The Exmouth Open, originally called the Exmouth Lawn Tennis Club Tournament or simply Exmouth Tournament, was a men's and women's grass court tennis tournament founded in 1880. From 1890 the event was known as the Exmouth Open Tennis Tournament. It was hosted by the Exmouth Archery, Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club,
Exmouth, Devon
Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort situated on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe, southeast of Exeter.
In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon.
History ...
,
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
until 1927. It was then hosted by the newly founded Exmouth Lawn Tennis Club until it was abolished as a senior tour event in 1975.
History
The Exmouth Archery, Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1879. In 1880 the club hosted the first Exmouth Lawn Tennis Club Tournament for men only. In 1881 the tournament became an open event for both men and women as well. The first winner of the open men's singles was England's
Ernest Maconchy (later Brigadier General), and first winner of the women's open singles was Ireland's
Lilian Cole.
The event was one of the earliest English tournaments that featured a women's singles event.
In 1880s following the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
it was part of what was known as the "Western tour" over the course of five weeks taking in the grass court events such as the
Teignmouth and Shaldon Tournament at Teignmouth, the
Torquay Lawn Tennis Tournament at Torquay,
[Lake (2014)] the
Bournemouth Open Tournament at
Bournemouth
Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...
,
and finishing off at the
South of England Championships at
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...
.
In August 1888 a
Battle of the Sexes charity tennis match was staged at the tournament, predating the modern famous match by 85 years, between
Ernest Renshaw
Ernest James Renshaw (3 January 1861 – 2 September 1899) was a British tennis player who was active in the late 19th century.
Together with his twin brother William Renshaw, Ernest won the men's doubles at Wimbledon five times. He also won t ...
and
Lottie Dod
Charlotte Dod (24 September 1871 – 27 June 1960) was an English multi-sport athlete, best known as a tennis player. She won the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Championship five times, the first one when she was only 15 in the summer of 1887. She ...
, Renshaw won but only just! From 1890 the event was known as the Exmouth Open Tennis Tournament. In 1968 following the start of the open era it was renamed to the Exmouth Open. The event was part of the Amateur Tour (1877–1912), the ILTF Amateur Tour (1913–1967) and the ITF Independent Tour (1968–1975). In 1970 the tournament was called the Robertson Viota Exmouth Open for sponsorship reasons. In 1971 it was known as the Bio-Strath Exmouth Open until 1972.
[World of Tennis 1971 : a BP year book. London: Queen Anne Press. 1971. pp. 270–271. ISBN 9780362000917.]
Former notable of winners the men's singles event include;
Charles Lacy Sweet,
Charles Walder Grinstead,
Harry Grove,
Ernest Wool Lewis,
William Renshaw,
Reggie Doherty,
Ryuki Miki,
Jaroslav Drobny. Former winners of the women's singles title included;
Maud Watson
Maud Edith Eleanor Watson, Order of the British Empire, MBE (9 October 1864 – 5 June 1946) was a British tennis player and the first female Wimbledon Championships, Wimbledon champion.
Biography
Born in Harrow, London, Harrow, Middlesex, the ...
,
Blanche Bingley Hillyard,
Phyllis Satterthwaite
Phyllis Helen Satterthwaite (née Carr; 26 January 1886 – 20 January 1962) was a female tennis player from Great Britain who was active from the early 1910s until the late 1930s.
Tennis career
In 1911, she participated for the first time in t ...
and
Sue Barker
Susan Barker (born 19 April 1956) is a British former television presenter and professional tennis player. During her playing career, Barker won 15 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 1976 French Open. She reached a career- ...
. The final men's edition held in 1975 was won by Britain's
Jonathan Smith, and the final winner of the women's singles was Czech player
Jana Simonova.
Finals
Men's singles
:''Incomplete roll''
Men's doubles
:''Incomplete roll''
Women's singles
:''Incomplete roll''
Mixed doubles
:''Incomplete roll''
References
{{Reflist, 2
Sources
* Club History. Exmouth, Devon, England: Phear Park Bowling Club.
* Dwight, James (1886).Lawn Tennis. Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Wright & Ditson.
* Fletcher, Kelly (23 September 2020). "Book Review: Tennis for the people". New Frame.
* Heathcote, John Moyer (1891). Tennis. London: Longmans, Green.
* Lake, Robert J. (3 October 2014). A Social History of Tennis in Britain. Oxford: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-44557-8.
* National Army Museum, Brigadier General Ernest Maconchy: Soldiers' Stories". ww1.nam.ac.uk.
* Nieuwland, Alex. "Tournament – Exmouth". www.tennisarchives.com. Netherlands: Tennis Archives.
* Routledge's sporting annual (1883). London: George Routledge & Sons.
* The Boy's Own Annual. London: Leisure Hour Office. 1880.
Grass court tennis tournaments
Defunct tennis tournaments in the United Kingdom
Tennis tournaments in England