View source for James Dwight

{{short description|American tennis player}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox tennis biography
|name                  = James Dwight
|fullname              =
|image                 = Dr james dwight.jpg
|caption= Dwight (before 1903)
|country               = {{USA}}
|birth_date            = July 14, 1852
|birth_place           = [[Paris]], France
|death_date            = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1917|7|13|1852|7|14}}
|death_place           = [[Mattapoisett]], Massachusetts, U.S.
|height                = 
|turnedpro             = 1876 (amateur tour)
|retired               = 1913
|plays                 = Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
|singlesrecord         =  87–30 (74.3%) <ref name="tennisarchives">{{cite web |title=Player – James Dwight |url=http://www.tennisarchives.com/player/?pl=2215 |website=www.tennisarchives.com |publisher=Idzznew BV |access-date=31 July 2018 }}</ref>
|singlestitles         = 12  <ref name="tennisarchives"/>
|highestsinglesranking = 
|tennishofyear                     = 1955
|tennishofid                       = dr-james-dwight
|AustralianOpenresult              = 
|FrenchOpenresult                  = 
|Wimbledonresult                   = SF ([[1885 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|1885]])
|USOpenresult                      = F ([[1883 U.S. National Championships – Singles|1883]])
|Othertournaments                  = 
|Olympicsresult                    = 
|doublesrecord                     = 
|doublestitles                     = 
|highestdoublesranking             = 
|currentdoublesranking             = 
|grandslamsdoublesresults          =
|AustralianOpenDoublesresult       = 
|FrenchOpenDoublesresult           = 
|WimbledonDoublesresult            = SF ([[1884 Wimbledon Championships – Gentlemen's doubles|1884]], [[1885 Wimbledon Championships – Gentlemen's doubles|1885]])
|USOpenDoublesresult               = '''W''' ([[1882 U.S. National Championships – Doubles|1882]], [[1883 U.S. National Championships – Doubles|1883]], [[1884 U.S. National Championships – Doubles|1884]], [[1886 U.S. National Championships – Doubles|1886]], [[1887 U.S. National Championships – Doubles|1887]])
|OthertournamentsDoubles           = 
|OlympicsDoublesresult             = 
|Mixed                             = <!-- adds mixed information-->
|mixedrecord                       = 
|mixedtitles                       = 
|AustralianOpenMixedresult         = 
|FrenchOpenMixedresult             = 
|WimbledonMixedresult              = 
|USOpenMixedresult                 = 
|OthertournamentsMixedDoubles      = 
|OlympicMixedDoublesresult         = 
|updated                           =
}}

'''James Dwight''' (July 14, 1852, France – July 13, 1917<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=04QfAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22James+Dwight%22+Mattapoisett&pg=PP143 Harvard Alumni Bulletin, Volume 20], 1917 (retrieved 13 April 2015).</ref>) was an American [[tennis]] player who was known as the "Founding Father of American Tennis".<ref>{{cite book |author1=Warren F. Kimball |title=The United States Tennis Association : Raising the Game |date=2017 |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |location=Lincoln |isbn=978-0803296930 |page=14 |quote=By 1886 Dwight was already considered the 'father of American lawn tennis.'}}</ref>

==Biography==
Dwight won the first recorded tournament in the U.S. (and probably in the world, before the first [[Wimbledon Championships]]) played in August 1876 on the property of his uncle, William Appleton, at Nahant, Massachusetts. After graduating from Harvard in 1874, he traveled in Europe, saw the new sport of lawn tennis being played, and brought the necessary equipment home. Then he persuaded his uncle to mark out a court on his smooth front lawn so he could play a game with his cousin Fred Sears.

That first attempt was disappointing. Dwight later wrote "we voted the whole thing a fraud and put it away." About a month later, they tried again as a way of passing time on a rainy day. This time, tennis seemed much more interesting, even though they were wearing rubber boots and raincoats. The 1876 tournament was a neighborhood affair: "it was played on handicap on a round robin basis. There were two players on scratch, James Dwight and Fred D Sears Jr., each of whom played against 11 other players until a final between them. Rackets scoring was used...Dwight beat Sears 12–15 15–7 15–13.<ref>''The Guinness book of Tennis Facts & Feats, 1983 edition, page 11, by Lance Tingay</ref> By then, Dwight and Sears had taught the game to a number of people, including [[Richard Sears (tennis)|Richard Dudley "Dick" Sears]], another cousin, who went on to win the first seven national singles championships.

