Bermuda’s prominent place in the history of tennis is the focal point of Bermuda Racquet Week, which kicks off Friday with a physically-distanced courtside cocktail event at WER Joell Tennis Stadium, Pembroke. The event is also a precursor to the US Open Tennis Championships in New York City where Bermuda returns as the tournament’s exclusive tourism partner.
Bermuda and Tennis in the US have a long history. Mary Ewing Outerbridge, born in Philadelphia to Bermudian parents, first came across the game while visiting her family’s home on the island in 1874. After picking it up, she sailed back to New York with tennis equipment and introduced the sport to Staten Island—a move that earned her the title “the Mother of American Tennis.”
The Outerbridge story is the nucleus of Friday’s event, called Tennis: The Bermuda Legacy. The intent is to educate visitors and residents about the sport’s Bermudian roots while they enjoy some of the island’s most dynamic players in exhibition matches on Court One. Gosling’s and Bacardi are working together to provide Kim Crawford wines and Grey Goose vodka as featured beverages—brands that are also US Open sponsorship partners
