Tennis was the talk of Scarsdale in early 1900s; few tournament results available except for 1902-1904 coverage by Scarsdale Inquirer

Only incomplete records survive of tennis tournaments in the Club’s first three to four decades.

The earliest tournament mentioned in The Scarsdale Inquirer, which began publishing in 1901, was a Men’s Singles in July 1902. The entry fee was ten cents, and nonmembers were invited to participate. The prize, a watch fob, went to A. W. Kelly.

Champions mentioned in the intermittent reports of this era include Lou Tibbitts, Rupert Anderson, and Mary Howard. In 1904 Maude Gunning defeated Mary Howard to become the women’s champion, and Samuel Swift defeated Rupert Anderson to become the men’s champion. Isabel Atterbury collected several trophies during the early 1900s.

We do not have to imagine how the gallery looked on a day when the Club held a tournament, for a series of photos taken around 1895 captures the scene. On a slight rise above the tennis courts, spectators used their tandems, pony carts, and sulkies as mobile grandstands to watch the play.

Later, Club Historian Charles Barnes wrote, “Of a bright summer’s Saturday afternoon, here would gather the social lights not only of the community, but from surrounding towns as far as White Plains, Rye, Bronxville, etc., making a most colorful scene.”

Source: Diana Reische, Fox Meadow Tennis Club – The First Hundred Years, 1983

Scarsdale Inquirer August 4, 1904