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Title: ‘The old days of amateurism are over’: the Samaranch revolution and the return of Olympic tennis
Author(s): Matthew P. Llewellyn (author), Robert J. Lake (author)
Date: 2017
Abstract: Tennis featured in every Olympics from 1896 to 1924, after which disagreements between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) on matters pertaining to organisational control and the amateur eligibility of players led to tennis being removed from the Olympic Games as a full-medal event until the 1988 Seoul Olympics. This paper traces the steps of the sport’s reinstatement, from when efforts commenced in the 1950s, setting this development in the contexts of: broader political movements, shifting IOC leadership, burgeoning commercialisation of Olympic sport, the concomitant push for professionalisation and the declining influence of amateur ideals within both the Olympic movement and international tennis. Under the leadership of the amateur stalwart Avery Brundage, the IOC stymied attempts to facilitate tennis’s re-entry, challenging both the ILTF on failing to deal with widespread ‘sham-amateur’ practices and the avaricious promoters luring amateur players toward the professional ranks. Brundage and the IOC also strongly condemned the move to ‘open’ tennis and an acceptance of full-blown professionalism. Only a change in leadership, firstly with Lord Killanin and then the progressive reformer Juan Antonio Samaranch, did the IOC recognise the value of tennis within the Olympic movement, which by then had itself become increasingly money-oriented.
Subject(s): Olympics, Tennis, Tennis--History
Department: Sport Science

Title: 'Vive le defecteur!’ an analysis of the British media’s construction of Greg Rusedski’s national identity in the 1990s/2000s
Author(s): Robert J. Lake (author)
Date: 2018
Abstract: This paper concerns the former professional tennis player from 1991 to 2007, Greg Rusedski, who was born in Canada but shifted national allegiance to Great Britain in 1995. Despite an impressive playing career, that saw him reach the US Open final in 1997 and attain a world-number-four ranking, alongside his steadfast efforts to ingratiate himself to the broader public, Rusedski’s British identity remained contested throughout his career. Focusing on four mainstream newspapers covering the political left and right, this paper analyses the British media’s treatment of Rusedski, and aims to develop an understanding of how his constructed identity as more or less ‘British’ fluctuated so markedly throughout his career. While his on-court results were certainly a factor in Rusedski’s swings between acceptance and rejection, this paper suggests a more nuanced analysis that takes into account, firstly, how Rusedski was positioned and characterised in relation to his countryman, the ‘quintessential Englishman’ Tim Henman, particularly in relation to his accent, ostensible personality, personal appearance and physique, and playing style, and, secondly, how Rusedski’s key period of success, in the latter half of 1997, can be contextualised in the light of broader socio-political events and developments.
Subject(s): Mass media and sports, Tennis, National identity
Department: Sport Science

Title: Nationalism at war: Conflicting narratives of tennis, 1914-18
Author(s): Robert J. Lake (author)
Date: 2019
Abstract: Presented at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) Conference in Virginia Beach, VA (November, 2019).
Lake examines various narratives of how tennis featured in the Great War: as a lens to view British responses to the war, a reflection of amateur ideals, and as a platform to both condemn and support the playing of recreational sport during war time.
Subject(s): World War, 1914-1918--Propaganda, Tennis, Tennis--History, World War, 1914-1918
Department: Sport Science

Title: Defeat, decline and disconnect: A critical analysis of attempted reform in British tennis during the inter-war period
Author(s): Robert J. Lake (author), Simon J. Eaves (author)
Date: 2017
Abstract: Of all periods in the history of British tennis, arguably the inter-war years were the most significant and tumultuous. Officials recommenced activities with an ultimate goal of restoring British prowess at an international level. This paper aims to assess the long-term effectiveness of the LTA’s efforts in these regards. It was far from straightforward. After several years of lacklustre performances, a group of reformers staged a mutiny that culminated at the turbulent 1922 AGM, where they unseated several incumbent councillors. Yet they failed to shift significantly the balance of power away from the ageing establishment figures they had targeted. Nevertheless, a period of self-reflection followed, and the partially reformed LTA responded by refocusing its efforts on two key areas: the development of coaching-professionals and of tennis in the public schools. However, it was evident that deep-rooted antipathy towards the promotion of a more modern, American-inspired, performance-oriented, 'professional' mentality among players, and fears over the concomitant erosion of amateurism, underpinned the LTA’s reluctance to increase access and develop talent among those outside of the upper-middle class. Fred Perry’s exploits offered a temporary respite from some of the criticism, but ultimately merely proved to mask the LTA’s staunch conservatism during this period.
Subject(s): Public schools, Tennis, Tennis--History
Department: Sport Science

