The Early Days
Before 1900 tennis was played as a leisure activity by a few Europeans belonging to the great trading houses. The desire for competitive tennis did not emerge until the early years of the 20th century, and it was only in 1909 that the Hong Kong Lawn Tennis Association was formed when representatives from several recreation clubs met at the Hong Kong Cricket Club in Chater Road to discuss the beginning of a Tennis League.
The earliest recorded results were of matches played at clubs like the Hong Kong Cricket Club in a league, which also included Craigengower Tennis Club, the Taikoo Club, Y.M.C.A. (both European and Chinese Departments), the Lusitano Club, the Wigwam Tennis Club, the Civil Service, the Navy Yard and the Kowloon Club. The first League ran from May to July 1909.
In 1911, the first National Grass Court Men's Singles Championship, won by H.A. Nisbet, was played at the Hong Kong Cricket Club at Chater Road in Central. 1918 heralded the first victory for a Chinese player, Ng Sze-Kwong, who then went on to win six successive titles. The first Ladies' Singles National Championship was held in 1920 on grass at the United Services Recreation Club in Kowloon and was won by Mrs Armstrong. Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles National Championships were also held at the USRC until wartime, after which these competitions were moved to the Ladies Recreation Club.
By 1938, the Hong Kong LTA had 25 clubs, with 72 courts on the island of Hong Kong and over 80 in Kowloon, nearly all of which were grass. Public courts did not exist and the playing of tennis remained a privilege available only to a wealthy minority. For much of its early life, the HKLTA League was dominated by the Chinese Recreation Club but after the Second World War other clubs, including the South China Athletic Association, were able to provide real competition.
Tennis dominated by a Talented Few
National titles were shared by a small number of very talented players. The Rumjahn cousins dominated men's tennis for many years from the mid-1920s onwards. S.A Rumjahn won 5 National Singles titles between 1925 and 1940, and captured 13 doubles titles with his cousin, H.D. Rumjahn, eleven of them consecutively from 1925 to 1935.
In 1936 Tsui Wai-pui won the first of his 32 Hong Kong titles, many with his brother Tsui Yun-pui, over a 34-year period, and represented China in the 1937 Davis Cup. The most successful player was Ip Koon-hung, the 1948 China National Games Champion, with 53 grass and hard-court titles (26 singles and 27 doubles) over a 20-year span beginning in 1947. In addition to these three, serious competition was provided by Edwin Tsai, V.T. Wang and K.C. Dao who all gained Singles and Doubles titles in the 1950s. In 1954, Ip and Tsai represented the Colony at Wimbledon and other prominent UK tournaments.
Under the auspices of the HKLTA, frequent exhibition matches were played in the 1950's on the HKCC grass courts. Davis Cup players from Australia (including Lew Hoad and Neale Fraser), India, Pakistan and Sweden (including Lennart Bergelin), and top Americans like Hamilton Richardson and Dorothy Head provided a high class of tennis. Then, in December 1957, as a foretaste of the professional tennis to come, Jack Kramer's "Circus", featuring Pancho Segura, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall and Kramer himself, displayed their skills at Chater Road.
Tennis Expands as the Open Era Arrives
The advent of open tennis in 1968 brought the game more into the public eye and the Hong Kong Lawn Tennis Association soon launched its own development programme. Professional tournaments were first held in 1972 at the then primitive facilities of Victoria Park, which were eventually replaced by a purpose-built 4000-seater stadium in 1982.
The Hong Kong public was treated to the skills of some of the world's top players, including Rod Laver who, in 1973, won a tournament which was part of the Ken Catton-inspired Asian tennis circuit, which also included events in Australia, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. Famous participants in the early days of professional tennis in Hong Kong included Ken Rosewall, Jimmy Connors, Ilie Nastase and Ivan Lendl.