Tennis
PLANS MADE FOR TENNIS TOURNAMENT
At Rock Spring Country Club
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, May 04, 1915
Plans for the largest tennis tournament ever held in the city of
Alton was laid at a meeting of the representatives of different
clubs interested in tennis at the Rock Spring Country Club last
evening. The tournament is to be conducted under the auspices of the
Rock Spring Country Club, but with the aid of the members of the
other clubs. Representatives of the Alton Country Club, the Tilicum
and the Oakla Clubs, and the Sauvage Tennis Courts will assist in
conducting the tournament.
The tournament is open to the general public, and anyone interested
in tennis is urged to join. The tournament will start on the first
day of June. The entrees will close on the evening of May 15. The
entrance fee will be one dollar, and this entitles the entrant to
compete for the honors in both the singles and the doubles. The
balls are to be furnished by the committee in charge of the
tournament. Entries can be made to august Beiser or James Morgan
before the fifteenth of this month.
Both the singles and the doubles will be elimination tournaments,
with consolation prizes. Cups will be presented to the winners.
According to the rules decided upon last evening, the preliminaries
may be played upon any court in the city, but the finals and the
semi-finals must be played on the Rock Spring Country Club courts.
The promoters of the tournament have every reason to believe that it
will be one of the most successful ever conducted in the city of
Alton. It is planned to secure between forty and fifty players to
compete for the prizes. The interest in tennis in the city of Alton
has been stimulated wonderfully of late, and it is expected that
city tournament will do more than anything else to promote the game
in the city.
TENNIS TOURNAMENT
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, June 01, 1915
James Morgan sprang a surprise at the Rock Spring Country Club
yesterday afternoon, when he won from R. Jackson by taking two out
of three sets. It was generally conceded that Morgan would lose this
match. Even Morgan himself did not think he had a chance to win.
In the singles, Oertli won from Houts 6-2, 6-3, at the Oakla Tennis
Courts. Sauvage and Watson won from McKinney and Carson, 6-3, 6-1.
All of the sets in the first round must be played by the evening of
June 9.
ALTON TENNIS TOURNAMENT
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, June 07, 1915
Some very interesting tennis matches were played off over the
weekend in the Alton Tennis Tournament, and with a few exceptions,
all of the matches in the opening round of the tournament have been
played. The final matches will be in on Wednesday evening, and a
meeting of the committee in charge of the tournament will be held on
Thursday.
George Sauvage tore some of the muscles of his right leg loose in
his match with Abbott Sherwood on Saturday afternoon. Sherwood had
knocked an exceptionally hard ball, and Sauvage made a desperate
effort to return the ball. As he was running towards it, the muscles
in his leg snapped. The score for the first set was 6-1 in favor of
Sherwood, and with the score 5-0 in favor of Sherwood, Mr. Sauvage
was forced to forfeit. It seems likely that Mr. Sauvage will be
prevented from taking further part in the city tournament on account
of the injury to his leg.
Probably the most interesting match played thus far was the one at
the Rock Spring Country Club yesterday afternoon, between Sherwood
and Hastings on one side, and Hoefert and Walter on the other. A
large crowd witnessed this game, which was hard-fought throughout.
The older players won the match in straight sets 6-2 and 6-3.
The longest set in the city tournament was played yesterday morning
between A. Beiser and Norman. After losing five straight games,
Norman improved his style of play, and won five games. Then followed
one of the most closely contested matches of the tournament, which
Norman won, 10-8. Norman followed this by winning the second set,
6-4, and taking the match.
Among the other sets that were played in the singles in the city
tennis tournament and the results are as follows: Johnston beat
Carson, 6-1, 6-1; J. Olin won from Mohr, 6-1, 4-6, and 6-1; Hartmann
won from Degenhardt, 6-0, 6-1. In the doubles, Gallagher and Volz
won from Houts and Oertli, 6-1 and 6-3; Joesting and Corbett beat
Brandenberg and Mohr, 6-3, 2-6, and 6-1.
NEW TENNIS CLUB IN ALTON
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, June 22, 1915
It is likely that n o other sport has seen such a boom in a single
year in Alton as tennis. Many Alton sport fans were surprised when
the city tennis tournament was started some time ago, and there were
forty-six entries for the cups. Following this, there was an
announcement in the columns of the Telegraph that a number of the
girls from Upper Alton would form a tennis club, and would play
during the summer months on the Shurtleff College courts.
Now it is being announced that a club, consisting of eight boys,
will hold their opening of one of the finest courts in the city
about the fourth of July. The court is well under construction at
the present time, and it should be in first-class condition by July
4th. The members of the new club are Frank Huebner, Alb. And Frank
Girard, Walter Benzinger, Carl Koenig, John Hurley, George Noll, and
William Most. It is the plan to take in several more members after
the club has been thoroughly organized and the court is completed.
The court is being constructed in the rear of the Hurley grocery
store on East Fourth Street. The spot for the court was formerly
used by a greenhouse. The greenhouse was recently disposed of, and
the members of the new tennis club succeeded in securing the spot
for their court. The location is central, and ideal for a tennis
court. The sides are to be twelve feet in height, and the court is
to be wired on four sides to make it practically impossible to knock
out the tennis balls. The members of the club have been working
nights on the construction of the new courts. They have been
progressing rapidly with the work, and feel that they will have it
finished very shortly.