Why do we use the term ‘Challenge Cup’ in tennis?
The British Wimbledon tournament, which boasts the longest tradition and history in world tennis, awards a championship trophy called the ‘Challenge Cup’ to the winner of the men’s singles event. Founded in 1877, Wimbledon was contemplated on how to give the championship trophy that shines the value of the winner as William Renshaw of England won six consecutive championships from 1881 to 1886. He created the trophy with the idea that a trophy should be produced that shows the universal and classic symbolism of tennis and that the winner can be satisfied with. Until the 1883 tournament, a trophy called the ‘Field Cup’ was awarded to Renshaw. After that, he gave the ‘Challenge Cup’ to the winner. This tradition has continued to this day, and the winner of the Wilbledon men’s singles event is presented with a championship trophy called the ‘Challenge Cup’. It is made of silver plating and measures 18 inches high and 7.5 inches in diameter. The cup is engraved with the words ‘The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Championship of the World’. All champions’ dates and names are written around the trophy. The winner of the Australian Open is awarded the Norman Brooks Challenge Cup, honoring Australian tennis hero Norman Brooks (1877-1968), who won Wimbledon in 1907 and 1914. 메이저놀이터
According to the English glossary, ‘challenge cup’ is a compound word of ‘challenge’ meaning challenge and ‘cup’ meaning round bowl. ‘challenge’ in the dictionary means to test a person’s ability or skill or raise a competition. It is derived from the Latin ‘calimnia’ and borrowed into English from the Old French ‘chalenge’. ‘Cup’ comes from the Old English word ‘cuppe’ which means a small vessel used to hold liquids. Originally, the Challenge Cup refers to a cup that does not permanently give the championship trophy to the winner and returns it at the next competition. A challenge round means challenging the previous year’s champion.
The word ‘challenge’ is said to have been used in British modern sport to mean an invitation to a competition. Along with tennis, rugby, a traditional British sport, has been held every year since 1896, called the Challenge Cup. In American baseball, the word challenge refers to a pitcher throwing his best ball to test a batter’s ability or a runner stealing a base to avoid a defender’s throw.
The Challenge Cup awarded to the male winner at Wimbledon is also used as a tournament title. Many tennis tournaments are held in various parts of the world under the name of Challenge or Challenge Cup. The Korean press has also published articles about the tournament called the Tennis Challenge since the 1980s. The Chosun Ilbo August 21, 1981 article titled ‘Lee Deok-hee advances to the 3rd round’ reads, ‘Toronto (Canada)=Yonhap] Korea’s Deok-hee Lee, who is ranked 93rd in the women’s tennis world ranking, was in Toronto, Canada on the 20th. In the second round of the singles at the Players Challenge Women’s Tennis Championships, she defeated Romania’s Virginia Luzic with a set score of 2-1 to advance to the third round. Teenage tennis star Andre Yeager of the United States defeated Sugenrio of Australia 2-0, and Pam Schreiber defeated Candy Reynolds 2-0, respectively, and advanced to the third round as well. After winning the match against Luzic on the day, Lee Deok-hee (李德姬) said, “It was the most wonderful match in her life. She was in good condition, but she could see the direction of the ball returned by the opponent well.” .
