Genoa – A painting emerges from the late nineteenth century e throws many certainties of world tennis into a tailspin. Like that the first match of Wimbledon, therefore of the myth of myths tournament, was in 1877, while the birth of tennis in Bordighera, or rather of the oldest club in Italy (founded by Englishmen who lived in Liguria), dates back to 1878, a year after London. This is what everyone knew so far, reported by Wikipedia and many books on the history of tennis.
But now this anonymous watercolour, owned by a collector from Imperia, calls everything into question. And he hypothesizes that Bordighera and Wimbledon are even the same age, they are twins: both born in 1877. Not exactly a trivial detail for the club in the extreme west that already boasted the title of “house of Italian tennis” and could now rise a lot in its carat of nobility. The revealing painting was in an album of watercolors dated 1877. The title is “Lawn Tennis Bordighera” just as the club is called “Bordighera Lawn Tennis Club 1878”.
In the picture we see a rudimentary tennis net built with those for the olive harvest and everything recalls an improvised field, but real: the dividing net has height, width and a pole in the middle to support it just like in the playing standards. This painting was told by a Ligurian writer, Gisella Merello, who spoke about it the other evening in Genoa as part of the presentation of a book on the influence of the English in Liguria (“English in Liguria”). When the speakers introduced her on stage, they presented her as an “expert writer of Ligurian English who has already published a wonderful book on the oldest tennis club in Italy, that of Bordighera, born only a year after the myth of Wimbledon…” Hence the immediate clarification of her. «Actually I have to tell you that all documents report 1878 as the birth year of tennis in Bordighera, but it could be the same age as Wimbledon – were the words of the writer – A painting has in fact been discovered that questions the dates known to us so far. It dates back to 1877 and depicts a very early field in a band of olive trees on the Bordighera hill. Obviously little changes in practical terms, but from a historical and sporting point of view this novelty gives even more value and emblem to the club of the extreme west as well as to the already very strong bond between England and Liguria…».
The writer, after the discovery of the revealing painting, also tried to contact the Wimbledon club in search of other info, so far in vain. «I haven’t found any for now, and I don’t even know how much the most important tennis club in the world likes our meddling. But from this watercolor and other intersections, I believe there is already evidence…» As can be seen from his celebratory book of the Bordighera club (entitled “Tennis in Bordighera from 1878 to today”; Alzani Editore) the dawn of Italian tennis have always been traced back to October 1878, when the “magic case” of Major Walter Clopton Wingfield arrived in the most extreme Liguria bordering on France (he is the one who had written the first sporting regulations at the end of 1873, calling it “Sphairistikè” ; in his chest was, at the price of 5 guineas, a set of balls, 4 rackets, a net and instructions for use).
Now the anonymous painting claims that even before this case, the British in Liguria had already set up a first camp remedying the lack of equipment as best as possible, with the nets of the olive trees. «You can judge – comments Merello – It seems to me that there is little doubt that the position and conformation of that net in the painting indicate a field…». History so far has told that in Bordighera the first activity was practiced on a lawn delimited precisely with Wingfield’s equipment and tools and located in the flat area near the current Via Vittorio Veneto. The Bordighera Lawn Tennis Club 1878 was formed by a small group of interested parties and in 1880 the club acquired more importance thanks to the children of the charismatic writer MacDonald, who had just settled in the town, and then to those of the reverend Henry Arnold Olivier.
The local club will be a forerunner for Italy, a bit like the foundation of the Genoa Cricket and Football Club, also the oldest in Italy, was for football. The Bordighera club was therefore the first to be established after that of Wimbledon, beating other important clubs on the Riviera in terms of supremacy, such as those of Nice or Alassio. «The first field was, among other things, located at a lower level than the road and passers-by were forced to look down to follow the play – concludes Gisella Merello – this characteristic caused it to be called originally the “Bear Pit Lawn Tennis Club” (literally “della Fossa degli Orsi”). The name of the club refers to lawn tennis, i.e. lawn tennis, similar to the illustrious historical fields of Wimbledon. Wimbledon which may not be older though judging by the latest revelations».
#tennis #court #Bordighera #year #birth #Wimbledon #Secolo #XIX