Tennis club

“ There are good tennis courts at the golf clubs and in various parts of the Bois, but it is at the Cercle de l'Ile de Puteaux that one finds tennis at its best and most picturesque. It is one of the most fashionable and most exclusive clubs of Paris, this club on the little island of Puteaux, in the Seine. One sees there no one who is not of the elect, and the little ferry that carries the chosen spirits to these Elysian fields is thronged with the beauty and fashion of Paris, day after day, during the season. ”

“ The Longmeadow Country Club, on the Saturday afternoon following Armstrong's abrupt dismissal, was a scene of gaiety and beauty without compare. Set in broad acres of wood and lawn, the club-house proudly dominated far-flung golf-links and nearer tennis-courts. Shining motors stood parked on the plaza before the club garage, each valued at several years' wages of a workingman. Men and women—exploiters all, or parasites—elegantly and coolly clad in white, smote the swift sphere upon the tennis-court, with jest and laughter. ”

“ One of the most rooted mistakes in the public mind is that the first-class player is a professional. Many times people have said to me, "You must be making quite a nice bit of pocket-money from your tennis." "Making?" I say. "Spending, you mean!"—which always makes them stare in amazement. This fallacy annoys me very much, and is, I find, very common. Let me take the opportunity here of pointing out that there are no professional lawn tennis players excepting a few coaches at Queen's Club, London, and at some of the clubs abroad; these men, of course, cannot compete in open tournaments. ”

“ One forenoon in the month of July, a year later, the lawn-tennis courts of the Westfield Hunt Club were all occupied. The reason was clear; tennis had become the fashionable sport. Some of the younger spirits, who found golf too gentle a form of exercise, had rebelled successfully against the predominance of that pastime. Consequently all the people of every age who try to do what the rest of the world is doing had consigned their golf clubs to the recesses of their hall closets and bought rackets. ”

“ I insisted on his taking me to the tennis club as usual, and though he went at first for my sake he enjoys it now for his own. We meet so many friends, and he can’t help being happy out in the sunshine with a lot of happy boys and girls all round. ”

“ They see that it has good roads for their village-carts and landaus to roll over, and their Queen Anne [132] cottages are distinctly ornamental to the surrounding landscape.
They have also laid out and inclosed eight tennis-courts of both clay and turf, to suit every one’s taste, and have erected a club-house which is apparently fashioned after no one’s. Every year Hilltown invited the neighboring tennis-clubs of Malvern and Pineville to compete with them in an interclub tournament, and offered handsome prizes which were invariably won by representatives of Hilltown. ”

“ A committee should do all in its power to improve the standard of play, and that can only be accomplished by having well-tended courts and good balls. Many clubs are not equipped with side-posts for the single game. That is a great mistake, because a player will practise without them in her club, and then when she enters for a tournament will have to use them. It is bound to put her off her game. Such details make all the difference between good and bad management of a club. ”

“ Cricket and tennis were in full swing, and she took an active part in both. The best of being at the hostel was that the boarders had the benefit of the tennis courts in the evening, and so secured an advantage in the matter of practice over any girls who did not possess a private court at home. So far the College had not competed in tournaments, but Blossom Webster was hopeful that later on in the term some champions might be chosen who would not disgrace the Games Club. ”

“ It is too small for a running-track and too large for nasturtiums. Obviously, the only thing left is a tennis-court.
One really ought to have a tennis-court of one's own. Those at the Club are always so full that on Saturdays and Sundays the people waiting to play look like the gallery at a Davis Cup match, and even when you do get located you have two sets of balls to chase, yours and those of the people in the next court. ”

“ Another club which had its grass courts laid out with a dense growth of trees a few yards back from the courts, on the east side, finally came to the conclusion that they either had to rearrange the courts or chop down some of the trees. The morning shade of the trees kept the courts from drying up quickly so often that the players became disgusted. Beautiful mornings would dawn after a rainstorm, and the players would anticipate fine afternoons of tennis ”

“ Remyo boasts a gravel tennis court, and a nine-hole golf course, mostly bunkers. Two more tennis courts, and a cricket and polo ground are in course of construction, preparatory to the arrival of the Great Future to which I have referred. Each form of exercise enjoys about three days popularity at a time. At one time tennis will be the rage, and every one repairs to the Club court, tho' so short are the evenings before sunset, that it is impossible to play [Pg 123] more than three sets an afternoon, so we are forced to be content with about three games each. ”

“ Starting without money, the members laid out the grounds and built the track and tennis courts themselves, but so popular did it become that within two years there were something like three hundred members and the club continued to thrive for many years. ”

“ As a rule, tennis courts fall in the same general class with golf links in that they lend themselves readily to the joint ownership of a club or school, where the expense falls on a number rather than on an individual. In a great many places the boys of a town or village have clubbed together and have obtained permission from some one owning a piece of vacant ground that is not likely to be sold or improved within a few years and have built a tennis court on it. ”

“ It is a pretty sight, generally speaking, a tennis ground abroad. The women pay more attention to their costumes than do our lady players. The men are usually in spotless white. The ground is often charmingly situated, the club-house picturesque; there is always laughter and merriment. The play may not be so good to watch, but the picture is delightful. I accompanied a man a little while ago to his club on the outskirts of Brussels. ”

“ The game was Lilian’s and wild applause proclaimed her winner of the tennis tournament.
Meanwhile in the bushes two deeply interested spectators had arrived by way of the lane. Having been informed by Jo and June, who were playing “jacks” on the club house floor, that Cathalina and Lilian were finishing the tournament, two masculine visitors decided to go to the courts by the back way and remain unseen if possible while watching the progress of the game. June had suggested it, saying that it might “fuss” the girls, since they were not expecting company. ”

