In Search of America

Abstract

Anglo-American relations in tennis are a fascinating subject, particularly in the period of the late-19 th /early-20 th century, during which the developments seen both on and off court were reflective and indicative of broader societal shifts, as the US gradually replaced Britain as the world's leading industrialized nation. The aims of this paper are to discuss how Anglo-American relations in lawn tennis shifted throughout this period, from when lawn tennis was "invented" in Britain to the onset of the Great War, and to contextualize these developments in the light of shifting geo-political/economic and cultural relations more generally between the two nations, alongside developments within sport and tennis more specifically. Shifts in the following areas are examined: attitudes toward and opinions of the relative standards of both American and British tennis players from the general public, correspondents and the media of the other nation, in terms of their overall rank and possibilities of success; and, attitudes from tennis officials toward the formal organization of competitions between players of both nations.America's aggressively egalitarian version of democracy could undermine Britain's longheld and deeply stratified class system, which was sustained by the widely-held belief that 'guiding the masses' was an upper-class 'responsibility'. 13 Approaches to sport were a key target, but, often unwilling to negotiate "amateur" ideals, the British initially projected their version of amateurism -in the image of a "gentleman amateur"as unequivocally the version to which all athletes worldwide should replicate. 14 American officials, however, were less concerned about limiting coaching/training opportunities or the unrelenting pursuit of competitive success, and American athletes seemed to play sport with less restraint and with a more performance-oriented approach. This became increasingly commonplace in American sport, as Frederick Taylor's theory of "scientific management" (or "Taylorism"), which sought to analyze and synthesize workflows to improve economic efficiency and labour productivity in the workplace, made inroads in other spheres of human endeavour throughout the late-19 th /early-20 th centuries. American athletes, according to Rader, brought 'the same winning-at-all-costs ethos that prevailed in the marketplace. Hence, defeating one's rivals by any means... was consistent with their experiences in the world of commerce and industry'. 15 This attitude ultimately gave American athletes an edge, but the British criticized their general approach to sport, depicted them as 'savages' and 'cads, cheats, liars who… were incapable of [sportsmanship]… and who knew little about the finer things in life and cared even less: in short, ill-mannered, uncultured philistines'. 16 Their ensuing rivalry was exposed, perhaps most famously, during the 1908 Olympic Games, when divergent interpretations of "amateurism", particularly related to coaching/training in track-and-field athletics, brought a protracted power s...

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