Rockaway Hunting Club Invitation Explained
The Rockaway Hunting Club Invitation[1] was an early men's tennis tournament founded in 1886 as the Rockaway Hunting Club Lawn Tennis Tournament[2] and played at Lawrence, Nassau County, New York, United States until 1966.[3]
History
In 1878 the Rockaway Hunting Club was founded in Bayswater, New York as a country club.[4] In 1884 it moved to Lawrence, Nassau County, New York.[5] In 1886 the club staged an open men's tennis event called the Rockaway Hunting Club Lawn Tennis Tournament. The first tournament was won by Henry Warner Slocum who would go on to win the event two more times.[6] The event for the first forty years just featured a permanent men's singles event, [7] In 1888 a women's invitational singles was added to the schedule but it was not held every year. However a double's men's event was added and In 1940 the women's invitational event became a regular event[8] The tournament ran annually till 1966 when it was discontinued.
Notes and References
- News: HUNTING CLUB'S TENNIS TOURNEY.Below is given the score of the players at the Rockaway Hunting Club Invitation tennis tournament on its grounds at Cedarhurst yesterday.. . 8 April 2023 . The New York Times . 21 July 1888 . 3. subscription.
- Book: Hall . Valentine Gill . Lawn tennis in America. Biographical sketches of all the prominent players ... knotty points, and all the latest rules and directions governing handicaps, umpires, and rules for playing . 1889 . D. W. Granbery & co. . New York . 11 . https://archive.org/details/lawntennisinamer00hall/page/16/mode/2up . Tournaments of 1886.
- Book: Crowninshield . Frank . Vanity Fair . 1966 . Condé Nast . New York . 4 . en . Sportsmans Calendar.
- Web site: Our Story . www.rhcny.com . Rockaway Hunting Club . 8 April 2023 . Lawrence, New York.
- Rockaway Hunting Club
- Web site: Tournament – Rockaway Hunting Club . www.tennisarchives.com . Tennis Archives . 8 April 2023.
- News: BAGGS SURPRISES LARNED AT TENNIS; First Round of Rockaway Hunting Club Tournament Has Well-Played Matches. . 8 April 2023 . The New York Times . 20 July 1915 . New York . 8. subscription.
- News: Times . Kingsley Childs Special To the New York . Hall-Shields Annex Two Matches In Rockaway Hunting Club Tennis; Top Bowden-Gerard and Herndon-Von Bernuth and Advance to the Semi-Final Round-MacPherson-Ernest Sutter Gain: CEDARHURST, L.I., June 1st. Two straight-set victories by J. Gilbert Hall and Frank Shields were among the highlights today as sixteen pairs opened play in the annual invitation tennis doubles tourney at the Rockaway Hunting Club.. . 8 April 2023 . The New York Times . 2 January 1940 . New York . 70.