“ The duffer is going to join the tennis-club—he was at the Pooles’ dance. I was simply flabbergasted. He’s a duffer.”
The little German garden was disappearing from Miriam’s eyes.... It was cruel, cruel that she was not going to wear her blouses at home, at the tennis-club ... with Harriett.... It was all beginning again, after all—the spring and tennis and presently boating—things were going on ... the smash had not come ... why had she not stayed ... just one more spring? ... ”

“ Tennis courts will be found in nearly all places larger than the small village of a few hundred inhabitants. In any place frequented by summer visitors the Tennis Clubs make provision for summer membership of visitors on payment of a small fee. In many places where no regular club has been established the privileges of the court are extended to visitors. In all of the summer resorts of the lower St. ”

“ The younger generation is growing up with little or no knowledge of tennis. One thing that forcibly bore in on my mind, during my trip in 1920, was the complete absence of boys of all ages at the various tournaments. In America youngsters from ten years of age up swarm all over the grounds at big tennis events. I saw very few of either at Queen's Club, Wimbledon, Eastbourne, or Edgbaston where I played. The boys do not understand tennis in England, and naturally do not care to play it. ”

“ The time required to play a game is not excessive. The implements, rackets, balls, nets, etc., are neither numerous nor prohibitive in price. The club subscriptions are moderate, and the actual expenses of pursuing the game are small as compared with golf.
WIMBLEDON, 1905: MISS MAY SUTTON WINNING THE LADIES' CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE FIRST TIME. SHE BEAT MISS DOUGLASS IN THE CHALLENGE ROUND.
Then, again, lawn tennis is not difficult to learn, although of course by this I do not mean that it is an easy game to play well—far from it. ”

“ Most of the men had gone to the city. Douglas Hale and Gerald Marcy were on one of the dirt courts, and Walter Cole, who was taking his vacation, was playing golf with Kenneth Post. One solitary woman, Mrs. Cunningham, was on the links with her husband. She had demurred stoutly at the contagion of the new fever, [Pg 222] and still remained faithful to the fascination of the royal and ancient game. The centre of club life was undeniably the tennis courts, and thither all those who arrived directed their footsteps. ”

“ The colds and more dangerous ailments that arise from this little want of care naturally afford people a line of attack when they object to girls engaging in violent exercise.
You cannot be too careful after strenuous play. I am well aware that ladies are catered for very badly at most of the tournaments in regard to changing-room accommodation. Some places we have had to put up with are disgraceful. I think most lady players will agree with me when I say that Wimbledon and Queen's Club are about the only two grounds where you can change with any degree of comfort. ”

“ KINDS OF COURTS Tennis can be played on almost any smooth, even surface, either indoors or outdoors, and the question of securing in the best way the most desirable surface for the courts is one that has attracted a good deal of expert attention. While a lawn is considered the ideal place for playing the game on home courts, tennis clubs and associations have more generally adopted the clay or dirt court. ”

“ Golf now ranks first amongst fashionable outdoor amusements with both sexes. Private links are comparatively few, but club links exist in almost every neighbourhood—ladies' clubs, men's clubs, and clubs for both ladies and gentlemen.
Croquet or tennis tournaments are frequently the occasion [p.169] of giving garden-parties, and some very exciting play takes place.
When a tournament is held it takes the form of a garden-party; it usually lasts two days. The arrangements made for holding it depend upon circumstances, and it takes place, as do archery-matches, in either private or public grounds. ”

“ If the tournament is to be conducted by a club, there will probably be some money in the treasury that can be used. It is not usually advisable, and seldom practicable at an impromptu summer tennis tournament, to demand admission fees of the spectators. ”

“ For instance, one of the best tennis clubs in the country had its courts laid out running east and west, and the difficulty of playing with the sun in the eyes caused so much trouble that the courts had to be rebuilt. ”

“ Each college has also a set of athletic games yearly. If we add the men who play golf, lawn and court tennis, rackets and fives, who swim, box, wrestle, and who shoot on the 155 ranges of the gun club, the total of men schooled in competition reaches eighty to one hundred. A simple calculation will show that when so many are exercising daily, few are left for spectators. ”

“ The make-believe players at tea-time represented the comedy of the game under the eyes of a hundred spectators, turning continually to the terraces, greeting and smiling at a friend and beginning with an important air to hit mightily at a golf-ball which never left the ground, because they either missed it or gave it a laughable little hit.
Not far-away, in the spacious tennis-courts, where from the 18th August to the 24th the Engadine Cup was contested in the Tournament, games of tennis, singles and doubles, proceeded at every hour, from lunch-time till the evening. ”

“ It is the spirit of youth, of progress, of business-like mechanical perfection of management, and the enormous crowds and attendant enthusiasm that is the chief attraction at Forest Hills. Fully 15,000 were present on the closing day of the event in 1919. Orderly, courteous, enthusiastic, but partisan, the American tennis public comes out to cheer on its favourite. No people in the world appreciate visiting players more whole-heartedly and none do more for their comfort than the American people. ”

“ There is no college tennis association like our baseball association. The baseball grounds and appurtenances belong to us, have been purchased by money contributed by us, and are conducted by officers elected by us. It is a child of the college—the pet child—and its record in the past shows how well it has repaid our interest in it. Tennis, on the other hand, is of individual interest in the college, and the tennis courts here are the private property of the clubs that play upon them. Some of these clubs exclude all from playing on their courts except their own members. ”