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33-694: The Longwood Bowl was a men's and women's tennis tournament first played at the Longwood Cricket Club courts at Brookline , Massachusetts, United States from 1882 to 1949. The men's tournament was also known as the Longwood Challenge Bowl . The first women's event was the Longwood Tennis Cup it later became known as the Longwood Bowl Invitational . In 1877 the Longwood Cricket Club

66-456: A 1927 semi-final, the Davis Cup would not return to Longwood for 11 years, with Australia defeating Nazi Germany 5–0 in the 1938 semi-final. A further decade would elapse before in 1948 Australia won another semi, this time over Czechoslovakia, 3–1. In 1957, the U.S. team returned to Brookline to defeat Brazil 5–0 in a 3rd round tie. Two years later saw Australia dispatch with India 4–1 in

99-611: A club member as well. The club's first tennis tournament was held in 1882. The following year saw the first Longwood Bowl tournament, attracting top American players. It would continue to be held annually until 1942. The Eastern Championship for doubles tennis was held in 1890. Cricket was last played at Longwood in 1933 before a one-off game was held in October 2008 between the Faded Blues CC and St. Columba's Cricket Club from Newport, Rhode Island. In 1900 Dwight Davis , then

132-612: A doubles title at the ATP Masters Series event in Canada in 1999. At the 1999 French Open , Rafter drew future world No. 1 and 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the first round, making him the first-ever opponent of Federer in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. Rafter defeated him in four sets. Rafter then reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time in 1999, losing in straight sets to Agassi. This

165-419: A four-set final; he was the first non-American to win the title since Stefan Edberg in 1992. This was his first Grand Slam title, and catapulted him ahead of Chang to finish the year ranked #2 in the world (behind only Pete Sampras ). The unexpected nature of his US Open title led many, including Hall-of-famer and four-time US Open champion John McEnroe to criticise Rafter as a "one-slam wonder". Rafter had

198-564: A fourth-year student at nearby Harvard University , arranged for a British team to visit Longwood and compete for what became the first Davis Cup, branded the International Lawn Tennis Challenge. The Davis-captained Americans won the inaugural contest 3–0. In total, 15 Davis Cup ties have been settled at Longwood. The British Isles defeated the Americans 4–1 in the 1903 final. The 1908 semi-final saw

231-784: A paid professional and at tennis as a promoter of the game. A lawn tennis court was laid in 1878, two years after the organization of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Lord's Cricket Ground in London. On January 5, 1888, Longwood member and US cricket team captain C.L. Bixby led the team to a win over the West Indies cricket team at the Bourda ground in Georgetown, Guyana . Richard D. Sears , who won seven United States Championships , would soon become

264-749: A particularly strong year in 1998, winning the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Masters ─ Andre Agassi (1995), Andy Roddick (2003), and Rafael Nadal (2013) are the only other players to have won both of these tournaments in the same year. Rafter defeated ninth-ranked Richard Krajicek in the Toronto final and second-ranked Pete Sampras in the Cincinnati final. When asked about the difference between himself and Rafter following their titles, Sampras responded, "10 grand slams". He added that

297-471: A tennis player must come back and win a Grand Slam again in order to be considered great. Entering the U.S. Open as the defending champion, Rafter reached the final by defeating Hicham Arazi , Hernán Gumy , David Nainkin , Goran Ivanišević and Jonas Björkman before besting Sampras in a five-set semifinal. Rafter then defended his US Open title by defeating fellow Australian Mark Philippoussis in four sets, committing only five unforced errors throughout

330-492: Is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking on 26 July 1999, holding it for one week. His career highlights include consecutive US Open titles in 1997 and 1998 , consecutive runner-up appearances at Wimbledon in 2000 and 2001 , winning the 1999 Australian Open men's doubles tournament alongside Jonas Björkman , and winning two singles and two doubles ATP Masters titles. He became

363-447: The 1987 Wimbledon Champion and fellow Aussie Pat Cash 2–6, 6–2, 10–6. In a much anticipated match and replay of the 2001 Wimbledon final, Rafter faced Goran Ivanišević . Rafter won the match when Ivanisevic retired while serving for the opening set, 3–5. Despite his performance, the retirement was enough to push Rafter into the final against Stefan Edberg . In what is described as a spell-binding serve-and-volley showdown, Rafter won

