River Oaks International Tennis Tournament

River Oaks Country Club has played host to the River Oaks International, or other professional tennis tournament since 1931. The tournament is the oldest in the country to still be played in its original site, in the original stadium. From the very beginning, the River Oaks International was an amateur tournament, and was not associated with the professional tennis associations. From the start, the field was filled with a few stars and then local candidates filled out the rest of the field. There were many years when the stars found themselves headed home early.

One of the landmark tournament events was in 1974, the championship match was broadcast before a national audience; thirty-four year old Rod Laver, met the heir apparent, seventeen year old Bjorn Borg. For both this marked a highlight in their careers, Laver became the first man to hold 4 singles championships at River Oaks, and for Borg it marked the beginning of his impressive tennis career.

In 2008, the River Oaks International was merged with the US Men's Clay Court Championship to continue the storied and tradition filled tennis stadium at River Oaks. The merger between one of the oldest, and last remaining clay court tournaments in the United States, with the tradition oriented River Oaks, created an atmosphere like none other.

The River Oaks US Men's Clay Court Championship will return again this April, for another round of tennis under the shady oaks. The dates are April 6 - 12, 2009.

Winners

*1931 Ellsworth Vines
*1932 Wilmer Allison
*1933 Frank Parker
*1934 Lester Stoefen
*1935 Bryan Grant
*1936 Bryan Grant
*1937 Bryan Grant
*1938 Wayne Sabin
*1939 Frank Guernsey
*1940 Bobby Riggs
*1941 Frank Kovacs
*1942 to 1945 no tournaments due to war
*1946 Gardnar Mulloy
*1947 Jack Kramer
*1948 Frank Parker
*1949 Ted Schroeder
*1950 Bob Falkneburg
*1951 Art Larsen
*1952 Gardner Mulloy
*1953 Gardner Mulloy
*1954 Dick Savitt
*1955 Tony Trabert
*1956 Ham Richardson
*1957 Herb Flam
*1958 Barry MacKay
*1959 Bernard Bartzen
*1960 Barry MacKay
*1961 Rod Laver
*1962 Rod Laver
*1963 Manuel Santana
*1964 Roy Emerson
*1965 Ramanathan Krishnan
*1966 Marty Mulligan
*1967 John Newcombe
*1968 Cliff Richey
*1969 Zeljko Franulovic
*1970 Clark Graebner
*1971 Cliff Richey
*1972 Rod Laver
*1973 Ken Rosewall
*1974 Rod Laver
*1975 Ken Rosewall
*1976 Harold Solomon
*1977 Adriano Panatta
*1978 Brian Gottfried
*1979 Jose Higueras
*1980 Ivan Lendl
*1981 Guillermo Vilas
*1982 Ivan Lendl
*1983 Ivan Lendl
*1984 Mark Dickson
*1985 Paul McNamee
*1986 Jimmy Arias
*1987 Jimmy Arias
*1988 Henri Leconte
*1989 Magnus Gustafsson
*1990 Richey Reneberg
*1991 Magnus Gustafsson
*1992 Bryan Shelton
*1993 Richey Reneberg
*1994 Magnus Larsson
*1995 Mikael Tillström
*1996 Christian Ruud
*1997 Jason Stoltenberg
*1998 Mariano Zabaleta
*1999 Vince Spadea
*2000 Magnus Larsson
*2001 Andrei Pavel
*2002 Michel Kratochvil
*2003 James Blake
*2004 Jiří Novák and Hugo Armando, co-champions
*2005 James Blake
*2006 Victor Hanescu
*2007 Dmitri Tursunov
*2008 Marcel Granollers