THE GILDED AGE CLUBS OF NEW YORK
Tennis began in Victorian England; it thrived in the new wealth of America
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The YouTube Video dates from 1931. In the first few seconds, a large, ornate placard gives of summation of its contents: “’Big Bill’ Tilden defeats Kozeluh in brilliant style in his first match as professional.” The tape rolls on. Three men walk onto an indoor tennis court 9two carrying racquets) that looks to be Madison Square Garden as droves of clapping men in tuxedoes cheer them. Cut to the players, dressed in long white pants and white polo shirts battling with slices and long strokes, one towering above the other, as a small team of line judges look on. The lanky Tilden wins, shaking hands with Karel Koželuh, a Czech tennis and football standout known for getting everything back. The men escape into the crowd soon after, likely enjoying a cigarette or cigar and a glass of scotch at the nearest clubhouse.
In 1930s New York, these sorts of events took place across Midtown at indoor courts from the Vanderbilt Club at Grand Central Station to the Racquet and Tennis Club a few blocks East. In fact, Tilden, in his later years, enjoyed the comforts of the Town Tennis Club, on Sutton Place near the East River. Founded by six-time Grand Slam champion Don Budge and 1931 Wimbledon champion Sidney Wood, since 1954 the Town Tennis Club has served “as a home away from home for countless tennis legends.” Here are TK more Gilded Age Tennis Clubs hidden among the 13 miles of Manhattan’s skyscrapers.
In the early 1950s, friends, competitors and business partners, Don Budge and Sidney Wood had a vision in a city in which street corners were becoming few and far between: take tennis to the rooftops. The two found a building along the East River and in 1954 —above an FBI garage — The Town Tennis Club opened for play. That day, Budge also became the club’s very first teaching pro — at $8 per hour. Since then, the Town Tennis Club has hosted movie stars, such as Charlton Heston, Ginger Rogers and Kirk Douglas, and countless tennis celebrities alike, often seen hitting and dining with each other. Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs held their pre-match Battle of the Sexes press conference at the Town Tennis Club — Riggs’ home turf. Town Tennis still hosts many USTA events in its clubhouse, flanked by a long hallway in which a collection of wooden racquets used by the greatest hang, and many current pros turn up to practice on its three rooftop courts.