Town Tennis Club was established in 1954 by tennis legends – 1931 Wimbledon champion Sidney Wood and six-time Grand Slam champ Don Budge – who shared a passion for preserving the sport in New York City. With the post-war construction boom, Wood was concerned that tennis courts were disappearing in the city, so he proposed a brilliant idea – build courts on rooftops. He partnered with his best friend Budge, and they discovered a unique location for the club atop a building, which housed a garage for FBI vehicles, in the residential neighborhood of Sutton Place.

Sidney Wood 

Don Budge

History

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Town Tennis Club opened on ADD DATE, with Budge serving as the club’s first teaching pro, charging a rate of $8 an hour.

Since its founding, Town Tennis has been a premier destination for tennis legends including Serena Williams, Monica Seles, Jim Courier, Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Pancho Gonzales, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Pancho Segura, Gardnar Mulloy, Bill Tilden, and Billy Talbert, among others. Regulars included top-ranked Gussie Moran, who made headlines for her tennis fashion in the 1940s, and Brazilian Grand Slam champ Maria Bueno, a lifelong player at Town Tennis, as well as Billie Jean King and Bobbie Riggs, who held their historic “Battle of the Sexes” press conference at the club in 1973.

Beyond the courts, Town Tennis Club became renowned in the New York social scene, hosting elegant events attended by Hollywood celebrities such as Ginger Rogers, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Celeste Holm, Rudy Vallée, and Dina Merrill.