Lambert came from a tennis dynasty of sorts: his father was the professional at Hatfield (Lord Salisbury’s court) and his uncle George had been world champion. 1904 seems to have been a vintage year for Lambert. In February 1904 Sir Andrew made a purse available for a match between Lambert and C. Fairs of the Prince’s Club. Fairs was preparing to challenge for the world championship so was expected to win easily despite giving Lambert “half 15 and 1 bisque”. Before a large crowd Lambert won the match within an hour and five minutes. The pace must have been frantic as the score is recorded as “3 sets to 1, 21 games to 11, 89s strokes (+17 the odds) to 80. ”
At that time there was no organised tournament to decide the world championship. Press reports mentioned Lambert as among the likely contenders should such an event be organised. Peter Latham the reigning world champion visited Jesmond in August 1904. Latham had been unbeaten since 1895. He would retain the world title until 1905, then regain it again 1907-8. Playing a handicapped match Lambert defeated the world champion by three sets to one after two hours and fifteen minutes on court.
In December 1904 E Johnson of Prince’s Club fought out a one set all tie with Lambert: the length of the match owing to the first set having been played to 28-26. Visiting Jesmond clearly presented problems to professionals. A report of a match between Lambert and Covey sees the journalist sympathise with the visitor: “the strangeness of the court may excuse him some uncertainty of length upon the floor and some inaccuracy at the openings.”
