By William “Skip” Deegans
The U. S. Open Tennis Tournament that is underway in Queens, New York, had its modest and somewhat rocky beginning at The Greenbrier in 1937. Shown above is an undated postcard photo of the Casino where the matches took place. In July of 1937, the Greenbrier Golf & Tennis Club resigned from the United States Lawn Tennis Association and shortly afterwards announced it would sponsor the first U.S. Open Tennis Tournament in October and guaranteed $2,000 in prize money for professionals and amateurs. It was a move on the part of The Greenbrier to elevate the status of tennis to that of golf.
The late date meant the grass courts were subject to early morning frosts and were wet and slippery. Nevertheless, Vincent Richards and George Lott captured the first national open double tennis tournament. On October 18, Kabel Kozeluh, a Czechoslovakian soccer and hockey player who “Vinnie” Richards described as the “Fred Astaire of the courts,” defeated Bruce Barnes of Austin, Texas, on soggy courts to win the first singles tournament. While some newspapers criticized the tournament for attracting few entries and no nationally known players, other newspapers were more positive with one describing it as a noble experiment.
Sources: Hinton Daily News, Beckley Post-Herald, Merced Sun-Star, The Minneapolis Star, International Tennis Hall of Fame
