Tennisarchives.com

General Date1880-09-01 - 1880-09-04
Tournament typeAmateur
SurfaceUnknown
Rounds5
CityNew York, Staten Island Cricket Club
CountryUnited States of America

Source New York Times, Evening Telegram

Info The Staten Island Cricket Club (SICC) is a cricket club on Staten Island, New York that was incorporated as the Staten Island Cricket and Base Ball Club on March 22, 1872. St. George is a neighborhood on the northeastern tip of Staten Island in New York City, where the Kill Van Kull enters Upper New York Bay.
Rackets scoring used. Played on 6 courts.

Report Lawn-tennis has been steadily growing in popularity in this country... and the Staten Island cricket and lawn-tennis players have now perfected arrangements for the holding of a grand national championship tournament...

It has been decided to begin the games on the afternoon of Sept. 1 at 4 o'clock, in the tennis courts at Camp Washington, Tompkinsville, Staten Island. The entries will close on Aug. 25, and all names of intended competitors should be forwarded to E.H. Outerbridge, Secretary, No. 23 South-street, on or before that date. The entries will be free to all male players from any part of the country. The games will be continued every afternoon until the tournament closes... The play will be conducted under the rules adopted by the Marylebone and All England Tennis Clubs, with the amendments which have been recently introduced in England.

Several important changes are made by these amendments. In the first place, the height of the net at the posts is reduced to 4 feet, and the "service" line is located within 21 feet of the net. The balls must not vary from 2½ to 2 9-16 inches in diameter, and from 1 7-8 to 2 ounces in weight. Again, the "server" must stand with one foot beyond the "base-line," and with the other foot within or on the "base-line"... if the ball served touches the net the "service," provided it is otherwise good, counts for nothing. To touch the net or any of its supports while the ball is "in play" is forbidden, and to "volley" the ball before it has passed the net is to lose the stroke.

...Handsome prizes are to be offered to the players exhibiting the most skill. The best "single" game player will receive a prize valued at $100, and there will be two prizes for the best team of players...
The lawn tennis tournament, under the auspices of the Staten Island Cricket Club, will begin at 3:30 o'clock on Wednesday next on the club grounds at Camp Washington, Staten Island. It will open with the single-handed games. The double-handed games will begin on the following Monday. Both series of games will continue on following days until the tournament is decided... A very interesting contest is expected, as some of the best players in the country have entered. A silver cup, valued at $50, will be given to the winner in the single-handed game, and a handsome inlaid racquet, costing an equal sum, to the winning side in the double-handed games...

40 players entered the singles and were scheduled to play, but only 23 showed up and did not withdraw, according to the Times.
Despite the "Wimbledon rules," racquets scoring was used (games ended when the first player scored 15 points, but the match was won by the player who scored the most total points). The victor was an Englishman, O.E. Woodhouse, who had been runner-up in the 1880 English doubles championships (then held at Oxford). Woodhouse outscored J.F. Helmuth of Toronto, Canada by a total of 54 to 50 points in the 4 games of the final. Woodhouse used the overhead service, which his American opponents had not yet learned.

September 2, 1880: The New York Times reported:

The greensward of the Staten Island Cricket Club, on old Camp Washington, was covered with diagrams yesterday for the games of lawn-tennis. Long nets, looking like seines, were stretched between posts at different points in the field. The boundary fences had received fresh coats of whitewash, and camp-stools for spectators were placed in rows on either side of the several tennis courts.

It was the opening day of the first lawn-tennis tournament, which is open to all comers. The players began to arrive as early as 2 o'clock, although the games did not begin until 4. Most of the spectators were ladies, many of whom wore field costumes of gorgeous colors. Drags, phaetons, dog-carts, and a four-in-hand drew up at the fence near entrance to the inclosure, and there were several parties of ladies and gentlemen on horseback... The sun shone brightly, and there was just womd enough stirring to temper its rays.

The games played were all single games, with 23 players entered. They will last three days. Among those who took part were H. Y. Gamble, of Toronto, B. J. Grey, of Bermuda, J. F. Helmuth, of London, Canada, and O. E. Woodhouse, who entered from Philadelphia, but is really one of the best in England. Their playing was watched with particular interest.

The prize in the single games is a handsome silver cup valued at $100, presented for competition by the Staten Island Club. On one side of the trophy is the inscription--"The Champion Lawn-tennis Player of America." The double games will not begin until next Monday.

The most interesting of the games played yesterday were between W. M. Donald, of Staten Island, and J. F. Helmuth, of London, Canada, and T. Ruyther and O. E. Woodhouse. The "returning" of these players, during which the balls were continuously kept in motion in mid-air, created much enthusiasm. Four courts were simultaneously occupied by as many sets of contestants...

The second day of the lawn-tennis tournament, at Camp Washington, Staten Island, opened pleasantly yesterday afternoon. There was a larger number of spectators present, and more interest was taken by outsiders than the day before, probably for the reason that they understood the game better after the previous day's experience...

The spectators formed groups around the Canadian player ["J. F. Hellmuth, London, Canada"] and Woodhouse, whose residence is in Philadelphia, but who was formerly a resident of England, and one of its best players. Hellmuth did not play as well as on the previous day, while Woodhouse played better. The latter is a tall man, who uses his long arms to advantage. In this manner he caught a ball on the return with his left as well as his right hand, and frequently used both hands with effect when a ball went too near his face. Hellmuth is a very rapid player. He is short in stature, lithe in figure, and catches a ball on the return as well with his left as with his right hand...

While the regular games were in progress, there were some interesting practice-matches among the ladies...
...It is expected that the final match will be between Hellmuth and Woodhouse.

