U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships
The U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship is an annual ATP Tour tennis tournament that started in 1910. It is the last remaining ATP Tour-level tournament in the United States to be played on clay courts.
The tournament began in 1910 when the Western Lawn Tennis Association (a section of the United States Lawn Tennis Association now known as the USTA/Midwest) lobbied the USLTA that a National Clay Court Championship would help promote the establishment of more clay courts in the West. Clay courts were more economical to install and maintain than grass courts, and the hope was that the lower costs associated with court construction would allow for a more rapid expansion of the game. The first National Clay Court Championships were held at the Omaha Field Club with a crowd of 5,000 watching the finals. Participation and play on clay grew as a result of the event and others, and in 1914 the event was moved to the Cincinnati Tennis Club. It has since been played in numerous cities and is today held in Houston, Texas. Between 1970 and 1989 it was part of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour as part of the Grand Prix Championship Series of events (1970-1986).
Read more about U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships: Relocation
Famous quotes containing the words men, clay and/or court:
“Karen: I never knew it could be like this. Nobody ever kissed me the way you do.
Sergeant Warden: Nobody?
Karen: No, nobody.
Sergeant Warden: Not even one? Out of all the men you’ve been kissed by?
Karen: Well, that would take some figuring. How many men do you think there’ve been?
Sergeant Warden: I wouldn’t know. Can’t you give me a rough estimate?
Karen: Not without an adding machine.”
—Daniel Taradash (b. 1913)
“Protoplasm, simple or nucleated, is the formal basis of all life. It is the clay of the potter: which, bake it and paint it as he will, remains clay, separated by artifice, and not by nature from the commonest brick or sun-dried clod.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)
“In the court of the movie Owner, none criticized, none doubted. And none dared speak of art. In the Owner’s mind art was a synonym for bankruptcy.... The movie Owners are the only troupe in the history of entertainment that has never been seduced by the adventure of the entertainment world.”
—Ben Hecht (1893–1964)