The 1878 Women's Tennis Season was mainly composed of regional, local amateur tournaments. This year 2 tennis events for women were staged in Limerick, Ireland and Staten Island, New York City, United States between September and October 1878
Season summary The women's amateur tennis seasons covers a period of thirty five years from 1876 to 1912. During this period there was no single international organization responsible for overseeing tennis. At the very start in tennis history lawn tennis clubs themselves organized events and some like the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in England (f.1877) and the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Ireland (f.1879) generally oversaw tennis in their respective countries.
This would later change when tennis players started (those that could) traveling the world to compete in events organized by individual national lawn tennis associations (NLTA)s, the oldest of which then was the United States Lawn Tennis Association (f. 1881). Certain countries that did not establish a national association until later, had provincial, regional or state lawn tennis associations overseeing tournaments in a province, region or state within a country, such as the Northern Lawn Tennis Association in Manchester, England (f.1880), had responsibility for coordinating tournaments staged by clubs in the North of England region. In Australia the Victorian Lawn Tennis Association (f.1904) organised tournaments in the state of Victoria, Australia.
In 1878 only two tournaments for women were staged one of them in Ireland. At the third edition of South of Ireland Championships in Limerick the singles event was won by a Miss Smith.Limerick Lawn Tennis Club. (2013) Limerick Lawn Tennis Club. History - Source: http://www.lltc.ie/about-us/history |website=www.lltc.ie Publisher: Limerick Lawn Tennis Club. Limerick, Ireland. In the United States the Ladies Club for Outdoor Sports and offshoot of the Staten Island Crocket and Baseball Club, Camp Washington, New Brighton, New York City organized a women's event at the combined Staten Island Crocket and Baseball Club Tournament.
In Japan in 1878 a Ladies' Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (LLTCC) was founded at Yamate Park by British ladies expatriates living in the foreign settlement in Yokohama made history by forming the first genuine tennis club in Japan. At the 1878 Wimbledon Championships the world's first major tennis tournament, it still remained an all men's event, no women's events were staged.
In 1913 the International Lawn Tennis Federation was created, that consisted of national member associations. The ILTF through its associated members then became responsible for supervising women's tour events.
Season results Notes 1: Challenge Round: the final round of a tournament, in which the winner of a single-elimination phase faces the previous year's champion, who plays only that one match. The challenge round was used in the early history of tennis (from 1877 through 1921),Papers Past, (20 March 1922). Abolition of Challenge Round. Paris International Championships. Evening Post Newspaper: Volume CIII, Issue 65, National Library of New Zealand. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers. Accessed: 14 July 2022 October. in some tournaments not all.* Indicates doubles ** mixed doubles Notes 2:Tournaments in italics were events that were staged only once that season
Key Main events Nauright, John, Parrish, Charles, (2012) Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice. ABC-CLIO. Santa Barbara, Calif, USA. ISBN 9781598843002. p. 198.Gillmeister, Heiner (1998) Tennis:Cultural History. A&C Black. London. ISBN 9780718501952. p.199.Lake, Robert J. (2014) A Social History of Tennis in Britain: Volume 5 of Routledge Research in Sports History: Routledge. Oxford. p.48. National events Provincial/Regional/State events County events Regular events
January to August No events
September EndedTournamentWinnerFinalistSemi FinalistQuarter FinalistSep 26.South of Ireland ChampionshipsLimerick, County Limerick, IrelandOutdoorGrassSingles Miss Smith6-1, 6-1 Mrs E. Lyons Miss Royse Miss Collingwood Miss M. Lysaght Miss Isabella Royse Helena Considine ** Heffernan Considine **6-4, 3–6, 6-2 Miss Lumley Robert Howden Kellie
October EndedTournamentWinnerFinalistSemi FinalistQuarter FinalistOct 11 Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club TournamentCamp Washington, New Brighton, Staten Island, United StatesOutdoorGrassSingles Mary Outerbridge13-11, 5-0 L. Outerbridge Mary Outerbridge * L. Outerbridge13-11, 5-1 Adeline Robinson Miss West
November to December No events
Tournament winners Singles This is list of winners sorted by number of singles titles Miss Smith (1) Limerick Mary Outerbridge (1) Staten Island
Doubles This is list of winners sorted by number of doubles titles Mary Outerbridge & L. Outerbridge (1) Staten Island
References