Photos by Torben Eskerod
Tennis loves a comeback story— the former champion turning back the clock amid the lengthening shadows of her career, say, or a fan favorite defying medical odds for one last tilt at the title. But few stars have bounced back quite like Leif Rovsing, one of Denmark’s first professional tennis players. A strong serve and an iron will took him to the summit of the game at the start of the 20th century, but when the sporting establishment cast him out for being gay, Rovsing reconstructed his tennis life in his own worldly image, in the process building of one of the world’s most extraordinary tennis clubs.
Rovsing would surely be forgotten today were it not for Dansk Tennis Club, which he established in Copenhagen’s wealthy northern suburbs in 1919—two years after he was expelled from the sport he loved. His remarkable story is recounted in Out!, Danish architecture professor René Kural’s illuminating profile of Dansk Tennis Club and the scandal that led to its foundation.
Nestled in a residential neighborhood in Hellerup, the little-known architectural wonder is made almost entirely of wood—aluminum window frames arrived in 1987—and has a striking cantilevered roof. It is big enough to contain just one elegant tennis court.