Wightman Cup
{{Short description|Former annual women's team tennis competition}}
{{Infobox recurring event
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| country = USA, UK
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| first = {{Start date|1923|df=y}}
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| last = {{Start date|1989|df=y}}
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The Wightman Cup was an annual team tennis competition for women contested from 1923 through 1989 (except during World War II) between teams from the United States and Great Britain.
History
U.S. player Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman wanted to generate international interest in women's tennis the way Davis Cup did for men's. In 1920, she donated a sterling silver vase to the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) as a prize for an international team competition.{{cite news|title=Wightman Cup Up Again|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/01/15/109831946.pdf|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 15, 1922|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706061844/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/01/15/109831946.pdf|archive-date=July 6, 2022|url-status=live}} Initial efforts to involve teams from all over the world, and in particular France with Suzanne Lenglen, proved unsuccessful due to financial constraints.{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Tennis|year=1974|publisher=George Allen & Unwin Ltd|location=London|isbn=0047960426|editor=Max Robertson|pages=343–346}}
The USLTA decided to invite Great Britain to challenge for the prize. Each match consisted of seven 'rubbers': five singles rubbers and two doubles.{{cite news|title=Lady Tennis Stars in International Contest|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qwZTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0jcNAAAAIBAJ&dq=wightman%20tennis%20wills%20mollary&pg=4621%2C1430912|newspaper=The Morning Leader|date=Aug 11, 1923}} The top two players from each team would face each other in singles, with the matches then reversed. A third singles player from each team would play each other once. Two doubles teams would compete, but no player could play more than one doubles match. The cup always ended with the doubles match played between the two top pairs from each team.
The inaugural competition was played on 11 and 13 August 1923 in the newly constructed stadium at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York.{{cite book|last=USTA|first=United States Tennis Association|title=Official Encyclopedia of Tennis|year=1979|publisher=Harper & Row|location=New York|isbn=0060144785|edition=Rev. and updated 1st|editor=Bill Shannon|page=[https://archive.org/details/officialencyclop0000unit/page/362 362]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/officialencyclop0000unit/page/362}} The matches were played in even years in Britain and in odd years in the U.S. The U.S. matches were played at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York from the first year, 1923, through 1947, and the British matches were played at Wimbledon from the first year, 1924, through 1972.{{cite web| title = The LTA 1945 to 1988| work = History| publisher = LTA| url = http://www.lta.org.uk/AboutUs/History/19451988/ | access-date =2008-04-23 }}
The competition was a two-day event until 1967 when the U.S. event was held over three days in order to generate more revenue. A record 16,000 spectators attended that year. Until 1960, all editions of the Wightman Cup were played on grass courts: in later years also clay courts, cement and synthetic carpet were used. In 1978, the competition moved indoors to the Royal Albert Hall,{{Cite journal| title = Wightman Cup official programme 1978| date =1978-11-02}}. was sponsored for the first time, and was called the Carnation Wightman Cup.
The BBC provided broadcast coverage of the competition from 1936 until 1987, although the final broadcast was limited to BBC Radio; the last televised competition in the UK was 1986.
The competition was continued through 1989, with the USTA and the Lawn Tennis Association jointly announcing on February 20, 1990 that the competition would be suspended indefinitely, citing low interest following years of American domination."No Contest: Wightman Cup Is Canceled", Washington Post, February 21, 1990{{cite news|title=Wightman Cup Stopped|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/21/sports/wightman-cup-stopped.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 21, 1990}}{{cite news|title=British Cancel '90 Wightman Cup|url=https://www.dailypress.com/1990/02/21/british-cancel-90-wightman-cup/|newspaper=Daily Press|date=February 21, 1990}}
Results
Total wins: {{USA}} 51–10 {{GBR}}[http://www.tennislovers.com/Content/guiness_noframes.htm Guinness Tennis Book of World Records] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724192630/http://www.tennislovers.com/Content/guiness_noframes.htm |date=July 24, 2011 }}
See also
References
{{Reflist|3}}
External links
- [http://www.britishpathe.com/search/query/Wightman+Cup British Pathé – Newsreels Wightman Cup]
{{Wightman Cup}}
{{All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club}}
{{tennis box}}
Category:Tennis tournaments in England
Category:Tennis tournaments in Wales
Category:Tennis tournaments in the United States
Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1923