TENNIS


Grass courts 2010 © RMC Holland


was very high at four feet in the middle and fi ve feet at the edges. It was at this point of revision that courts were made rectangular and the net we know today was reduced to three foot at the centre, three foot six inches at the posts. With the fi rst tournament set, the club name was changed to include lawn tennis and so became the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club ... three weeks after EA&LTS changed its title to include Lawn Tennis.”


“Croquet eventually disappeared at the club, but we continued to play archery until the mid-1920s, when the pavilion burned down - along with all the bows, arrows and targets. That basically killed the game and so, from then on, we played only lawn tennis. Sometime before World War II, land became


available next door (occupied in those days by some of the Guinea Gardens) which we acquired; and this is where the four shale and two fl oodlit artifi cial grass courts are situated today.” “In 1962, we suff ered another fi re which burnt down our traditional looking pavilion with its veranda entirely to the ground. We took on some more land from the landlords, Calthorpe Estates, and a new pavilion was built. This was opened in 1963 by one of our members Pip Jones, husband of Ann - the 1969 Wimbledon Ladies Singles Champion. Ann was appointed an Honorary Member of the club when she won the tournament.” “Since then, there have been many famous tennis players who have been at the club - two Americans; Jimmy Connors and


Stan Smith and Australian John Newcombe - who were all winners of the Wimbledon Men’s singles title at various times. Back in 1989 when I was the secretary, Martina Navratilova needed somewhere to play out of the way of the press. She turned up with her coach and, on the second day of being here, there was a knock on the door - it was none other than Billy Jean King who was there to help Martina with the mental aspect of her game. In 2004, Maria Sharapova turned up with her dad and her coach; she went on to win the tournament at the Priory. Interestingly, all those years ago, her dad would shout at her to stop grunting, but he obviously didn’t do a very good job of that!” “Coaches have come and gone, but one of the most notable for spending time here


The club was f irst formed in 1860 as the Edgbaston Archery Society; literally


bows, arrows and targets in which both men and women were able to play


Summer play 2003 © David Busst 82 PC December/January 2021


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