Professional Tennis in Europe Before 1926
There were numerous teaching professionals, that is, players who gave lessons for money at private clubs and public parks. Because they accepted money in return for their services, they were not allowed to participate in amateur tournaments. They did, however, create a number of relatively small professional tournaments for players like themselves, primarily in Europe.
Some of the oldest professional matches known are those between Irish player George Kerr and American Tom Pettitt. In 1889, Kerr beat Pettitt three times in four meetings. In June 1890, Kerr won all three matches against Pettitt in Dublin.
In April 1898, a professional, round-robin tournament was played in Paris on covered courts. Both Thomas Burke (tutor of the Tennis Club de Paris, former teacher of Joshua Pim who won Wimbledon twice) from Ireland and Kerr (Fitzwilliam Club) defeated Tom Fleming (Queen's Club), and Burke defeated Kerr 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
During the 1900 Paris Exhibition, a professional tournament was held on clay, with Burke finishing ahead of both Kerr and the Englishman Charles Hierons.
In the spring of 1903 in Nice on clay, Reggie Doherty, the leading amateur, defeated the leading professional, Burke, 1-6, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0.
Burke was reportedly as good a player as the leading amateurs, but he is totally forgotten today, as was later Charles Haggett, the best English teaching professional. In 1913, Haggett settled in the United States, invited by the West Side Tennis Club of Forest Hills, New York and became the coach of the American Davis Cup team. In practice matches, he beat the leading amateurs Tony Wilding, Wimbledon winner and Maurice McLoughlin, Wimbledon All Comer's winner.
In the 1920s, Karel Koželuh, Albert Burke (son of Thomas Burke), and Roman Najuch were probably the most notable, as well as the best, of these players. The Bristol Cup, held at Beaulieu or at Cannes on the French Riviera and won seven consecutive times by Koželuh, was "the world's only significant pro tennis tournament." Koželuh went on to become one of the very best of the touring professionals in the 1930s; so, it is easy to imagine that he, Burke, and probably other forgotten teaching professionals were among the top 10 amateur and professional players in any given year before 1928, which is the first year for which any of the sources cited here give a ranking for all the top players of that year. All top 10 rankings for the years before 1928 were for amateurs only.
Read more about this topic: World-number-one Male Tennis-player Rankings
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