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396-683: The Australian Davis Cup Team that lost in the final in 2000 (to Spain ) and 2001 (to France ). Rafter played on the Australian teams that won the World Team Cup in 1999 and 2001. In 2001, Rafter reached the semifinals of the Australian Open. Despite holding a two sets to one lead and having the support of the home crowd, Rafter lost the match to Agassi in five sets. Later in the year, Rafter again reached

429-682: The Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2006. On Australia Day 2008, Rafter was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame . In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, Rafter was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for his role as a "sports legend". In October 2010, Rafter was announced as Australia's Davis Cup captain. Rafter stood down as Australia's Davis Cup captain on 29 January 2015. He

462-545: The Americans reverse their fortunes and prevail by the same score. The next eight ties played at Longwood did not involve the American team. 1914 saw Australia defeat Britain 3–0 in a semi-final. 1922 through 1925 saw a tie played a year with Australasia defeating France 4–1 in a quarterfinal encounter in 1922, Australia beating France by the same score in a 1923 semi-final and in 1924, but by a 3–2 scoreline, and Australia defeating Japan 4–1 in 1925. After France swept Japan 5–0 in

495-503: The Wimbledon final. For the third straight year, he faced Agassi in the semifinals and won in yet another five-setter, 2–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–2, 8–6. Much like the previous year's semifinal, this match also received praise for the quality of play that the two men displayed. The final was originally scheduled to play on the second Sunday but was rescheduled to the third Monday because the other semifinal between Goran Ivanišević and Tim Henman

528-445: The baseline and Rafter attacking the net. Rafter faced Sampras in the final, who was gunning for a record-breaking seventh Wimbledon title overall (and seven in the past eight years). While Rafter made a strong start to the match and took the first set, after the match he would claim that he had " choked " part way through the second set tie-break, and was then not able to get back into his game. Sampras won in four sets. Rafter played on

561-607: The beginning of the 2004 season to play doubles at two tournaments only; the 2004 Australian Open and the 2004 AAPT Championships (in Adelaide). However, he lost in round one of both events, playing alongside Joshua Eagle . In 2005, Rafter won the International Club 's prestigious Jean Borotra Sportsmanship Award . He was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and inducted into

594-783: The first man in the Open Era to win Canada Masters , Cincinnati Masters and the US Open in the same year, which he achieved in 1998; this achievement has been dubbed the American Summer Slam. To date, only two players have followed this feat: Andy Roddick in 2003, and Rafael Nadal in 2013. Rafter is the third man in the Open Era to reach semifinals or better of every Grand Slam tournament in both singles and doubles, after Rod Laver and Stefan Edberg , and remains

627-522: The last man to date to accomplish this. Rafter is also the only player to remain undefeated against Roger Federer with at least three meetings, though the meetings took place early in Federer's career . He is also the only player with a winning record over the Swiss on all the three main surfaces: hard , clay and grass . Rafter turned professional in 1991. During the course of his career, he twice won

660-474: The match. Altogether, Rafter won six tournaments in 1998, finishing the year No. 4 in the world. Rafter won the Australian Open men's doubles title in 1999 (partnering Jonas Björkman), making him one of few players in the modern era to win both a singles and doubles Grand Slam title during their career (fellow countryman Lleyton Hewitt would later achieve this feat in 2001). He and Björkman also won

693-477: The men's singles title at the US Open and was twice the runner-up at Wimbledon . He was known for his serve-and-volley style of play. Rafter won his first tour-level match in 1993, at Wimbledon . He reached the third round, before losing to Andre Agassi . He also reached the semifinals in Indianapolis . He defeated Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals in three tight sets, before losing to Boris Becker in

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726-454: The penultimate round. Another 40 years would pass before in 1999, Australia, led by Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt defeated the U.S., led by Pete Sampras , 4–1 in a quarterfinal tie played on hard courts. This was the last time a top-flight professional tennis match was played at Longwood. The U.S. Pro Tennis Championships a Major (1927-67) professional tennis tournament was contested annually at Longwood from 1964 to 1999, when it

759-608: The semifinals. Rafter finished 1993 with a ranking of 66. Rafter won his first career singles title in 1994 in Manchester . Prior to 1997, this was the only ATP singles title he had won. Rafter's breakthrough came in 1997. At that year's French Open, he reached the semifinals, falling in four sets to two time former champion Sergi Bruguera . Then, he surprised many by winning the US Open , defeating Andriy Medvedev , Magnus Norman , Lionel Roux , Andre Agassi, Magnus Larsson , and Michael Chang before beating Greg Rusedski in

792-847: The year recovering from injuries. In January 2003, he announced his retirement from professional tennis, stating that he had lost all motivation to compete at the top level. The 5,500-seat centre court of the Queensland Tennis Centre in Brisbane , Australia, was named Pat Rafter Arena in Rafter's honour. In 2002, he won the Australian of the Year award. This created some controversy, as he had spent much of his career residing in Bermuda for tax purposes. Rafter did return at

825-745: Was discontinued, with the exception of 1995, when the tournament was rained out and 1996, when it was not scheduled. The Longwood Bowl was a men's and women's tennis tournament first played at the Longwood Cricket Club courts at Brookline, Massachusetts, United States from 1882 to 1949. The New England Championships also called the New England Sectional Championships was a men's and women's open tennis tournament staged annually at various locations including Longwood CC from 1886 until 1978. Pat Rafter Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972)

858-661: Was founded. In 1881 the club held its first tennis tournament. In 1882 the club held its first important tennis event the Longwood Cricket Club Tournament it was the precursor event to the Longwood Bowl also known as the Longwood Challenge Bowl tournament founded in 1891. The men's event was held through till 1942 when it was discontinued, and the women's event continued on till 1949 before it was also abolished. The tournament

891-774: Was opened in 1877 at Longwood Estate, a place named after the house Napoleon Bonaparte stayed at while exiled to Saint Helena . Located on the outskirts of Boston on land donated by the Sears family, cricketers and baseball players put Longwood on the sports map. Specifically, Harry Wright , first player-manager of the Boston Red Stockings , played cricket for the United States, as did his brother George Wright . George Wright combined with tennis pro Charlie Chambers in league games throughout New England and played at Longwood against Lord Harris' XI in 1891. George Wright

924-497: Was played for the entire time at Brookline, Massachusetts where Longwood Cricket Club's tennis courts are located. In 1922 the club house and administrative center was moved to Newton, Massachusetts . The winners of the men's tournament retain a permanent replica of the Longwood Bowl Trophy if they win it three times. Incomplete roll included: Incomplete roll Longwood Cricket Club A club for cricket

957-439: Was played on three separate days. In the final he played Ivanišević, who had reached the Wimbledon final three times before but had slid down the rankings to World No. 125 following injury problems. In a five-set struggle that lasted just over three hours, Ivanišević prevailed. He played his last match at the Davis Cup final on rubber, winning the singles but losing the doubles. Rafter did not play any tour matches in 2002. He spent

990-453: Was succeeded by Wally Masur . On 12 January 2014, Rafter—then aged 41—announced that he would be partnering current Australian number one Lleyton Hewitt in the doubles draw of the 2014 Australian Open . The comeback, however, was short-lived, as the pair went down in straight sets to eventual runner-ups Eric Butorac and Raven Klaasen in the first round. At the 2009 AEGON Masters Tennis, Rafter lost his opening round robin match against

1023-468: Was the co-proprietor of Wright and Ditman, purveyor of fine sports goods. Wright brought the first tennis gear to Boston on his return from a baseball-cricket tour of England in 1874. Wright also taught tennis to Harvard students and toured with them in California in 1890. It was George Wright who deserves the credit for Longwood's broad-based sporting tradition, having excelled in baseball and cricket as

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1056-583: Was the first of three consecutive years that the two met in the Wimbledon semifinals. July 1999 saw Rafter holding the world No. 1 men's singles ranking for one week, making him the shortest-reigning world No. 1 in ATP Tour history. As the two-time defending US Open champion, Rafter lost in the first round of the tournament, retiring in the fifth set against Cédric Pioline after succumbing to shoulder tendinitis . Rafter's shoulder injury wound up being serious enough to necessitate surgery. Due to injury, Rafter

1089-488: Was unable to play in the 1999 Davis Cup final won by Australia; however, he won important matches in the earlier rounds to help the team qualify. Rafter's ranking had fallen to No. 21 by the time he reached the Wimbledon final in July 2000. In the semifinals, he defeated Agassi 7–5, 4–6, 7–5, 4–6, 6–3. The match was hailed as a classic, particularly because of their contrasting playing styles, with Agassi playing primarily from

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