Dwight Davis and the Foundation of the Davis Cup in Tennis
Just Another Doubleday Myth
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11082203 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Simon J Eaves (0000-0001-6245-9106, Manchester Metropolitan University, corresponding author), Robert J Lake (0000-0003-0219-3718, Douglas College) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-23 |
| Publication date | 2018-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Sport History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0094-1700 • E-ISSN: 2155-8450 |
| Publisher | University of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.5406/jsporthistory.45.1.0001 |
| OpenAlex | W2799764269 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 14 |
Dwight F. Davis is widely credited with having invented, or at least conceived, the original idea for the international tennis competition that bears his name, the Davis Cup. This paper aims to debunk this myth through comprehensive critical analysis of the period preceding Davis’s apparent epiphany in 1899. Previous national-team-based competitions are investigated, alongside key figures in American and British/Irish tennis, to demonstrate that numerous others had proposed the idea for an international team-based competition long before Davis and that Davis may have appropriated his idea from others with whom he came into contact. Davis’s wealthy background, political ambitions, and model-American image arguably helped smooth the process of his idea being officially accepted by the United States National Lawn Tennis Association, which likely saw in Davis a perfect “front-man” for American tennis at a time when the nation used sporting prowess to promote its identity, particularly in relation to the British, in international sporting competition
Art · Art history · Competition (biology · Epiphany · Irish · Media studies · Mythology · Performance art · Political science · Politics · Relation (database · Sociology · Visual arts · Classics · Doping in Sports · History · Law · Philosophy · Sports Analytics and Performance · Sports, Gender, and Society
Barbarians, Gentlemen and Players
Introduction
The Invention Of Tradition
Defeat, decline and disconnect
Myth-making in Australian Sport History
Look at that kid crawling’
Sport, gender and society in a transatlantic Victorian perspective
Sport, gender and society in a transatlantic Victorian perspective
The ‘Ubiquitous Apostle of International Play’, Wilberforce Vaughan Eaves
Prologue
Sporting Gentlemen
The Protestant Establishment
Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
A Social History
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |