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. In 1900, the Davis Cup was created and held in Massachusetts.
Governing Board
United States Tennis Association was national board for tennis in the United States. The organization 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.
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.[15][16]
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.[17]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.[17]Maureen Connolly won the four Grand Slam singles tournaments in 1953.[18]