Title: The Wimbledon championships, the all England lawn tennis club, and “invented traditions”
Author(s): Robert J. Lake (author)
Date: 2018
Abstract: The Wimbledon Championships, staged annually at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), is a British sporting event of great social significance. Its popularity stretches beyond the high standards of tennis on display to what it seems to represent culturally for many people. Wimbledon’s public image has been carefully constructed over the years, with consideration given to how the players look, behave, and play; the appearance of the courts and AELTC grounds; the refreshments; its corporate partners; and its relationship to television and media generally. This study suggests that many of these aspects, including Wimbledon’s fashions and the all-whites clothing rule, the grass courts, the strawberries and cream and Pimm’s, the royal box, “Henman Hill,“ and the eulogizing of Fred Perry, conform to Eric Hobsbawm’s concept of “invented traditions.” Through analysis of Wimbledon’s subtle branding and constructed public image, as gleaned from testimonies from AELTC executive-committee members and high-profile Wimbledon officials, this article discusses how these invented traditions serve various functions for the AELTC, namely, to establish social cohesion among an “imagined community” of Wimbledon fans, to legitimize Wimbledon’s high status globally, and to inculcate beliefs, value systems, and behavioral conventions in tandem with Wimbledon’s nostalgia for its amateur “golden age.”
Subject(s): Tennis--History, Tennis

Title: The ‘ubiquitous apostle of international play’, Wilberforce Vaughan Eaves: The forgotten internationalist of lawn tennis
Author(s): Simon J. Eaves (author), Robert J. Lake (author)
Date: 2016
Abstract: In the context of sustained imperial dominance during the late Victorian era, foreigners perceived British playing styles, methods and approaches to lawn tennis as ‘blueprints’ for aspiring players. Those seeking to learn the game were largely dependent on observing skilled performers, however before the mid-1890s, most of the best British players declined to venture to Australasia and America, perceiving the opposition as inferior and their championships unworthy of their participation. Moreover, while British-trained coaching-professionals – widely considered the world’s best – offered instruction in a small number of clubs, they also rarely ventured outside of Europe. Alongside these barriers, the parochial and ethnocentric Lawn Tennis Association was less than proactive in their approaches to fostering international relations. One man, however, Dr Wilberforce Vaughan Eaves, did more for the internationalization of the sport than anyone else during this period, travelling extensively in America, South Africa and Australasia, demonstrating his skills, offering instruction and advising officials. Consequently, he helped develop the sport’s international character, laying the foundations for the Davis Cup, helping to foster Anglo-Australasian and Anglo-American relations, and hastening the development of foreign players, particularly in Australasia. This paper assesses the notable contributions of a player, coach and diplomat who has been largely ignored.
Subject(s): Tennis--History, Tennis
Department: Sport Science

