The Attic of Tennis

Relics, both beautiful and strange, have a home above the International Tennis Hall of Fame

NEWPORT, R.I.—After a much busier than expected beginning to the offseason, I just spent a few delightful, restorative research days in one of my favorite places in the tennis world, which I’m excited to get to show some of to you here on Bounces today.

This place isn’t a tennis court¹, but rather a trove of treasures above the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, holding the surpluses of the museum’s bursting collection of tennis artifacts of all types.

After spending hours researching a possible topic for a next book idea (updates on that if and when it comes to fruition, fingers crossed), I had a bit of time left to revisit the vaults of the Hall of Fame’s collection, where items not currently on display are kept.

The overflow of items is only matched by the enthusiasm the curators and archivists have for the tennis history they safeguard and celebrate, so for a lifelong tennis geek like myself it’s a pretty heavenly spot for a stroll. And if you’re here at Bounces with me, odds you have a tennis geek side as well that will also enjoy this bit of tennis time travel.

We started the tour with the racquets, spanning all eras of tennis. stored side-by-side in uniform formation.

The Hall of Fame doesn’t try to have every type racquet ever made, but rather a representative sample of innovations that happened over time. This includes several novel ideas that didn’t catch on, like a curved handle.

And with racquets, you of course need balls, still kept in their original cans.

My favorite vault in Newport—a popular choice—is the one holding clothing worn by tennis stars of decades past. The flashiest in these wardrobes are the many dresses from the 1970s made by tennis couturier Ted Tinling, himself a Hall of Famer in the contributor category.

The materials used in past tennis clothing was nothing like the light, breathable, high-tech fibers of today, giving them a heaviness most current players would likely find uncomfortable. But the older clothes are undeniably more detailed, stylish, fun, and showy in a way that’s been lost from the sport at a real cost when it comes to the feel and the texture of the sport. Players hardly ever wear sequins on court anymore—like Rosie Casals did in her Tinling creation—which is a shame, but the flattening of current fashions goes beyond that.

For a more demure but still iconic look, here’s Bjorn Borg’s iconic Fila jacket.

The clothing collection stays constant and modern, keeping memorable outfits from recent years, too. There are outfits from incoming Hall of Famers, like the recently-inducted Maria Sharapova…

…and future Hall of Famers, like Venus Williams.

The Hall of Fame never falls behind—it now has a practice of asking for the outfits of the stars right as they walk off the court as Slam winners, which means they already have these two outfits you might recognize from the 2024 Australian Open champions.

If you’re more into feet, you’re in luck, too: the collection also has shoes. These from Roger Federer, still with traces of clay dust visible on them, were a Size 12.

The archives go beyond the fashions themselves, all the way back to their creations: the collection from Tinling includes many of his sketches, including these designs Tinling was making for Billie Jean King that included attached fabric swatches.

Beyond the fashion, there are lots of other media documenting the history of the sport on rows of shelves, including, of course, books:

Aisles of photographs, arranged by player (Ashe, Arthur comes near the beginning):

Tournament programs from around the world:

Tennis periodicals dating back more than 100 years:

Video footage of matches and ceremonies in formats from film reels to VHS tapes:

And of course, since the Hall of Fame is a place for winners, there are trophies.

And then there are other fun things that defy categorization, but that the Hall of Fame still wanted to acquire, like this old table game of something that looked like a combination of tennis, foosball, rod hockey, and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.

Or, in an eerie foreshadowing of future content here at Bounces, the disembodied head off an old Suzanne Lenglen statue.

The Hall of Fame’s archives are open to researchers—journalists, authors, academics, etc.—who are working on tennis projects of all sorts, and if that describes you, I highly recommend a trip to Newport to check them out, where the wonderful staff will help you find things you never imagined existed. And if you’re a tennis fan, you can check out all the most famous stuff in the Hall of Fame’s public collection once its museum reopens after renovations next May.

Thanks for reading!

1. If you’re wondering, my favorite court on tour is either Court 10 in Cincinnati or Stadio Pietrangeli in Rome.