Features of tennis recovery in Irkutsk region in 1920s

Tennis, as a social and cultural phenomenon, always has been dependent on political factors. In different periods of tennis history, it has experienced times of growth and prosperity, expulsion and decline. Today, this part of country's political history is not investigated and requires a substantial research, especially in complex of socio-political turmoil (upheavals) caused by establishment of Soviet power, by example of the Siberian region practices. Social and cultural development of the country, the social movement of the Russian intelligentsia to improve their physical condition as well as fundamental changes in the economic, political and social processes in the beginning of the 20th century were the main prerequisites for genesis of such an alien element of the privileged culture as lawn tennis, in Siberians' consciousness and everyday life. Pan-Russian tennis transformation predetermined its penetration into the sports habits of Siberian regional society, synchronously with tennis development on a global scale. Reproducing the way of the already established system of lawn tennis in the late 19th - early 20th centuries at the global and domestic levels, the game gained signs of sustainability and regularity in the Siberian region. Moreover, tennis development occurred on the ascending scale: there was a gradual increase in the number of amateur tennis players; the game was supported by most of the leading sports clubs. The things were in a worse shape during the Soviet period, especially during the formation of the Soviet Union, when there was a radical change in the spiritual life of society. On the background of the All-Russian trends expressed in the "irreconcilable" struggle with the bourgeois class and the aristocracy, the power of the Soviets offered a strong resistance to the ruling regime, which was expressed in dramatic perturbations of elements of the former regime, one of which became lawn tennis. With time tennis went on its own way of development and was adapted to the new socio-political conditions. Blurring of the class boundaries made physical culture and sport accessible to the general population. However Irkutsk tennis players did not become active sporting community, there was an increase in the processes in the tennis environment which had a negative impact on the development of tennis in the region. Lack of specialists and trainers, seasonality, scarcity and high cost of sports equipment, etc. adversely affected the development of the game in the region. As a result, despite the government policy in the game promoting and the objective and subjective circumstances, tennis did not become a mass phenomenon in Irkutsk region.

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