The Tennis Ties in “Napoleon” The Movie
By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
One of the top movies of the Holiday season is “Napoleon” starring Joaquin Phoenix as the French emperor and military genius.
There is an interesting tennis tie in to Napoleon and it wasn’t that he was one of the first players to play the sport.
After the battle of Waterloo in 1815, which signified the final end of Napoleon’s reign, he was exiled for a second and final time to a remote island in the South Atlantic called St. Helena. While at St. Helena, he lived in a property that was called Longwood House. This name is familiar to tennis aficianados as the famed tennis club in Boston, Massachusetts took this name after Napoleon’s final residence when it was founded in 1877
Read more of this here https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2001/04/29/longwoods-name-has-a-napoleon-connection/ The Longwood Cricket Club was the site of the first Davis Cup match between the USA and Great Britain in 1900 and was the home of many significant matches and tournaments, including the U.S. National Doubles Championships (The modern day U.S. Open doubles), the U.S. Pro Championships men’s tournament and the 1999 USA vs. Australia Davis Cup Centennial quarterfinal match.
Also, another interesting connection to tennis with the movie involves British actor Vanessa Kirby who plays Napoleon’s wife and soulmate Josephine. Kirby was born and raised in the most famous British village for tennis fans…. Wimbledon.
