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JonH comes home


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The Dewar Cup
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For anyone who follows the Tennis Abstract series on 1973, the story of the season has reached the Dewar Cup. For anyone with an interest in the history of British tennis, this is worth a read. When tennis went open, the structure to circuits that we have today didn't really exist. The WCT tour, Grand Prix, Virginia Slims etc, World Team Tennis all vied for space and for players, and it was all a bit of a hotch potch. Amidst all that, a series of British indoor events sprung up in the Autumn in Britain, usually 4 or 5 a season which went through the late 60's and to mid 70's. Venues were eclectic compared to places we watch tennis these days

Circuit tournaments[edit]

One of the great things was it took top players (like ATP 250 level events) across the UK with Wales and Scotland getting a share and the North of England also. 

 

Here is the write up for the first event in 1973 from Jeff. As the Dewar Cup Circuit lasted 5 or so weeks each year, there will be more: note, it was men and women, although I think in 1973, the men just took part in the finals at the Royal Albert Hall - the picture below is from the RAH leg

 

October 27, 1973: The Whiskey Circuit

 

 

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Jeff

Oct 27

wade-indoors.jpg

Virginia Wade

Eleven years after her first appearance at Wimbledon, Virginia Wade had settled into a role on the women's tour as an almost-superstar, a stalwart of Great Britain's Wightman and Federation Cup teams but a perennial disappointment at the season's showcase event.

Wade was most at home on fast indoor courts, conditions that supported her big serve and attacking game. That made her a perfect fit for the Dewar Cup circuit, a series of tournaments staged in Britain every fall since the beginning of the Open Era in 1968. In the first five years of the so-called "Whiskey Circuit," Wade had entered every tournament but one, claiming nine singles titles in that span.

Wade's nemesis on the Dewar's swing had been Margaret Court, who defeated her four times--four weeks in succession--in 1972. In 1973, Court wasn't around, and that left the British star as the favorite each week. Taking over the role of chief challenger was the London-based American veteran, Julie Heldman.

On October 27th, Wade and Heldman met for the title on the first leg of the 1973 circuit, in Aberavon, Wales. The two women had faced off 15 times since 1968, and while the Brit held a comfortable 10-5 edge, Heldman had beaten her twice on the Whiskey Circuit. There was little love lost between the pair, and their styles differed just as widely. Wade was acclaimed for her stylish play, the sort of competitor who might prefer "beautiful tennis" to a victory. Heldman, by contrast, was "winning ugly" when Brad Gilbert was still in primary school. This is the woman who, earlier in 1973, snuck in an underarm serve on set point, and at the US Open, out-gamesmanshipped Billie Jean King to grab a win by retirement.

Wade was lucky to be in the final at all. In the quarters against Jackie Fayter, she had squandered match point in the second set, then lost five points in a row to drop the tiebreak. She advanced only after a 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 nailbiter.

On finals day, Ginny showed no such signs of weakness. She was, in the words of former British standout Shirley Brasher, "at her most competent and confident." Heldman, by contrast, could've used more junk. The American played more aggressively than usual, which is exactly how Wade liked it. The result was never in doubt, and it ended with a 6-3, 6-1 victory for the top-seeded Brit.

The story of the 1973 Dewar Cup, though, was just beginning. There were three more events on the circuit, and the same two women would headline the draws at each one. Wade could count on an advantage in firepower, but she knew that the next time they met, Heldman would surely have a fresh tactical plan. Running the table on the four-week Whiskey Circuit was never going to be easy.

* * *

This post is part of my series about the 1973 season, Battles, Boycotts, and Breakouts. Keep up with the project by checking the TennisAbstract.com front page, which shows an up-to-date Table of Contents after I post each installment.

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-- Edited by JonH comes home on Friday 27th of October 2023 07:39:55 AM

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Babfive


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Thanks for sharing. I'd heard of the Dewar Cup but never really known exactly what it was and what it entailed. It's great to get this information to fill in a gap in my tennis knowledge.



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Jan


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I definitely remember the Dewar Cup and possibly went to some matches at the Royal Albert Hall. Well, I definitely went to matches there, I just can't recall if they were Dewar Cup or something else!!

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JonH comes home


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Jan wrote:

I definitely remember the Dewar Cup and possibly went to some matches at the Royal Albert Hall. Well, I definitely went to matches there, I just can't recall if they were Dewar Cup or something else!!

 Haha - from what I remember, the RAH has also hosted the Wightman Cup between GB and USA back in the 80's and , from the mens side, the World Doubles Championships for a couple of years back in the 80's or maybe 90's also. And of course, the annual Legends event that takes place.

So:

1) if the players are old and wrinkly - youd have seen the Legends!

2) if it was mens doubles and top class play - it would be the World Doubles

3) if it was women and Americans v Brits and lots of flag waving and Union Jacks - it would be the WIghtman Cup

If none of those, it may well have been the Dewar Cup, haha   



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JonH comes home


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Babfive wrote:

Thanks for sharing. I'd heard of the Dewar Cup but never really known exactly what it was and what it entailed. It's great to get this information to fill in a gap in my tennis knowledge.

