Talk:Mary Ewing Outerbridge

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Introduction of tennis in America

The story that Mary Outerbridge played the first modern tennis in America is highly doubtful. Wingfield's sets weren't sold in England alone until February 25, 1874, so how can Outerbridge return from a trip to Bermuda with a set in her baggage on February 2nd in the same year? According to Gillmeister (1990), she probably brought a set to the US in May 1875. Tennis was introduced at several locations in the US in the mid-1870s. There is no proof where and when and by whom exactly the first tennis was played on US soil.--Kompakt (talk) 15:50, 30 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

In addition, this theory mainly bases on a letter of Eugenius H. Outerbridge to Dwight Davis dating from August 1923. Even though almost 50 years had since passed, Outerbridge claims he can still recall the exact year:

"To the best of my knowledge and belief it was the spring of 1874 that my sister, Mary Ewing Outerbridge, brought from Bermuda a lawn tennis net, rackets and balls which she obtained from the regimental stores through the courtesy of the colonel or some of the officers which whom she had played the game there."

Most interestingly in this context, E. H. Outerbridge also recalls that his sister set up a "hourglass-shaped court" on the occasion. This special shape, however, was a very unique feature of Wingfield's rules; in fact, at the introduction of Lawn Tennis in England in spring 1874 there was confusion about the shape of the court as many people were likely to set up a simple rectangular court. After curious questions arose on this topic in in the journal The Field, Wingfield emphasized in April 1874 that the shape of the court was intended to be that of an hourglass. This hourglass-shaped court was also integrated into the first widely acknowledged tennis rules from the MCC in 1875. So the question is: Why did Outerbridge, who undoubtedly didn't have one of Wingfield's rulebooks at hand in the early February of 1874, still know and stick to this very special rule of an hourglass-shaped court - a rule that many players who even had the rulebook weren't aware of (and consequently set up a rectangular court) until Wingfield expressed the importance of the rule in April 1874, and the MCC adopted it in its 1875 rules?--Kompakt (talk) 11:40, 19 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I am currently revamping the article and want to rebut this argument for future editors. Wingfield's late Feb 1974 sale of tennis equipment and April 1974 clarification of an hourglass court does not preclude the possibility of Outerbridge separately acquiring the appropriate equipment and early court shape, given that both were drawing from the sport's roots in Bermuda. The failure of some British tennis events to adhere to hourglass shape does not suggest that Outerbridge should have been prone to the same mistake, especially given that her family immigrated to the US from Bermuda. BluePenguin18 🐧 ( 💬 ) 23:33, 16 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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