Title: “Our Ginny”: Virginia Wade, the 1977 Wimbledon championships and the gendering of national identity
Author(s): Robert J. Lake (author)
Date: 2019
Abstract: Within sport media, it is customary for sportsmen rather than sportswomen to be accorded the privileges and responsibilities of competing not just for the nation but also on behalf of it. However, under certain circumstances, it is apparent that the typically gendered media conventions may shift to accommodate nationally important sportswomen. This study concerns the British tennis player Virginia Wade, and via a textual analysis, the print-media discourse surrounding her 1977 Wimbledon triumph is analyzed. It is argued that the wider sociohistorical and personal contexts of her victory helped facilitate a shift, whereby her national identity rather than her gender becoming the primary media frame. Not only was Wade’s win considered significant amidst the mid-1970s economic downturn in Britain, it also coincided with Wimbledon’s centenary and a visit by the Queen during jubilee year. Consequently, her victory was imbued with national symbolism through displays of “banal nationalism.” Coupled with Wimbledon’s “invented traditions,” Wade was represented as embodying the British “imagined community” through her play and approach. This study’s findings reassert the importance of examining the intersections of gender and national identity in sport media and urges for more research that foregrounds historical context as a key factor for female athlete national transcendence.
Subject(s): National identity, Tennis, Tennis--History, Women tennis players
Department: Sport Science

Title: The development and transformation of Anglo-American relations in lawn tennis around the turn of the twentieth century
Author(s): Robert J. Lake (author), Simon J. Eaves (author), Bob Nicholson (author)
Date: 2018
Abstract: Anglo-American relations in tennis are a fascinating subject, particularly in the period of the late-19th/early-20th century, during which on- and off-court developments reflected and indicated broader societal shifts, as the US gradually replaced Britain as the world’s leading industrialized nation. This paper aims to discuss how Anglo-American relations in lawn tennis shifted throughout this period, from when lawn tennis was “invented” in Britain to the onset of the Great War, and to contextualize these developments in the light of shifting broader cultural relations more generally between both nations, alongside developments within sport and tennis more specifically. The following aspects are examined: attitudes toward the relative standards of both American and British players from correspondents of both nations in terms of their overall rank and possibilities of success; and, attitudes from tennis officials toward the formal organization of competitions between players of both nations.
Subject(s): Tennis, Tennis--History
Department: Sport Science

Title: ‘Sandwich-men parade the streets’: Conceptualizing regionalism and the north-south divide in British lawn tennis
Author(s): Robert J. Lake (author), Andy Lusis (author)
Date: 2017
Abstract: The bulk of tennis historiography has tended to project a Southern-centric image of the sport, through descriptions of its clubs and tournaments, its players, and associations. Both the Lawn Tennis Association and the Wimbledon Championships began and have remained bastions of Southern hegemony, but there existed (and continues to exist) a large and active ‘tennis culture’ in the North that has been overlooked. The aim of this paper is to critically explore the notion of a north-south divide in tennis, commencing from the late nineteenth century to the early post-war period. Comparing both northern and southern regions, including Scotland and Wales, it focuses on the emergence of clubs and tournaments, the attitudes, values and behaviours of players and spectators, and the formation of associations. Evidence suggests the existence of a north-south divide, but one that is qualitatively distinct from that experienced in popular team sports; less a reliance on the construction of Northern sporting heroes, with their concomitant representative personalities and characters, and more a focus on the construction of regional stereotypes of clubs, tournaments and players, and the focus on different values, all set in broader historical contexts of rising and waning fortunes of Northern regions in industry and commerce.
Subject(s): Regionalism and sports, Tennis, Tennis--History
Department: Sport Science

Title: Tim Henman, British tennis and the social construction of English identity in the 1990s and 2000s
Author(s): Robert J. Lake (author)
Date: 2017
Abstract: Tim Henman was inarguably the best English player, and the most popular and socially significant British player, since Fred Perry. Throughout his career, media constructions of him fluctuated from being heralded as a potential Wimbledon champion, to a weak, underachieving perennial loser. Throughout his career, and despite the constant transition of dominant narratives, Henman’s quintessential ‘Englishness’ remained a key component, expressed through his image, appearance, ostensible personality/character and playing style. His ‘Englishness’ was especially apparent against the backdrop of the Wimbledon Championships, which used Henman’s success in its marketing of ‘tennis in an English garden’. This paper assesses the shifting meanings behind, and values of, Henman’s sustained image, and examines how changes in the narratives of Henman as a player reflected broader shifts in English identity. It is argued that Henman played a significant role in how Englishness was constructed, both in Britain and abroad, during the 1990s and 2000s.
Subject(s): National identity, Tennis, Tennis--History
Department: Sport Science

