As an amateur tournament, the inaugural edition was held in 1924 in
Torquay, moving to the
West Hants Tennis Club in
Bournemouth, England in 1927. The tournament remained there until 1983, although the 1977 and 1979 editions were cancelled due to lack of sponsorship. At that time, the tournament was played outdoors on
red shale, which is similar to European clay but with a grittier, looser surface, thus leading to faster play. When the tournament became a fixture of the Open Era in 1968 (see below), many professional competitors from overseas, unused to the playing conditions, complained that the shale courts were wet and slippery. By the mid-1970s, however, the event had become a destination for several top European and South American clay courters: winners of the men's singles championship during those years include
Ilie Năstase,
Adriano Panatta,
Manuel Orantes,
Victor Pecci and
José Higueras. This did not prevent it from being cancelled indefinitely in 1984, which the organisers explained was due to the lack of a sponsor and the withdrawal of television coverage. In 1995, the event was revived at Bournemouth as a women's WTA tournament but was only played there that one time; the final edition the following year was held in
Cardiff,
Wales. A men's
ATP World Series tournament was then staged at the West Hants Club on
American green clay from 1996 to 1999, before being relocated to indoor hard courts in Brighton for the 2000 edition (see
Brighton International). Bournemouth was once one of the world's major tournaments, second only to Wimbledon in England and on the same level as Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg. In the pre-war era, it was regarded as the most important event outside the four Grand Slams.
Fred Perry is the record holder with five consecutive titles, from 1932 through to 1936. ==Start of Open Era==