TenniStory: Allie Ritzenberg, Jackie Kennedy and tennis in D.C.

In TenniStory: Cuba, we spoke with Orlando Garrido Calleja, the first Cuban tennis player to compete at Wimbledon. He put his country's name on the tennis map.

In this edition of TenniStory, we speak with Allie Ritzenberg, a man who put his city's name on the tennis map. Ritzenberg was not a pioneering player—his greatest contribution to the game was as a teaching pro—and tennis was already established in Washington, D.C., in country clubs and colleges. But it wasn't exactly thriving.

"Tennis was sort of dead," says Ritzenberg of the sport's tepid appeal in 1960s Washington, D.C.

It was one of Ritzenberg's eager students who helped change that perception, not only in the mid-Atlantic, but around the United States. Such is the case when that student is the First Lady, and that First Lady was Jackie Kennedy.

"People who had never thought of playing tennis decided they would start," says Ritzenberg of the sport's renaissance in Washington—a prelude to a racquet boom that would capture hold of the country.

The impact of Ritzenberg's devotion and enthusiasm to the sport impact is still felt today, most notably at the Citi Open, where both pro tours descend on D.C. each August.

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