 No worries, Babfive

 

If you go onto Tennis Abstract and scroll down to the series of articles on 1973, you will see a whole host of stuff related to that year, Jeff went big on it! 

https://www.tennisabstract.com/

I am not sure if he plans to go through other years - last seasons project was his 128 greatest players of all time, where he rated and ranked the players (since 1921 anyway) and took a view on where they stood in the panetheon. He used some sort of algorithm linked to ELO ratings, longevity, peak performance etc and came up with Rod Laver at the top of the list, in a mixed mens and womens list. Each player had a well produced write up on their careers and place in the history of the game

https://www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2022/02/01/introducing-the-tennis-128/

Next year, he may have another project - they are always informative, well written and interesting!   



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GAMEOVER


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Jon thanks for putting in the details  of the Dewar Cup.I can remember following this at  the time and battles between Julie Heldman and Virginia Wade. In those days they played at the Palace Hotel at Torquay where Arthur Roberts coached Sue Barker and Angela Mortimer. The hotel also held  snooker tournaments as well but was demolished a couple of years ago.

 



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JonH comes home


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More from tennis abstract on the Dewar Cup Circuit

The Dewar Cup circuit was not what it used to be. British tennis in general was fighting a rearguard action against richer tournaments around the world, as players chose dollar signs over tradition. The Dewar's-backed late-season mini-tour had once spanned six weeks and featured Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong. By 1973, it was down to four weeks, and the fields were considerably less star-studded.

It wasn't all about the money, but the money didn't help. The total purse for women at the Dewar Cup of Edinburgh, the second stop on the circuit, was $3,500 (£1,430), including $825 for the singles winner. By comparison, at the Virginia Slims Championships in Florida just a few weeks earlier, first-round losers took home $800. The same performance at a Whiskey circuit stop was worth a measly fifty bucks, or twenty pounds sterling.

Dewar's, the booze-selling sponsor, tried to emphasize the opportunities that a lower-profile circuit gave to young players. (17-year-old Sue Barker took part, as did Romanian teens Virginia Ruzici and Mariana Simionescu.) Another positive aspect, at least for local fans, is that the events were increasingly dominated by British players. In Aberavon, Wales, the first stop, Mark Cox and Virginia Wade took the titles. In Edinburgh, on November 3rd, 21-year-old Brit John Feaver challenged Wimbledon semi-finalist Roger Taylor for the men's title, while Wade faced Julie Heldman for the second week in a row.

In Wales, Heldman had tried and failed to outhit Wade, and she went down quickly. What fans didn't know is that just about everything was going wrong for the 27-year-old American. The press had come down on her--unfairly, she thought--for her win by retirement over Billie Jean King at the US Open, she was going through a bad breakup, and she had a nagging cough, spiraling into a bronchitis that would take her out of action the following week. If that wasn't enough, she hated her new haircut.

She might have disliked Wade even more. Decades later, she still prickled at the British player's "arrogance and dismissiveness." No matter that the odds were against her, Heldman would throw the kitchen sink at her leonine nemesis.

The London Observer's Shirley Brasher credited the American with "clever changes of spin and pace," the sort of game to put Wade off balance. Heldman lost the first set, but when Wade started rushing into errors in the second, the American took advantage and forced a decider.

It became as testy a battle as the two ladies had ever contested. Words were exchanged in the third game of the deciding set; alas, the British press did not record them for posterity. In the end, wrote David Gray, "Miss Heldman concentrated so hard on winning the intellectual battle that she lost accuracy and concentration." Wade took the final set, 6-1, despite the fact that, according to Lance Tingay, her "evenness of temperament was tried to the full."

Wade hardly needed to call her accountant about another $825 prize, but there was one consolation. Taylor, the men's champion, got the same amount. While the Whiskey circuit was on the way down--in a few years it would disappear entirely--the shrinking rewards of the Dewar Cup were distributed equally to men and women.

* * *



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JonH comes home


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The great thing about the Dewar Cup was it took tennis, with decent crowds, to places like Aberavon or Billingham, presumably played in ice rinks there with carpet laid over. Fast courts!

Reading the detail, it feels like it was possibly Challenger level overall, with a few stars like Ginny Wade, Roger Taylor and Mark Cox thrown in. A bit like Andy and Cam or Dan, Katie B and Jodie B playing a series of challengers in the UK over the winter/late autumn months.

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JonH comes home


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According to the BoE calculator $825 in 1973 would be $8500 or so now, so that feels like Challenger money as well.

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Julie Heldman disliked Virginia Wade but was very friendly with Ann Jones and her husband and stayed with them  when she was playing in this country.



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JonH comes home


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This is the report of the mens final of the Dewar Cup 1973 at the Royal Albert Hall.

www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2023/11/17/november-17-1973-tears-of-a-clown/



-- Edited by JonH comes home on Friday 17th of November 2023 11:23:33 AM

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JonH comes home


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JonH comes home wrote:

This is the report of the mens final of the Dewar Cup 1973 at the Royal Albert Hall.

www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2023/11/17/november-17-1973-tears-of-a-clown/



-- Edited by JonH comes home on Friday 17th of November 2023 11:23:33 AM

 Note how the Davis Cup counted towards the Grand Prix or race 



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