River Oaks - A Houston Tradition

The scene is picturesque -- leaves returning to trees, flowers starting to bloom and the morning sun shining on the bright red clay courts. The calendar changing from winter to spring means decorative sun hats and Planters Punch. There’s no sight like seeing the yellow flowers in the shape of a giant tennis ball when pulling up to River Oaks Country Club. 

2021 marks the 90th anniversary of world-class tennis at River Oaks and unfortunately due to the pandemic, the celebration has to be put on hold as the US Men’s Clay Court Championships have been canceled for the second straight year. 

This is a tournament that has a rich history in the state of Texas. 50 years ago, Cliff Richey became the last Texan to win at River Oaks the event. The courts, which sit nestled into the wooded west side of Houston, have seen some of the all-time greats win on clay, from Ivan Lendl to Rod Laver. The tournament has also seen some unknown players who would go on to be future stars.

“One of the things that River Oaks has always been known for is a player that no one heard about becomes a superstar,” says USTA Texas CEO and former Tournament Director Van Barry. “The quintessential example was in 1974. In the final that year was Rod Laver, who was at that time, the unquestioned greatest player of all time and he’s playing a 17-year-old Bjorn Borg. Anybody know who Bjorn Borg was in 1974? No.” 

The veteran Laver claimed the final 7-6, 6-2.

“But what Borg did seven weeks later was he won the French Open and there it went. Then Borg became Borg. But in 1974 in April, he's playing at River Oaks and he's playing against Rod Laver,” Barry said. “River Oaks was part of the entire evolution of the sport of tennis from the early amateur days to where it is today. It was always a part of that in some way.”

Now despite being played at the same grounds as the Clay Court Championships, the tournament Laver and Borg played in was the River Oaks International Tennis Tournament. That tournament was held at River Oaks from 1931 to 2007, which was the oldest in the country to be played at the original site. In 2008, River Oaks merged with the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships, becoming the tournament it is today.

“I think once you reach a certain point of longevity, then it becomes embedded in the culture of the community,” Barry says. “When you've got an event that has that much history connected to it -- you have people who care about that event because they were ball kids when they were 12 and then they watched their kid be a ball kid on the same court that they were a ball kid on 30 years before. It just perpetuates through this community.”

One example of this is Mike Chadwick, who worked his way from an attendee of the tournament all the way to the top.

“He was a ball boy when he was 14,” Barry says. “Then once they became about 17 or 18, the kids that were the better players at the club, they became linesmen. Then he comes back and he's a member of the club. Then he's the tournament chairman. So think about how much that individual cares about the success of that tournament.”

River Oaks realized before anyone that a tennis tournament didn’t have to be just a tennis tournament. The entire outing was an experience for those in attendance.

“The tennis was great, but you could spend a day out there with your family and there were things to do other than just sit in the stadium and watch a tennis match all day,” Barry says. “That also helped bring in another group of people that may not say ‘I'm going to go buy a ticket and watch a tennis tournament’ -- it expanded the reach of people that might say ‘yes, that's a good way to spend a day.’”

When the US Men’s Clay Court Championships moved from Westside Tennis Club to River Oaks, its Tournament Manager followed. That Tournament Manager is Bronwyn Greer, who took over for Barry at Tournament Director in 2015. Greer has continued the tournament’s vision of moving into the future without losing any of its past.

Greer considers herself a perfectionist and isn’t willing to ask someone to do something if she wouldn’t do it herself. This level of detail helps make the tournament as special as it is. 

“That's really what it all comes down to is ensuring that we are providing that world-class experience. Does that for me mean double checking details 800 times? Absolutely. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes, but it makes it worth it when you see smiles on faces and people are saying ‘this is the best year yet.’ Our goal has always been ‘well we want next year to be even better.’ That's what we constantly strive for.”

The payoff for all that preparation: an incredible, unique tennis experience.