History

HISTORY

The tennis club’s court is Norway’s oldest tennis court and is laid out according to the “Lawn Tennis” standard (in the picture below you can see that the court is divided into “zones” with lines). The track was most likely a beaten track and not a grass track, and was built around 1874 by industrialist Halvor Schou who bought the farm with over 1,000 acres in 1873 from the estate of Christian Motzfeldt (d. 19/07/1873). Most likely, it was Schou’s wife Anna Cecilie Crowe (daughter of the well-known Consul General Sir John Rice Crowe) who was the driving force behind the construction of the court after she had spent some time in London and frequented the society there (tennis had a big upswing among the society in 1870 -years much due to the English major Wingfield’s portable tennis court in a box). Her father had also had a tennis court built (court measurements from before the “Lawn Tennis” standard was introduced in 1877 for the 1877 Wimbledon tournament) at the director’s residence “The House” (built in the 1840s) when Crowe was director of the copper works in Kåfjord/ Finnmark from 1826; Anna Cecilie probably played tennis on that court. Schou had the large storehouse (1874) which stands at the end of the tennis court, boys’ room and barn (1878), the tenant’s house (1885) and the recently restored summer house Esviken built.

OB.A02923 – KopiThe picture has been downloaded from http://digitaltmuseum.no. The motif shows court chief Fredrik (Fritz) Frantz Michael Wilhelm Rustad (with “boater” straw hat on the left) and three unknown men on the tennis court at Løkenes gård with spectators (daughters Benedicte Rustad with a racket and Maia Rustad – lady with a hat sitting in the shade) and is taken approx. 1890 by unknown photographer (probably Marie “Lillemor” Rustad).

Hoffsjef Fredrik (Fritz) Frantz Michael Wilhelm Rustad and his wife Marie Magdalene Schou (married Rustad) were owners from 1914 after Anna Cecilie’s death in the same year. Fritz Rustad was head of court first for the king Oscar II in 1904 and for King Haakon from 1905 to 1925, his wife Marie was lady-in-waiting to Queen Maud and King Haakon and Queen Maud therefore visited there a number of times.
 
Skjermbilde
The picture has been downloaded from http://digitaltmuseum.no. The motif shows the Royal Family, probably 1909. Photographed at the head of court Fredrik (Fritz) Frantz Michael Wilhelm Rustad and his wife Marie Magdalene (Schou) at Løkenes gård. Also present are the court chief’s daughters and his son Carl with his wife Bergliot (back left). In the middle of the picture is the young Crown Prince Olav.
King Olav was a member of “Kristiania Lawn-Tennisklub” (today “Oslo Tennis Club) where he was a keen player even though according to his own statement he never played a tournament (“Tennis through 80 years” by Dick Bjurstedt) and it is probably that he has played on the field at Løkenes gård.
The Swedish King Gustav V pictured around 1910. Fritz Rustad was also in close friendship with another tennis enthusiast; the Swedish king Oscar Fredrik Wilhelm Olaf Gustaf Adolf (Crown Prince Oscar’s father Gustav V was the then “Bjørn Borg” as an internationally known tennis player under the name “Mr. G”) and who often visited Løkenes.

Barna på Løkenes gård ca 1916.

Barna på Løkenes gård poserer før litt spill på banen. Bergliot "Bi" Rustad ca 10 år, senere Norgesmester, nr to fra venstre. Bildet tatt ca 1916.
The children at Løkenes gård pose before a game on the pitch. Bergliot “Bi” Rustad about 10 years, later Norwegian champion, second from the left. The picture was taken around 1916.

Carl Rustad’s wife Bergliot (she stands with her husband on the left side of the picture above Crown Prince Olav) daughter Bergliot “Bi” Rustad was very good at tennis and won several championships in the 1930s, including the Norwegian championship.

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Cups and dishes acquired by Mrs. Bergliot “Bi” Rustad in the 1930s are owned by the Løkenes family Rustad, Michael and Margrete, and are available for photography by Christian Oppegaard
The tennis court has been used to varying degrees over the years. Before the court was used for dog training/agility (approx. 2005-2014), it was the family of Frits and Ellen Rustad who took care of the maintenance of the tennis court. After the Oppegaard-Liu family moved into Forpakterboligen in the autumn of 2014, it is tennis mad Christian Oppegaard (a zealot for several years in Oslo Tennis Club) who, with the kind permission of farm owner Michael Rustad, has taken the initiative to create new life on the court. The club “Konglungen Tennisklubb” got its board on 22 September 2015 with chairman Christian Oppegaard, deputy chairman Jon Rustand and board members Lina Liu, Reidar Lie and Benedicte Rustad.
 
Updated 02/03/2016, Christian Oppegaard