| Details | |
|---|---|
| Duration | April 1877 – December 1877 |
| Edition | 2nd |
| Tournaments | 3 |
| Categories | National (1) Regional (1) Regular (1) |
| Achievements (singles) | |
| Most tournament titles |  Frances Gallwey Miss Smith (1) |
| Most tournament finals | Frances Gallwey Miss Smith (1) |
← 1876 1878 → | |
The 1877 Women's Tennis Season was mainly composed of national, regional, local amateur tournaments. This year 3 tennis events were staged in Dublin, Limerick and Waterford, Ireland between April and September 1877
The women's amateur tennis seasons covers a period of thirty five years from 1876 to 1912. During this period there was no single international organization responsible for overseeing tennis. At the very start in tennis history lawn tennis clubs themselves organized events and some like the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in England (f.1877) and the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Ireland (f.1879) generally oversaw tennis in their respective countries.
This would later change when tennis players started (those that could) traveled the world to compete in events organized by individual national lawn tennis associations (NLTA)'s the oldest of which then was the United States Lawn Tennis Association (f. 1881). In certain countries that did not establish a national association until later, had provincial, regional or state lawn tennis associations overseeing tournaments in a province, region or state within a country, such as the Northern Lawn Tennis Association in Manchester, England (f.1880), [1] had responsibility for coordinating tournaments staged by clubs in the North of England region. In Australia the Victorian Lawn Tennis Association (f.1904) organised tournaments in the state of Victoria, Australia.
In 1877 three tournaments for women were staged all of them in Ireland. At the second edition of South of Ireland Championships in Limerick the singles event was won by a Miss Smith. [2] This year saw the first edition of the Waterford Lawn Tennis Tournament held at Waterford Cricket & Lawn Tennis Club, Rocklands, Waterford, County Waterford the singles title was won by Frances Gallwey.
This year was the first staging of the Wimbledon Championships the world's first major tennis tournament, however it was an all men's event, no women's events were staged.
In 1913 the International Lawn Tennis Federation was created, that consisted of national member associations. The ILTF through its associated members then became responsible for supervising women's tour events.
Notes 1: Challenge Round: the final round of a tournament, in which the winner of a single-elimination phase faces the previous year's champion, who plays only that one match. The challenge round was used in the early history of tennis (from 1877 through 1921), [3] in some tournaments not all.
Notes 2:Tournaments in italics were events that were staged only once that season
Key
| Main events [4] [5] [6] |
| National events |
| Provincial/Regional/State events |
| County events |
| Regular events |
No events
| Ended | Tournament | Winner | Finalist | Semi Finalist | Quarter Finalist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6. [7] | All Ireland Lawn Tennis Championships Dublin, Ireland Grass Singles | ? d. | ? |
No events
| Ended | Tournament | Winner | Finalist | Semi Finalist | Quarter Finalist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4. [8] | South of Ireland Championships Limerick, Ireland Outdoor Grass Singles | Miss Smith. def | ? | ||
| Ended | Tournament | Winner | Finalist | Semi Finalist | Quarter Finalist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 16. | Waterford Lawn Tennis Tournament Waterford CLTC Rocklands, Waterford, Ireland Outdoor Grass Singles | Frances Gallwey def | Miss Roberts | A. Gallwey M. Radcliffe | Mrs Bucknell Miss McCreery Miss O'Donnell Miss Radcliffe |
| Miss Radcliffe ** Henry Joseph Gallwey ** def | Frances Gallwey Benjamin E. Bunbury | ||||
No events
?–Dublin–(1) Miss Smith (1) Limerick Frances Gallwey (1) Waterford Miss Radcliffe & Henry Joseph Gallwey (1) WaterfordMary Isabella "May" Langrishe (1864–1939) was an Irish tennis player. In the most important tennis tournaments of the late 19th century she won the singles title at the presitigous Irish Championships held at the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club three times in 1879, 1883 and 1886, the Northern Championships in 1880, and was a semi finalist at the Wimbledon Championships in 1891. She was active between 1879 and 1892 and won 20 career singles titles.
The 1877 men's tennis season was composed of 5 tournaments for the second edition pre-open era lawn tennis season. Before the birth of Open Era (tennis), most tournaments were reserved for amateur athletes. In 1874 British Major Walter Clopton Wingfield patented with the House of London Crafts the invention of a new game, which consisted of a shaped field hourglass, divided in the middle by a suspended net. The game was packaged in a box containing some balls, four paddles, the net components and the signs to mark the field. The game was based on the rules of the old real tennis and, at the suggestion of Arthur Balfour, was called lawn-tennis. The official date of birth of the court would be February 23, 1874. In 1877 all were amateur tournaments, among them was the first 1877 Wimbledon Championship, the inaugural event was held from 9 to 19 July and saw as the inaugural winner Spencer Gore. The tournament would remain for a period of 35 years the sole major tennis tournament in the world until the International Lawn Tennis Federation introduces its three World championship series events in 1913 that continue until 1923, when the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association only agrees to join the ILTF on the basis of two compromises: the title 'World Championships' would be abolished and wording would be 'for ever in the English language'. Wimbledon would still retain its prestigious and historical status, and become one of the four Grand Slam tennis events from 1924.
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