The first edition in July 1880 was held at the
Broughton Cricket Club while the
Kersal Cricket Ground staged the 1881 event. The 1882 edition was the first one to be held in Liverpool and saw the addition of the women's singles event, won by
May Langrishe, as well as the women's and mixed doubles events. Prior to the creation of the
International Lawn Tennis Federation and the establishment of its world championship events in 1913 it was considered by players and historians one of the four most important tennis tournaments to win. the others being Wimbledon, the
U.S. National championships and the
Irish Championships. From its inception until 1927 the location of the tournament alternated between Manchester and Liverpool. Between 1968 and 1974 it was part of the ATP Tour, from 1976 to 1989 it was played as a non tour event which meant the titles were not recognised by the ATP Tour. It returned to being an ATP Tour event from 1990 to 1994. In 1990 it became an
ATP Tour event as part of the
ATP International Series until 1994. In 1995 the tournament was moved to
Nottingham and continued as an
ATP World Series event. The current
Manchester Trophy Challenger is part of the
ATP Challenger Tour; throughout its history the event has been won by a number of
Wimbledon champions such as
Pete Sampras, who won his first grass court title there. The tournament ended in 2009. ==Finals==