The Cincinnati Tennis Club has 10 outdoor clay tennis courts in the heart of Cincinnati. The club is open from mid April to mid October
The Cincinnati Tennis Club (CTC) was founded in 1880 just five years after tennis was introduced in America. The history of our club is the history of tennis in America. The club is one of the oldest in the United States. It is the second oldest tennis club west of the Allegheny Mountains and is among the ten oldest clubs in the United States.

Stewart Shillito, the son of John Shillito, the founder of the John Shillito Company, had seen tennis played in the East and in 1878 he decided to build a court at his father's home on Highland Avenue and Oak Street in Mt. Auburn.

After the first court was built, interest spread rapidly among enthusiastic friends of Shillito, and by 1880, Cincinnati was ready for a tennis club.

Cincinnati Tennis Club Begins

At the time one of the officers of the Club, Howard S. Winslow, lived on Oak Street and Reading Road, opposite where the Bethesda Hospital is presently located. His father generously made available to the members if the Club (CTC) sufficient ground to lay three grass courts at the rear of his property which was adjacent to a lane. The city fathers, seeing growing tennis activity, names the lane Tennis Lane. It continues to bear that name today.

The Cincinnati Tennis Club remained at that location through the year 1885, when it moved, with no explanation, to a new location of Arbigust Street (now called Vernon Place).

Among the members of CTC were John B. Keys and John Scarborough. Each owned tracts of land which they were interested in developing into a subdivision. They both hoped to do the club a favor, and at the same time enhance the value of their holdings by encouraging the club to locate on their property. John Keys offered as a gift three acres of land on Bedford Avenue adjoining the new Cincinnati Golf Club. John Scarborough offered the Club what is substantially our present location, not as a gift, but rent free for the first few years. Mr. Scarborough agreed to lay out four courts and build a club house at his own expense.

Finally in the spring of 1899, Scarborough's offer was excepted because Keys' property on Bedford was considered too far out in the country and somewhat inaccessible.

Thirty-eight members from Vernon Place along with many new members brought the membership to 186 when the courts were opened. Some of the improvements promised in the Scarborough agreements were not completed until 1900.

The Club between the years of 1903 and 1968, and with the exception of about 10 years, hosted the popular and well known Tri-State Tennis Tournament. This event for both men and women attracted many of the best players in the country. In its early and middle years it was one of the major events on the major national tennis schedule. In 1904 the Cincinnati Enquirer reported as follows: "Such a number of noted tennis players from cities throughout the United States has been entered that the Tri-State Tournament ranks very high, being surpassed in importance only by the National Lawn Tennis Association Tournament at Newport, R.I.

Many great players, both men and women, participated in the tournament. Its list of winners reads like a "Who's Who'" of tennis - Nat Emerson, Beals Wright, Bill Tilten, George Lott, Bobby Riggs, Frank Parket, Bill Talbert, Tony Trabert, May Sutton, May Sutton, Alice Marble, Pauline Betz, Dorothy Bundy, just a name a few.

The Club has had a number of nationally ranked players. The first being Nat Emerson who won the Tri-State Tournament, when it was first played in 1899, and was a finalist several times afterwards. He was ranked No. 7 in Men's Singles by the USTA in 1908. Another nationally prominent player in the early years was Reuben A, Holden, Jr., who won the National Intercollegiate Singles Championship in 1910 when a student at Yale University. It was 41 years later in 1951 when Club member Tony Trabert won the same title when a student at the University of Cincinnati.

Tony Trabert was one of the most prominent players in the modern history of tennis. He played on the United States Davis Cup team and was later the captain. Tony was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1970. Court 2 at the tennis club has been dedicated in this honor.