The River Oaks International Tennis Tournament, also known as the River Oaks Invitational Tennis Tournament, was a men's

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

tournament held in early spring from 1931 until 2007 at the

River Oaks Country Club River Oaks Country Club is a country club in the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston, Texas. The club has hosted the River Oaks International Tennis Tournament since 1931. It is located at 1600 River Oaks Boulevard, Houston TX 77019. History Rive ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, USA. The tournament was the oldest in the country to still be played at its original site, in the original stadium. The tournament was founded by cotton broker Jack Norton. From the very beginning, the River Oaks International was an invitational amateur tournament, and was not associated with the professional tennis associations. From the start, the field was filled with a few stars and then local candidates filled out the rest of the field. The inaugural edition in April 1931, which made a loss of $1,500, was won by 19-year-old

Ellsworth Vines Henry Ellsworth Vines Jr. (September 28, 1911 – March 17, 1994) was an American tennis champion of the 1930s, the World No. 1 player or the co-No. 1 in 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936 and 1937, able to win Pro Slam titles on three different surfaces. ...

. The tournament was not held during the World War II years 1942–1945. In 1971 the tournament was part of the

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 t ...

while from 1973 until 1977 it formed part of the

World Championship Tennis World Championship Tennis (WCT) was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1968 (the first players signed a contract at the end of 1967) and lasted until the emergence of the ATP Tour in 1990. A number of tennis tournaments arou ...

circuit. One of the landmark tournament events was in 1974, the championship match was broadcast before a national audience; thirty-four-year-old

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...

, met heir apparent, seventeen-year-old

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...

. Laver, who in 1961 became the first foreign player to win the singles title, won in straight sets and became the first man to hold four singles championships at River Oaks. In 2008, the River Oaks International was merged with one of the oldest, and last remaining clay court tournaments in the United States, the

U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships The U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships is an annual ATP Tour tennis tournament that started in 1910. It is the last remaining ATP World Tour-level tournament in the United States to be played on clay courts. The tournament began in 1910 when the ...

Finals

Singles

References

External links

ATP – Tournament Profile
{{River Oaks, Houston Clay court tennis tournaments Exhibition tennis tournaments Recurring sporting events established in 1931 Defunct tennis tournaments in the United States Tennis tournaments in Texas

Finals

Singles

See also

References

External links