Events in Sport
$48 Million Prize Money: Anyone For Tennis?
1877-07-09 First ever Wimbledon tennis championship begins - first official lawn tennis tournament - men's singles only
- 1881-08-31 1st US men's single tennis championships held at Newport, Rhode Island
- 1888-08-20 Longest US men's single tennis tournament match Palmer Presbrey defeats T S Tailer, 19-21, 8-6, 6-1, 6-4, an 80 game 1st-round contest
- 1893-07-24 For only time in history of US Tennis championships, an event is held off the Eastern seaboard. Men's double championship in Chicago
- 1901-12-14 1st table tennis tournament is held at the London Royal Aquarium
- 1907-07-02 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Philadelphia CC: Evelyn Sears beats fellow American Carrie Neely 6-3, 6-2 for her lone major singles title
Lacoste Wins 2nd French Title
1927-06-05 French Championships Men's Tennis: Hometown favourite Rene Lacoste wins 2nd of 3 French titles; beats Bill Tilden 6-4, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 11-9
- 1930-06-01 French Championships Men's Tennis: Frenchman Henri Cochet wins 3rd of 4 French titles; beats American Bill Tilden 3-6, 8-6, 6-3, 6-1
US Men's Tennis Open
1951-09-05 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Frank Sedgman of Australia beats American Vic Seixas 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 for his first of 2 straight US singles crowns
French Open Men's Tennis
1953-05-30 French Championships Men's Tennis: Ken Rosewall of Australia wins his 2nd Grand Slam title, beating American Vic Seixas 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
Sports History
1957-07-21 1st black to win a major US tennis tournament (Althea Gibson)
French Open Men's Tennis
1965-05-29 French Championships Men's Tennis: Fred Stolle beats fellow Australian Tony Roche 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 for his first Grand Slam singles title
US Men's Tennis Open
1971-09-02 Teenage debutants Chris Evert & Jimmy Connors win their first matches at the US Open Tennis Championships at Forest Hills
Navratilova Wins 100
1985-01-14 Martina Navratilova is 3rd to win 100 tennis tournaments (Connors & Evert)
- 1989-09-01 Chris Evert becomes the first player ever to win 100 matches in the US National/Open Tennis Championship by beating Patricia Tarabinia 6-2, 6-4
- 1991-11-10 Martina Navratilova ties Chris Evert with 157 pro tennis tournament wins
Sports History
2018-08-19 Novak Đoković beats Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Cincinnati Masters to become the first player to win all 9 Masters 1,000 tennis tournaments since the series started in 1990
Sports History
2018-09-23 Laver Cup Men's Tennis, Chicago: Alexander Zverev beats Kevin Anderson 6-7, 7-5, 10-7 to complete a 13-8 win for Team Europe over Team World
- 2020-03-08 BNP Paribas Open international tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, dubbed 'the 5th Grand Slam' is cancelled due to concerns surrounding COVID-19 and the safety of participants and attendees
- 2020-03-17 French Open becomes first Grand Slam tennis tournament to be postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic; moves from May 24-June 7 to September 20-October 4; conflicts with Laver Cup men’s team event
Deaths in Sport
- 1941-09-01 Benjamin Dwight, American tennis championship umpire, dies