Dwight was one of the founders of the [[USTA|U.S. National Lawn Tennis Association]] in 1881, and he served as its president for 21 years. He never won the singles championship, but he reached the tournament final in 1883 losing to Richard Sears, with whom he did team to take five national doubles titles, from 1882 through 1884 and from 1886 through 1887. In a rare transatlantic trip in those days, James Dwight entered the 1884 and [[1885 Wimbledon Championships – Gentlemen's singles|1885]] Wimbledon tournaments, reaching the semifinals in 1885 (losing to [[Herbert Lawford]]).<ref name="collins2016">{{cite book|last=Collins|first=Bud|author-link=Bud Collins|title=The Bud Collins History of Tennis|year=2016|publisher=New Chapter Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1-937559-38-0|page=441|edition=3rd}}</ref>

His other career tournaments singles wins include the [[Longwood Bowl]] in Boston (1884), the [[Brighton Lawn Tennis Club Tournament]] (1885), [[Brincliffe Lawn Tennis Club Open Tournament]] (1885) held at Sheffield in England, the [[Warwickshire Championships]] (1885, 1887), the [[Northern Championships]] (1885), the [[Brookfield Isle of Wight Open]] (1884-1885), and the [[West of England Championships]] (1886).

He was inducted to the [[International Tennis Hall of Fame]] in 1955.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W39oSS7c2xAC&q=James+Dwight+international+hall+of+fame+in+1955&pg=PA91|title=Historical Dictionary of Tennis|last=Grasso|first=John|date=2011-09-16|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810872370|language=en}}</ref>

==Grand Slam finals==

=== Singles (1 runner-up) ===

{| class='sortable wikitable' 
!style="width:40px"|Result
!style="width:35px"|Year
!style="width:200px"|Championship
!style="width:50px"|Surface
!style="width:180px"|Opponent
!style="width:180px" class="unsortable"|Score
|-style="background:#ccccff;"
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss || [[1883 U.S. National Championships – Singles|1883]] || [[U.S. National Championships (tennis)|U.S. National Championships]] || Grass || {{flagicon|USA|1912}} [[Richard Sears (tennis)|Richard Sears]] || 2–6, 0–6, 7–9
|}

===Doubles (5 titles)===

{|class="sortable wikitable" 
!style="width:40px"|Result
!style="width:35px"|Year
!style="width:200px"|Championship 
!style="width:50px"|Surface
!style="width:180px"|Partner
!style="width:180px"|Opponents
!style="width:180px" class="unsortable"|Score
|-style="background:#ccccff;"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win || 1882||[[1882 U.S. National Championships (tennis)|U.S. Championships]] || Grass || {{flagicon|USA|1877}} [[Richard Sears (tennis)|Richard Sears]] || {{flagicon|USA|1877}} [[Crawford Nightingale]]<br>{{flagicon|USA|1877}} [[G M Smith]] || 6–2, 6–4, 6–4
|-style="background:#ccccff;"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win || 1883||[[1883 U.S. National Championships (tennis)|U.S. Championships]] || Grass ||{{flagicon|USA|1877}} Richard Sears  || {{flagicon|USA|1877}} [[Alexander Van Rensselaer]]<br>{{flagicon|USA|1877}} [[Arthur Newbold]] || 6–0, 6–2, 6–2
|-style="background:#ccccff;"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win || 1884||[[1884 U.S. National Championships (tennis)|U.S. Championships]] || Grass ||{{flagicon|USA|1877}} Richard Sears || {{flagicon|USA|1877}} Alexander Van Rensselaer<br>{{flagicon|USA|1877}} [[Walter Van Rensselaer Berry|W.V.R. Berry]] || 6–4, 6–1, 8–10, 6–4
|-style="background:#ccccff;"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win || 1886||[[1886 U.S. National Championships (tennis)|U.S. Championships]] || Grass ||{{flagicon|USA|1877}} Richard Sears || {{flagicon|USA|1877}} [[Howard Taylor (tennis)|Howard Taylor]]<br>{{flagicon|USA|1877}} [[Godfrey Brinley]] || 6–3, 6–0, 6–2
|-style="background:#ccccff;"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win || 1887||[[1887 U.S. National Championships (tennis)|U.S. Championships]] || Grass ||{{flagicon|USA|1877}} Richard Sears || {{flagicon|USA|1877}} Howard Taylor<br>{{flagicon|USA|1877}} [[Henry Slocum (tennis)|Henry Slocum]] || 6–4, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–3
|}

==See also==
* [[Mary Ewing Outerbridge]]
* [[History of tennis]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|James Dwight}}
* {{Tennis Hall of Fame}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=Dwight,+James | name=James Dwight}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=James Dwight}}

{{U.S. National Championships Men's doubles champions}}
{{International Tennis Hall of Fame members}}
{{Portal bar|Tennis}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwight, James}}
[[Category:19th-century American sportsmen]]
[[Category:19th-century male tennis players]]
[[Category:American male tennis players]]
[[Category:French emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]<!--did not play tennis for the Crimson, as the sport was not played when he attended uni.-->
[[Category:International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:United States National champions (tennis)]]
[[Category:1852 births]]
[[Category:1917 deaths]]
[[Category:Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles]]
[[Category:History of tennis]]
[[Category:Tennis players from Paris]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States Tennis Association]]