Title: Dwight Davis and the foundation of the Davis cup in tennis: Just another doubleday myth?
Author(s): Simon J. Eaves (author), Robert J. Lake (author)
Date: 2018
Abstract: Dwight F. Davis is widely credited with having invented, or at least conceived, the original idea for the international tennis competition that bears his name, the Davis Cup. This paper aims to debunk this myth through comprehensive critical analysis of the period preceding Davis's apparent epiphany in 1899. Previous national-team-based competitions are investigated, alongside key figures in American and British/Irish tennis, to demonstrate that numerous others had proposed the idea for an international team-based competition long before Davis and that Davis may have appropriated his idea from others with whom he came into contact. Davis's wealthy background, political ambitions, and model-American image arguably helped smooth the process of his idea being officially accepted by the United States National Lawn Tennis Association, which likely saw in Davis a perfect "frontman" for American tennis at a time when the nation used sporting prowess to promote its identity, particularly in relation to the British, in international sporting competition.
Subject(s): Tennis--History, Tennis
Department: Sport Science

Title: The forgotten powerhouse: Analyzing the brief rise to prominence of lawn tennis in Ireland in the late-19th century
Author(s): Simon J. Eaves (author), Robert J. Lake (author)
Date: 2019
Abstract: Within the historiography of lawn tennis in Ireland, there remains considerable scope to discern how the sport rose to prominence – reaching its apex in the early 1890s – among the wealthy landed classes, and what influence it had upon the structure and culture of the sport globally. This is set against the assumed view of lawn tennis being a rather marginal sport during the late-nineteenth century when the fight for popularity between native Irish and British team sports dominated media narratives. Separated from much of this commotion, lawn tennis helped to forge landed aristocratic/gentry identity within urban/suburban locales across Ireland – principally in Dublin, where its leading clubs and championship were regarded almost on a par with its equivalents in London – and also emancipate Irish sportswomen, and a small number of working-class coaching-professionals who plied their trade in the leading clubs. Given the broader historical context of increasing land agitation and subsequent rising Irish populist nationalism, the growth of lawn tennis in itself remains an interesting phenomenon. Thus, the brief rise to prominence of tennis in Ireland, and specifically Dublin, is examined, contextualized within broader socio-cultural and politico-religious developments that pervaded the organization of Irish society, and British-Irish relations, during this time.
Subject(s): Nineteenth century, Tennis, Tennis coaches, Tennis--History
Department: Sport Science

Title: Discourses of social exclusion in British tennis: Historical changes and continuities
Author(s): Robert J. Lake (author)
Date: 2014
Abstract: Contemporary broader government policy surrounding "social exclusion" has tended to characterise it in largely negative terms. Contemporary sport policy in British tennis is no different. Every player excluded from grassroots participation represents a wasted opportunity to develop talent. Thus, "inclusion" and "accessibility" feature today, and have for some time, at the core of contemporary policy from the Lawn Tennis Association, which as an organisation has come to judge itself based on broad participation figures and elite level success, which are often considered incompatible. Such measurements of an association's performance reflect broader political concerns and objectives, and also ignore the sport's elitist past, which actually celebrated the exclusion of particular societal groups as a major positive factor in its rapidly growing popularity among the socially aspirational British middle classes. This paper will take a historical perspective with regard to discourses of social exclusion in British tennis, and consider the ways in which exclusive features of the sport have been both celebrated as a means of enhancing its prestige and criticised for contributing to declining British performances. Such discourses will be positioned within broader historical contexts of shifting class relations, Empire decline, burgeoning commercialism in sport, and the increasing accountability among sport governing bodies.
Subject(s): Tennis--History, Lawn Tennis Association, Social isolation, Tennis, Great Britain, Performance evaluation, Social exclusion, Britain, Sports & State
Department: Sport Science