Errata: The 1st day article said that N. Henderson was to play L.E. Embury on the 2nd day, but no result was reported for that match. It is possible that the 1st day's "J.F. Evelury," whose name was listed shortly after J.F. Helmuth, is the same as "L.E. Embury." At any rate, it appears that on the 2nd day Embury lost a match to Henderson, who advanced, and the score went unreported.

The 1st day article also said that H.C. Larned was to play W.J. Snyder, but no result was reported. The 2nd day article reported that "W.C. Larned" lost to Edward Gray, and the 2 Larneds are likely the same person.

The 1st day's "S. Barnes" is likely the same person as the 2nd day's "E.W. Barnes."

The Times reported after the 1st day that W.P. Anderson had defeated W.B. Lawrence 34-28, but after the 2nd day reported that Lawrence had advanced, and Anderson had not.

1st day winner R. Travers is missing from the 2nd day results.

The 1st day article also said that [C.M.] Harvey would play "Saunders" on the 2nd day, but there is no mention of either in the 1st day scores, and no mention of that match in the 2nd day scores, and no other mention of "Saunders" at all. It is possible that "Saunders" is the same person as R. Travers, if they could mess things up that much.

September 4, 1880: The New York Times reported:

The single games in the lawn-tennis tournament at Camp Washington, Staten Island, were concluded yesterday, and the handsome silver cup presented for competition by the Staten Island Cricket Club was awarded to O. E. Woodhouse, of the West Middlesex Lawn Tennis Club, of London, England. The closing games were the finest ever witnessed in this country.
The weather was of the best, although there was a general anticipation that it might rain, when the opening match began. The number of spectators was much larger than on the previous days of the tournament, every boat from this City increasing the number. The list of competitors had been reduced to four players. The game began promptly at 4 P.M.

J. F. Hellmuth played against Edward Gray in one court, while the adjoining court was occupied by O. E. Woodhouse and C. M. Harvey... This brought the two foreign players together in the final struggle.
According to the rules governing the tournament four games were played. Mr. R. B. Whittemore acted as umpire for Woodhouse, while Harry Gamble looked after Hellmuth's interests. Hellmuth served the first ball. During the contest, which was a short one, some beautiful "rallying" was done between the players.

While the fourteenth inning was in progress, the ball served by Hellmuth passed above Woodhouse's head, and beyond his reach. He turned quickly and caught the ball with a back-handed movement, and sending it over the net, deprived Hellmuth of an ace.

In the third inning of the second game there was another fine exhibition when a ball served by Woodhouse passed back and forth between the players eight times. Woodhouse remained in nearly the same position during the struggle, meeting the ball with his outstretched long arms, while Hellmuth, who is a much smaller man, was kept actively dodging from one corner of his court to the other. Finally, Hellmuth slipped and fell, while the ball bounded through the court, and Woodhouse scored an "ace."

The third game was a long one. The players changed sides, and both looked hot and tired. Hellmuth opened the game by making an ace in the first inning. Woodhouse scored 4 blanks, and Hellmuth followed with 5 "misses." Woodhouse scored a similar number of "misses," while Hellmuth was making three aces. From that time Woodhouse forged ahead, and finally won the game.

The last game was very exciting. Hellmuth was 9 points behind the Englishman, and made an effort to assume the calmness displayed by Woodhouse. He so far succeeded that he closed the match by winning the game. Woodhouse, however, increased his aggregate score by 10 points, and this gave him the match, with 4 points to spare...

Bostonians James Dwight and his cousin Richard D. Sears attended the tournament, but they withdrew from the singles after it had been announced that they would play each other in the 1st round.
Dwight & Sears found the balls very different from those they had been playing with. Dwight & Sears did enter the doubles, and they lodged a protest against the balls, which they said were lighter than regulations demanded. Dwight & Sears lost in a semifinal to W.M. Wood & A.F.H. Manning of Morristown, N.J., 15-9, 15-2. Wood & Manning then lost in the final to James Rankine & W.M. Donald of Staten Island.

September 7, 1880: The New York Times reported:

The double games in the lawn-tennis tournament at Camp Worthington, Staten Island, in spite of the intensely hot weather which prevailed yesterday, began in good earnest...

Messrs. R. D. Sears and James Dwight arrived from Boston early in the day. Dwight began making complaints the moment he arrived on the grounds. The balls he said were not of the regulation weight, and he protested against their use.
Mr. R. B. Whittemore assured Dwight that the balls could not be much under weight, and on four of them being weighed to test the case they were found to weigh only a fraction less than two ounces each.
Woodhouse, the English champion, and the champion of America in the single games, was called on to decide the matter. He said that the balls used on Camp Washington were possibly a trifle lighter than those used by the All England and Marylebone Clubs; yet, since they had been used in the single games, he should object to any others being substituted.

Dwight, therefore, made a formal protest against the balls...

Richard Sears later described the incident (writing in 3rd person) in the 1890 Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes:

The Staten Island Club called this a championship of America, but as there were two or three other tournaments held by different clubs the same year, and each club called their tournament the championship, it would be very hard to allow the title to anyone for that year...

In the doubles, Dr. James Dwight and Mr. R. D. Sears of Boston were entered, and on their arrival at the grounds they found the balls to be used were not more than two-thirds the size of the balls which they had been playing with. The Boston men had been playing with an English ball, the same that had been used in the English championship. Dr. Dwight protested that the Staten Island ball was neither of the regulation weight nor of the regulation size; while the Staten Island Committee argued that it must be alright, as it had the word "Regulation" stamped across it in colored ink. This argument they held to be conclusive, and the Boston men were told that they might play or not, as they chose, but that no other ball could be used. They tried to play, and after defeating a Canadian pair (who were also accustomed to the English ball) they were somewhat easily defeated by a local pair.

Media


Winner Player Otway Edward Woodhouse


Players

Rounds
Round 1
Round 2
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final

Tournament