This cabinet card features a group portrait of four woman, one man, and two children dressed for tennis and all the individual’s except the children are holding tennis rackets. According to an inscription on the reverse of the photograph, the image was produced in 1890 The photographer and the studio’s location are unknown. All the individuals in the photograph are wearing terrific hats. The gentleman in the image is wearing a bow tie. Can you imagine Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras wearing bow ties as they battled for victory in an important tennis tournament? Cabinet Cards with a tennis theme are not extremely rare. The sport of tennis was well established during the cabinet card era. In fact, a version of the game of tennis has been around for centuries. The rules of the game have not changed much since the 1890’s. The Wimbledon tournament in London, England has been played since 1877. The US Open began in 1881 and it was first played in Newport, Rhode Island.
TURN OF THE CENTURY TENNIS PLAYERS (1890)
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Nice!!
No, I cannot imagine today’s tennis champs, both male or female, wearing wonderful hats. I doubt if these tennis aficionados from 1890 wouldn’t believe their eyes if they saw Venus’ tennis “outfits”, let alone believe their ears when they heard the kind of language now commonplace on our nation’s tennis courts.