A Bit of History

The initial idea for the International Club emerged in the 1920s during the Wimbledon tournament, more precisely during a conversation between Arthur Balfour, former British Prime Minister, and Wallis Myer, a prominent journalist and tennis specialist. The project was to promote the values of tennis and friendship between players. The IC of Great Britain was founded in 1924 and grey/pink were chosen as the official colors.

In 1929, Jean Borotra was approached by W. Myers and Lord Lyle to form a Club in France. Borotra was the first President of the IC of France and actively participated in it since 1929. Subsequently, other major nations followed suit, the United States, the Netherlands in 1931, and Sweden in 1937 for example.

Since 1947, the activities of the Clubs have increased. Belgium's IC was founded in 1947, followed by Argentina in 1948 with other countries that did the same in the 1950s, 60s and 70s and continue to do so today.

With the increasing international activities of each Club, it was decided to organise "IC-Weeks" at the initiative of the Netherlands Club. Today, these "Weeks" are considered as a forum to promote competitions between Clubs and to strengthen friendship. The first week took place in Nordwjik in the Netherlands and the Weeks continue to this day. Each Club can compete for the Windmill, Orsini, Columbus or Mercelis Trophy among other competitions. In 1976, the Council of IC's included women among its members under the same conditions as for men.

In Switzerland, our Club was officially recognised by the IC Council in 1970. Heinz Grimm, Davis Cup Captain at the time, wanted to create a Club and brought together other leading players in Lugano in 1969 for the official Swiss foundation, namely: Bernard Dupont, A. Gusberti, Paul Blondel, Martin Froesch, H-J Schäublin, and Tim Sturdza.