One hundred years ago
The possession of a tennis-ground has become such an imperative social necessity, that every wretched little garden-plot is pressed into the service, and courts are religiously traced out in half the meagre back-gardens of the suburbs of London, even though the available space is often little bigger than a billiard-table. Two thousand five hundred persons paid half-crowns to witness the unsuccessful attempt recently made by Mr Lawford to dethrone Mr W. Renshaw, one of 'the Great Twin- Brethren of lawn-tennis,' from the cham- pionship; and the breathless interest exhibited made it only too plain that the event, to many of those present, was of far deeper importance than the fate of the Franchise Bill. The play was of a high, nay, transcendental order of merit.
Spectator, 26 July 1884
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