Tennis

TENNIS was first played in Cowichan and VICTORIA on grass courts around 1885. The Victoria Lawn Tennis Club was formed in 1886 and the COWICHAN BAY Lawn Tennis Club came into being in 1888, holding its first S Cowichan Open in 1912, a summer tournament that continued through the 20th century as the VANCOUVER ISLAND championships. The Cowichan club, the longest-lasting club in BC, still has Canada's only lawn courts. VANCOUVER's first tennis court, circa 1888, belonged to the SALMON CANNING tycoon H.O. BELL-IRVING. The Vancouver Lawn Tennis Club was inaugurated in 1897 with Richard MARPOLE, CPR superintendent and land developer, as its first president.

J.F. Foulkes of Victoria was BC's first real tennis star, clearly establishing himself as the top player in western Canada during the 1890s. Several leading American players—Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, Dwight Davis, Holcombe Ward and Mal Whitman among them—played in BC in the early 1900s, helping to increase the sport's popularity in the province. Victoria's Marian Pitts defeated Wimbledon superstar Elizabeth Ryan for the Mainland Championship in 1905 to provide BC with its first win over world-calibre opposition. Edward Cardinall was an early BC star; he was BC singles champ 1909–13 and later became an important administrator, the only non-American to win the Marlborough Award for outstanding contribution to tennis. One of the most successful Davis Cup (international team championship) teams in Canadian history was made up entirely of BC players. In 1913 Victoria players Foulkes, Bobby Powell, Bernie SCHWENGERS and H.C. Mayes defeated Belgium and South Africa to reach the European zone finals, which they lost to the USA. Powell, one of BC's earliest participants at Wimbledon, had started the Pacific Northwest Tennis Assoc in 1904 to link BC, Washington and Oregon. PNW championships remained important competitions for BC players throughout the century.

Competitive tennis had a hiatus during WWI but spread to KELOWNA, VERNON and NELSON in the 1920s and Cardinall was involved in the founding of the BC Lawn Tennis Assoc in 1921. In Vancouver, Jack WRIGHT emerged as BC's best player in the inter-war period by winning 6 national titles in singles and doubles play. He later was named by the Canadian Press as Canada's tennis player of the first half-century. Marjorie Leeming dominated BC women's tennis during the 1920s when she was a frequent provincial champ. In 1925 she won every title possible in Canada: BC and Canadian singles, doubles and mixed doubles. She also won the Canadian singles title in 1926, the doubles again in 1930 and 1932 and the mixed doubles in 1930. Leeming was named BC's Outstanding Tennis Player 6 times. The STANLEY PARK Tennis Tournament began in 1931, and it became the developing ground of many top competitive players. The BC player of the 1950s was certainly Lorne MAIN, who won the national singles title at age 19 and later made it to the 2nd and 3rd rounds of Wimbledon and captained Canada's Davis Cup team. Bob Puddicombe, another national champion, also qualified for Wimbledon (1966) and was selected to the Davis Cup team (1965–69).

The first family of BC tennis was undoubtedly the Bardsleys: parents Jim and Jean and sons Tony and Bob. Tony was the most successful of the clan, earning several national titles and 3 Davis Cup selections and being ranked #1 in Canada in the mid-1970s. During the 1990s the Bardsley brothers continued to win national titles at the Masters level. Other BC Davis Cup stars over the years included Paul Willey, Fred Bolton, Jim Macken, Jim Skelton and Walter Stohlberg. The international women's Federation Cup team featured Victoria's Susan Butt and Wendy (Barlow) Pattenden and Vancouver's Marjorie Blackwood. Pattenden, the Canadian singles champ in 1980, played at Wimbledon and led Canada to the 1980 Championship of the Americas title and 4th place at the Pan Am Games. Blackwood, ranked 48th in the world in 1983, won 3 national championships, represented Canada in the Federation Cup 1972–80 and reached the doubles quarter-finals at Wimbledon twice. In 1987 Vancouver's Hollyburn Country Club hosted the Federation Cup, featuring the world's best women's tennis players from 45 different nations. BC tennis produced 2 of the most successful Canadians in the history of the sport in the 1980s. Helen KELESI rose to 13th in the world in 1989, the highest ranking ever by a player from BC. Grant CONNELL was one of the best doubles players in the world, reaching the Wimbledon finals 3 times and winning the 1995 World Championship with his American partner, Pat Galbraith.

Since 2005 the Hollyburn Country Club in West Vancouver has hosted the annual Odlum Brown Vancouver Open which has become the province′s leading tennis tournament, attracting ranked players from around the world. Big names who have played the VanOpen include Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray and Marcos Baghdatis, as well as Canadian stars Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard. In 2013 Vernon’s Vasek Pospisil was the men’s champion, a year before he shot to international stardom by winning the doubles championship at Wimbledon.
by Silas White