1890 women's tennis season

The 1890 Women's Tennis Season was a tennis tournament circuit composed of 81 major, national, regional, county, and regular tournaments. The season began in January 1890 in Chepauk, India, and ended in January 1891 in Dunedin, New Zealand.^[1]

From 1888 until 1912 Britain's Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), grew in status and influence to become the de facto international tennis governing body before the proper International Lawn Tennis Federation commenced operations.^[2] Despite the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) forming in 1881 a good seven years before the LTA, it was the British body that set laws, settled disputes and organized the increasingly complicated tournament calendar before the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) formed in March, 1913.^[3]

After the formation of the ILTF the world tennis circuit going forward was a highly organised and structured network of national and international tournaments.^[4] Most tennis tournaments were usually mixed events for men and women, and the women's international tennis circuit certainly up to 1923 was composed mainly of tournaments on the British and European Circuits.^[5] After the USNLTA joined the ILTF this would later change with more and more tournaments being staged globally. Women tennis players on the world circuit up to the open era were funded by their national associations enabling them to travel and take part in international tournaments.^[6]

1890 sees an increase in the number women's singles events being held as the tennis circuit continues to form.^[7] The 1890 women's tennis season began on 8 January with the first Southern India Championships staged at Madras, India.^[1] In May 1890 at the first major event of the year the Irish Championships^[8] played at the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin, Ireland. Ireland's Louisa Martin wins the singles title beating fellow countrywoman Lena Rice, she also picks up the ladies doubles event partnered with Florence Stanuell, and completes a clean sweep by winning the mixed doubles with Grainger Chaytor.^[1]

In mid June 1890 the change in scheduling is continued when the U.S. National Championships are held at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, PA, defending champion Bertha Townsend loses her title to Ellen Roosevelt in straight sets.^[9]

Later the same month the third major tournament of the year the Northern Championships played at the Liverpool Cricket Club in Liverpool Mary Steedman is the new Northern Champion beating Beatrice Wood in two sets, in the women's doubles event final Florence Mardall and Mary Steedman defeat Miss Quin and Miss Scrivener in straight sets, and the All England Mixed Doubles Championship event,^[1] is won by Katherine Hill and James Baldwin who defeat Mary Steedman and George Hillyard in the final.^[1]

In July at the fourth and final major event of the season the 1890 Wimbledon Championships the world's first major tennis tournament, Irish player Lena Rice reaches the final for the second year, but this time takes the title, when she defeats May Jacks in the final.^[10] The season ended on 3 January 1891 at the New Zealand Championships, held in Dunedin, New Zealand which began on 30 December 1890 and was played on grass.^[1]

In terms of draw sizes the Northumberland Championships with 18 entrants was the largest open ladies singles draw for 1890, the Irish Championships with 27 entrants across three disciplines singles, doubles and mixed was the largest major event of the year and was the joint largest open event of the year along with the Sussex Championships and South of England Championships also with 27 entrants.^[1] The largest event outside of Europe was the New South Wales Championships.^[1]

Prior to the creation of the International Lawn Tennis Federation and the establishment of its world championship events in 1913 the Wimbledon Championships, the U.S. National Championships, the Irish Lawn Tennis Championships and the Northern Championships were considered by players and historians as the four most important tennis tournaments to win,^[11][12][13] together effectively making an early incarnation of the Grand Slam events we know today.^[14]

Key

This is a list of winners by the total number of singles titles won for 1890 major titles in bold:

