Tennis History

The Steel Tennis Racket Makes It’s Appearance (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1922)

Although the steel tennis racket would not know true glory until Jimmy Connors used his Wilson T2000 in the 1970s, a big splash was made by William A. Larned (1872 – 1926; seven times champion of the U.S. Open) when he designed the Dayton Steel Racket in 1922. It wasn’t the first steel racket, but it was an improvement on the existing ones.

The Invincible Mrs. Mallory (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1922)

The Vanity Fair sports writer Fred Hawthorne was filled with high praise for tennis star Molla Bjurstedt Mallory (1884 – 1959):

To-day Mrs. Mallory’s backhand shots are on par with her famous forehand drive, and her all-around play has improved tremendously. She is a splendid volleryer, too, though not in our typical American style. Mrs. Mallory has won the national singles title five times and last August defeated Mlli. Suzanne Lenglen, of France, probably the most finished woman tennis player in the world.

Girl’s Tennis Blouse (Magazine Advertisement, 1920)

Pictured in this file is Sis Hopkin’s Middy Blouse for tennis. Cut to resemble a sailor’s jumper, a popular look for girl’s upper-class leisure attire, the ad ran in VOGUE and TOWN & COUNTRY:


A chic and charming blouse for the charming summer girlie at the paddle, in the tennis court or in the school room.

The Versatile Mrs Jessup (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1922)

Marion Hall Zinderstein Jessup has one of the most versatile games on the courts. Overhead and off the ground, she possesses virtually all the strokes in tennis, forehand, backhand, lob, smash, volley and block volley, yet she has a weakness, one that has cost her many an important match, and when she met Mrs Mallory in 1920, probably the national championship.

In Praise of Tennis Flannels (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1918)

For tennis, of course, the conventional flannel trousers will continue their popularity this season. But many men will also wear white duck or twill trousers, which has the advantage of great coolness and comparatively easy to launder… -but wait! the excitement does not stop with such trilling prose! The reader will also find a lovely fashion drawing of some awfully mannly tennis players as well as photographs of the fashions being praised.

Tennis, 1919 (Leslie’s Weekly, 1919)

The net-heads of 1919 were delighted to be able to read tennis articles once more following that long dry spell that began in the summer of 1914 and left them all with such a distaste that had only recently ended.

The editors of Leslie’s Weekly jumped into the first post-war tennis season with this article, titled Tennis Again To The Fore where they began to enthusiasticly write of the great players of the sport; names like, Suzanne Lenglen (1899-1938)of France and Australia’s Norman Brooks (1877-1968) and Gerald L. Patterson (dates?)-who would all go on to dazzle and amaze the tennis world of the 1920s.

How Tennis Should Be Played (Outing Magazine, 1918)

These twelve black and white photographs depicting the tennis Guru George Agutter, in full court attire, are accompanied by short, pithy instructions as to how the racquet should be held and the feet positioned in order to play the game as they did in 1918.

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