van Lennep in the final in four sets. He played in three ties for the British Davis Cup team in 1921 and 1923 and compiled a record of six wins and three losses. His cousin was the operatic soprano Miriam Licette. In the 1921 Wimbledon Quarter Final, Randolph Lycett played Zenzo Shimizu , also spelt Zenzo Shimidzu, was a Japanese tennis player. Shimizu graduated from the Tokyo Higher Commerce School (now Hitotsubas ...
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Association Of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to protect the interests of professional tennis players, and Drysdale became the first President. Since 1990, the association has organized the ATP Tour, the worldwide tennis tour for men and linked the title of the tour with the organization's name. It is the governing body of men's professional tennis. In 1990 the organization was called the ATP Tour, which was renamed in 2001 as just ATP and the tour being called ATP Tour. In 2009 the name of the tour was changed again and was known as the ATP World Tour, but changed again to the ATP Tour by 2019. It is an evolution of the tour competitions previously known as Grand Prix tennis tournaments and World Championship Tennis (WCT).The ATP's global headquarters are in London. A ...
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Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice. It is also known for its annual swimsuit issue, which has been published since 1964, and has spawned other complementary media works and products. Owned until 2018 by Time Inc., it was sold to Authentic Brands Group (ABG) following the sale of Time Inc. to Meredith Corporation. The Arena Group (formerly theMaven, Inc.) was subsequently awarded a 10-year license to operate the ''Sports Illustrated''-branded editorial operations, while ABG licenses the brand for other non-editorial ventures and products. History Establishment There were two magazines named ''Sports Illustrated'' before the current magazine was launched on August 9, 1954. In 1936, Stuart Scheftel created ''Sports Illustrated'' with a target market of sportsmen. He publis ...
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Pancho Gonzales
Ricardo Alonso "Pancho" González (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), known sometimes as Richard Gonzales, was an American tennis player. He won 15 major singles titles, including two U.S. National Singles Championships in 1948 and 1949, and 13 Professional Grand Slam titles. He also won three Tournament of Champions professional events in 1957, 1958, and 1959. He was ranked world amateur No. 1 in 1948 by Ned Potter and in 1949 by Potter and John Olliff. Gonzales was a prominent professional champion in the 1950s and 1960s, winning world professional championship tours between 1954 and 1961; he was ranked world No. 1 professional in some rankings between 1952 and 1961. Gonzales was a determined competitor with a fierce temper. He was often at odds with officials and promoters. However, he was a fan favorite who drew many spectators. Career Amateur Gonzales was given a 51-cent racquet by his mother when he was 12 years old. He received tennis analysis from his friend, Chuck Pa ...
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Mark Cox (tennis)
Mark Cox (born 5 July 1943) is a former tennis player from England, who played professional and amateur tennis in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was ranked as high as world No. 13 on the ATP rankings (achieving that ranking in August 1977). Cox was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School in Leicester and Millfield School in Somerset. Cox obtained an economics undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge (Downing College), where he was a member of the Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club. Career He played his first tournament on 3 November 1958 at the Torquay Indoor. During his career, he won twenty singles titles and three doubles titles spanning both the pre-Open Era and Open Era, reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. National Championships (in 1966), and the final at the event in Cincinnati (in 1977). He also played for Great Britain's Davis Cup team, and was on the team that reached the 1978 final against the United States. He has also gone down in tennis history a ...
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