Welsh Championships | |
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Defunct tennis tournament | |
Tour | Pre-open era (1877-1967) |
Founded | 1886 |
Abolished | 1974 |
Editions | 77 |
Location | Cardiff, Newport, Penarth, Wales |
Venue | Penarth LTC (1886–89, 1893-95, 1901-09) Newport Athletic Club (1892,1897-99, 1900, 1910-14, 1920-39, 1946-1974) Cardiff LTC (1891-) |
Surface | Grass / Outdoor |
The Welsh Championships its original name until 1970 was also known as the Championship of Wales (1951), the Welsh Open (1947–50) the Greenshields Welsh Championships and Greenshields Welsh Open (1970–74) for sponsorship reasons was an outdoor tennis event held from 1886 through 1974 it was played at various locations throughout its duration including Cardiff, Newport and Penarth in Wales. The dates that the tournament was held varied between June and July annually.
The Welsh Championships tournament began in 1886 it was originally held at Penarth Lawn Tennis club,Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan through the later part of the nineteenth century and first decade of the twenth century the last event being held in 1909, The championships was staged only once during this time in Cardiff in 1891 before it became a permanent fixture at the Newport Athletic Club from 1946 which also the hosted the 1906 International Lawn Tennis Challenge final later known as the Davis Cup. The tournament featured both men's and women's singles competition as well as same sex and mixed doubles. The first non British mens singles final took place in 1922 between Manuel Alonso and Eduardo Flaquer of Spain and this was followed by the first non British ladies singles final in 1932 between Jadwiga Jedrzejowska of Poland and Marie-Louise Horn of Germany. Many former Grand Slam champions have played and won this tournament it survived for a period of 88 years until 1974