• May Jacks –Bayswater, Beckenham, London, West Kensington, West Kensington II, (5)
• Louisa Martin – Bath, Buxton, Irish Championships (3)
• May Langrishe – Bournemouth, brighton, Eastbourne, (3)
• Beatrice Wood – Ilkley, Scarborough, Sheffield, (3)
• Mabel Cahill – Hastings-on-Hudson, Livingston, South Orange, (3)
• Lena Rice – Dublin, Wimbledon Championships, (2)
• Mary Steedman – Chiswick Park, Northern Championships, (2)
• Helen Jackson – Edinburgh, Newcastle upon Tyne, (2)
• Ruth Orbell – Dunedin, Dunedin II, (2)
• Ellen Roosevelt – U.S.National Championships, (1)
• Edith Morgan – Madras, (1)
• Miss Spiers – Auckland, (1)
• Edith Austin – Pau, (1)
• Miss Leigh – Cannes, (1)
• Maisie Parr – Adelaide, (1)
• Norah Hickman – Durban, (2)
• Miss Wynniatt – Nuwara Eliya, (1)
• Ellen Mayne – Sydney, (1)
• Jane Corder – Hexham, (1)
• Alice Brown – Ealing, (1)
• May Arbuthnot – Surbiton, (1)
• Katherine Grey – Hull, (1)
• Lottie Paterson – Edinburgh II, (1)
• Constance Bryan – Cheltenham, (1)
• Miss Doolittle – Kearney, (1)
• A. Kinahan – Belfast, (1)
• L. Johnstone – Edgbaston, (1)
• Helen Hellwig – Brooklyn, (1)
• Miss Rome – Nottingham, (1)
• Ida Cressy – Llandudno, (1)
• M. Bol – Scheveningen, (1)
• Alice Pickering – Leamington Spa, (1)
• E. Malden – Sittingbourne, (1)
• Mrs A. Thompson – Felixstowe, (1)
• Miss Wiltshire – Truro, (1)
• Lottie Dod – Darlington, (1)
• Miss F. Shoemaker – Redondo Beach, (1)
• Lilian Pine-Coffin – Exmouth, (1)
• Mrs Thompson – Budleigh, (1)
• Miss Moir – Wemyss Bay, (1)
• Florence Barkley – Victoria, (1)
• Florence Thompson – Felixstowe II, (1)
• Evelyn Blencowe – Moffat, (1)
• Miss Wolfe – Torquay, (1)
• Edith Cole – Saxmundham, (1)
• R. Holmes – Altoona, (1)
• Mrs Lang – Aldeburgh, (1)
• A. Clarkson – New Hamburgh, (1)
• Maud Wilkinson – San Rafael, (1)
• Miss McKinlay – New York City, (1)
• May Quinnell – Brisbane, (1)
• Lida Voorhees – Livingston, (1)
• Miss Godfrey Clergue – Bangor, (1)
• Mabel Shaw – Melbourne, (1)
• E. Gordon – Dunedin III, (1)

• Total Tournaments (81)
• Most Titles: May Jacks (5)
• Most Finals: May Jacks (7)
• Most Matches Played: May Jacks (20)
• Most Matches Won: May Jacks (18)
• Match Winning %: Louisa Martin (100%) min 10 matches & May Jacks (90%) min 20 matches
• Most Tournaments Played: May Jacks (7)

• Bartlett, Michael and Gillen, Bob. (1981) The Tennis Book, edited by Michael Bartlett and Bob Gillen, Arbor House, New York, ISBN 0-87795-344-9
• Collins, Bud. Total Tennis:The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia, Sport Classic Books, Toronto, Canada, ISBN 0-9731443-4-3.
• Crips, Mark (10 May 2022). In Pursuit of the Slam: My Year Travelling to Tennis's Top Four Tournaments (5 ed.). Manchester: i2.i Publishng. ISBN 9781914933981.
• Garcia, Gabriel. "Season: 1890". The Tennis Base. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SAL.
• Hughes, G.P. Dunlop Lawn Tennis Almanack And Tournament Guide, G.P. Hughes.
• Lowe, Sir F. Gordon. Lowe's Lawn Tennis Annuals and Compendia, Eyre & Spottiswoode. London, England.
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• Someren, Janine van (December 2010). "3: The Amateur Tennis Circuit". Women's Sporting Lives: A biographical study of elite amateur tennis players at Wimbledon. A thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Southampton, England: University of Southampton Research Repository.
• Wallis Myers A. Ayre's Lawn Tennis Almanack And Tournament Guide, London, England.