U.S. Pro Tennis Championships

The U.S. Pro Tennis Championships (also for a period known as the World Pro Championships) was the oldest professional tennis tournament played until its final year of 1999 and is considered as a part of the professional grand slam from 1927 - 1967 until the advent of Open Era. Pancho Gonzales holds the record for most wins with eight.

American's first prominent professional player, Vinny Richards, arranged what became the first U.S. Pro by negotiating with Doc Kelton to have a tournament played on the Notlek courts, located at 119th Street and Riverside Drive in Manhattan, New York, on September 23–25, 1927. Richards, tour pro Howard Kinsey and teaching pros from the eastern U.S. comprised the field, with Richards defeating Kinsey in the final in straight sets.

The tournament was subsequently held annually at various locations including the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York City, the South Shore Tennis Club in Chicago, in Rye, New York, at the Terrace Club in Brooklyn, the Chicago Town and Tennis Club in Chicago, at various clubs around Cleveland, Ohio, and Cleveland Arena in Cleveland. Its final permanent home was the Longwood Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, where it was held from 1964 to 1999. It became part of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour shortly after the advent of open tennis in 1968. Between 1970 and 1977 its was a major tournament of the Grand Prix Championship Series. It then became a tennis event within the ATP Tour with reorganization of the top tier of pro tour tennis.

At Longwood, the tournament was first played on a hardcourt. It was later played on Har-Tru clay courts and was an important tune-up event for the U.S. Open. When the Open moved to hardcourts in Flushing Meadows in 1978, the U.S. Pro did not follow suit, electing instead to hold its tournament during the U.S. clay court season in early summer instead of during its hitherto pre-Open (late summer) time slot. Remaining a clay event into the 1990s, the U.S. Pro was a non-ATP exhibition event during the early 1990s. It was only in its final three years that the tournament was once again an ATP event and played on hardcourts.

Past winners

Singles

Notes:

^a This tournament, the first pro event open to amateur players, is considered by some as both the U.S. Pro Tennis Championship and first "U.S. Open" event (then the U.S. Open was again held from 1938 to 1941 at Greenbrier but as a separate event from the U.S. Pro held in Chicago or in L.A).

^b These tournaments from 1950–1962, considered as the U.S. Pro for the season, were billed the World Pro Championship with the exception of 1951, where a separate U.S. Pro and World Pro in Cleveland were held.

^r For 1951, the tournament was played under Round Robin format with Seguara 4-0 and Gonzalez 3-1 as final standings.

^v For 1955-56, the matches were played under Van Alen scoring system.

^c From 1990 to 1995, the U.S. Pro event appears to have been an exhibition and not part of the ATP tour.

See also

• U.S. Pro Tennis Championships Draws - Professional Era (1927–1967)