Tennis was first played in the United States in 1874. In 1881, the National Lawn Tennis Association was founded in order to organize all tennis activities in the country. The first major tennis tournament was called the US Open Championship and was also first played in 1881.
History
The first tennis clubs in the United States were formed in the mid-1870s. Mary Ewing Outerbridge allegedly introduced the sport to the United States after seeing tennis being played in Bermuda and demonstrated it to people on Staten Island in 1874. Soon tennis clubs were established across the country amongst the upper classes, including in New Orleans and San Francisco.[2] The New Orleans Lawn Tennis Club was founded in December, 1876.[3]
In 1887 the Philadelphia Cricket Club, hosted a National singles Championship. In 1888 a women's tennis tournament was soon set up.
Governing Board
United States Tennis Association was national board for tennis in the United States. The organisation original name was the National Lawn Tennis Association this was changed to its current name in 1975.[4][5][6][7][8] They are responsible for the promotion and development of tennis athletes in the United States.
Tournaments
The US Open is considered one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments.[9][10][11][12] It is played in late August to early September at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. The Indian Wells Masters, Miami Open and Cincinnati Masters are part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 and the WTA 1000.
Players
Men's
American male tennis players used to be amongst the best in the world and produced many Grand slam winners for much of the 20th century. The number of male tennis inside ATP rankings has declined since the 21st century.[13][14]
Women's
Helen Wills Moody won 31 Grand Slam titles in the 1920s and 1930s. She helped to popularize the overhand serve for women during the 1940s.[15] Alice Marble is another important influential American tennis player. In 1939, she was a triple champion at Wimbledon. Her style of play was characterized as masculine because of her aggressive pursuit of the ball during serves and volleys. Like Helen Wills Moody, others would go on to copy her style of play.[15] Maureen Connolly won the four Grand Slam singles tournaments in 1953.[16]
Althea Gibson was the first African American woman to win a Grand Slam tournament.[17] She claimed the singles title at the French Championships in 1956, and at Wimbledon and the US Nationals in 1957 and 1958.
In the Open Era, the United States has produced some of the most influential and successful players including Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova (defected from Czechoslovakia), Monica Seles (defected from Serbia and Montenegro), Venus Williams, and Serena Williams. The arrival of the Williams sisters is credited as the ushering in of a new era of power and athleticism on the women's tour and 23 time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams is considered by many to be the greatest women's player of all time.
