Free to Use and Reuse: Tennis

The sport of tennis dates back to the 12th century though the version we play today celebrates its roots in lawn tennis starting in late 19th century and quickly spread across the globe. This selection of rights-free pictures can be used to examine the equipment, courts, athletes and recreational players through the years.

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  Elisabeth "Bessie" Holmes Moore, an American tennis champion who won her first U.S. title in 1896. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1910-1915

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  Tennis talk. Althea Gibson, U.S. and Wimbledon tennis champion, gives some pointers on the game ... Some 500 students attended the tennis clinic yesterday .... World Telegram & Sun photo by Ed. Ford, 1957

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  Suzanne Lenglen & Bill Tilden. French tennis player Lenglen won 31 championship titles between 1914 and 1926. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1920-1925

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  Tennis Waltzes, by A. F. de Navarro. NY: Spear & Dehnhoff, 1880. Music Division

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  Horsman's Celebrated Lawn Tennis. Chromolithograph by Charles Hart Lith., N.Y., 1882

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  Lawn tennis players probably in the Boston area. Photograph by Charles Henry Currier, 1890-1910

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  U.S. international tennis players. Photograph by Gilbert & Bacon, 1895

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  Lawn tennis in Central Park, N.Y. Elizabeth, N.J. : Alfred S. Campbell, Publisher, 1896

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  May Sutton, the first American to win a Wimbledon singles title in 1905. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1910-1915

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  American tennis player Florence E. Sutton, younger sister of May Sutton. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1910-1915

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  American tennis player Florence E. Sutton, achieved a national #2 ranking in 1911. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1910-1915

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  Mending Tennis Net -- Sailors' Snug Harbor. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1910-1915

• Lawn Tennis. Chromolithograph by Louis Prang, 1887

• Miss Frances Lippett playing in tennis tournament at Chevy Chase, Maryland. Glass negative by Harris & Ewing, 1913

• Tennis Tournament, Chevy Chase, Maryland. Glass negative by Harris & Ewing, 1913

• Changing Courts, Aug. 14, 1914. Davis Cup Match between the American team and the Australian team at the West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills, Long Island, New York. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1914

• Woman in white dress holding flowers and tennis racket. Chromolithograph by A.S. Steer's, NY, 1887

• Tennis champions Molla Mallory and Bill Johnston. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1915-1920

• Tennis, Central Park. Glass negative by Bain News Service, around 1915

• Doubles Champ. Match, Forest Hills, 8/29/16. Tennis players Clarence Griffin, Bill Johnston, Maurice McLoughlin, and Ward Dawson, probably at the U.S. National Championship in Forest Hills, New York, in August 1916. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1916

• The Good Loser. Book by Ernest Richard Schayer. Philadelphia, D. McKay, 1917. General Collections

• Student nurses at Camp Sherman, Ohio. Tennis is very popular when off duty. Glass negative by American National Red Cross, 1919

• Lippincott's [for] August. Poster by William L. Carqueville, 1895

• Irish American tenor John McCormack playing tennis. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1920s

• Ichiya Kumagae, Japan's first Davis Cup captain, and Bill Johnston. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1920-1925

• Japanese tennis player Ichiya Kumagae, who won the first Japanese gold medal at an Olympic games. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1920-1925

• The New York Cup. Presented to the Japanese Tennis Association by the Nippon Club of New York, Ichiya Kumagae, Captain. Glass negative by the Bain News Service, 1921

• Davis Cup, probably at the 1921 International Lawn Tennis Challenge. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1921

• Woman seated, man standing with tennis racket looking at empty sign. Poster by George Reiter Brill. Philadelphia: H.I. Ireland, 1890s

• Four unidentified women on tennis court. Glass negative by National Photo Company, 5/31/22

• Norwegian American tennis champion Molla Mallory won 8 singles titles at the US Open. Photograph by Bain News Service, 1924

• Women's Tennis Championship at Forest Hills, Queens, New York in 1924. Glass negative by Bain News Service, 1924

• Field day--WPA recreation project, Dist. No. 2. Poster by Beard, Federal Art Project, WPA Illinois, 1939

• Tennis, Chevy Chase Club, Chevy Chase, Maryland. Glass negative by Harris & Ewing, 1928

• Egypt. Cairo. Hotels. Mena House. The tennis courts. Nitrate negative by American Colony (Jerusalem). Photo Department, 1934-1939

• Alice Marble playing tennis at Forest Hills; composite of eight photographs illustrating her serve and backhand. Photograph by Acme News Pictures, 1937

• Althea Gibson. World Telegram & Sun photo by Fred Palumbo, 1956

• Grossinger's tennis, Liberty, New York. Color slide by John Margolies, 1977

• South Grounds; View of Tennis Court, looking NE - White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Photograph by Jack E. Boucher, around 1990

• Dirt tennis court at the boyhood farm of America's 39th president, Jimmy Carter, Archery, Georgia. Digital photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2017

• Tennis: Topics in Chronicling America