More than a century before Roger Federer and Andre Agassi faced off in the U.S Open tennis finals in New York, players were donning fancier attire and taking to the courts of Newport to compete in championship matches. The earliest incarnation of the tournament, then known as the U.S. National Championships, began in Newport in 1881. Players competed on grass courts while musicians performed classical music in a decidedly genteel setting. The tournament moved to New York, but Newport for years after continued to host some of the sport's best and, in 1954, became home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum. That history is chronicled in a new exhibit at the hall of fame, which focuses on the city's early ties to tennis but also on the rich architectural history of the museum's wooden-shingled headquarters, the Newport Casino. The exhibit of photographs and artifacts, which coincides with the casino's 130th anniversary, is intended to appeal to tennis buffs as well as to those more interested in the social lives of the wealthy industrialists in Newport. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=5255199
