Paris Pro Championships

The Paris Pro Championships^[1] was a professional tennis tournament first held in April 1898.^[2] Also called the NTL Paris Pro Championships.^[3] It was first played at the Tennis Club de Paris, Paris, France until 1968.^[2]

Paris Pro Championships
Defunct tennis tournament
Tour	Pro Tennis Tour NTL Pro Tour
Founded	1898; 127 years ago (1898)
Abolished	1968; 57 years ago (1968)
Location	Paris, France
Venue	Palais des Sports Tennis Club de Paris Stade Pierre de Coubertin
Surface	Clay / outdoor Wood / indoor

History

The Paris Pro Championships were first held in March 1898 at the Tennis Club de Paris, Paris, France.^[4] This was the first known pro tournament to held, and inaugural winner of this Round Robin Event was Irish player Thomas P. Burke who won 2 out 2 matches, Irish player George James Kerr was placed second with a 1-1 match record.^[5][2] The tournament was not held on a semi permanent basis, until the late 1960s, 1960s.^[2]

Finals

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1898[6]	Thomas P. Burke (1st)	George James Kerr (2nd)[7]	Round Robin.[2]
1952	Pancho Segura (1st)	Jack Kramer (2nd)	Round Robin.[2]
1953[a]	Frank Sedgman	Pancho Gonzales	3–6, 6–3, 6–1, 6–1.[2]
1967[8]	Rod Laver	Ken Rosewall	6–0, 10–8, 10–8.[1]
1968	Ken Rosewall	Andrés Gimeno	6–3, 6–4.[1]

Event names

• Paris Professional Championship (1898)
• Paris Professional Tennis Championships (1952-1953)
• Paris Pro Championships (1967)
• NTL Paris Pro Championships (1968)

Notes

1. In 1953, from Saturday November 21 to Sunday November 22, a 4-man (Sedgman winner, Gonzales runner-up, Segura 3rd and Budge 4th) professional tournament was held in Paris on indoor red cement at the Palais des Sports but there is no mention that this tournament was a French Pro: in particular in the January 1954 edition of Tennis de France, the French magazine, run by Philippe Chatrier (future president of the ILTF) who made the report of this tournament by interviewing the winner Frank Sedgman. Joe McCauley included this tournament in his list of French Pro tournaments but in the precis to his book History of Professional Tennis he mentions that it may not have been considered at the time as an official French Pro, more likely the Paris Pro.