Thomas Pettitt

Thomas ‘Tom’ Pettitt was born on December 19, 1859 in Kent, England. He and his family migrated to Boston from Kent when he was 17. Young Thomas immediately started to play racket sports in his new home and became one of the first persons who first learned to play the game in 1876. He eventually one of the most beloved instructors of court tennis at the Boston Tennis And Racquet Club as well as at the Newport Casino where he remained as supervisor until his death in 1946. A close friend, Jimmy Van Alen often told of Pettitt using empty champagne bottles as a bat and defeating opponents in friendly lawn tennis games.

Pettitt played his best court tennis from 1885 to 1890. He played in matches in Great Britain and France to improve his skills and eventually faced George Lambert at the Royal Tennis Court located outside of London for the 1885 World Championships. He went on to defend his title in Dublin, Ireland in 1890 against Charles Saunders before retiring the title on the same year.

He also participated in the earliest professional lawn tennis tours with George Kerr in front of a large audience in New England in 1889.

After retiring from the Boston Tennis and Racquet Club in 1927, Pettitt served as an instructor at the Newport Casino every summer from 1876 to 1929, finally serving as the supervisor for the casino. He died in 1946 in Newport, Rhode Island. He was inducted to the Hall of Fame on the basis of his prowess in court tennis in 1982. He is also credited for inventing a fast and powerful overarm service called ‘the railroad.’