The origins
Some historians believe that tennis originated in Ancient Egypt. There is a theory that the word ‘racket’ comes from the Arabic word ‘rakhat’, which means the palm of the hand. Another, more common version says that monks in France began playing tennis in the 11th-12th centuries.
The establishment of tennis as a professional sport is attributed to 1872, when the first tennis club was founded. On the lawns of the Leamington Spa resort, Portuguese merchant Joao Pereira, along with doctors Frederick Hynes and Wesley Tomkins, played a Spanish game with a ball called ‘pelota.’ After that, the original rules of lawn tennis (tennis on grass) were established.
Although the exact origin of the sport is unknown, it is believed that the rules of tennis, later called ‘lawn tennis,’ were invented by British Army officer Walter Clopton Wingfield in 1873.
Noticing the great commercial potential of tennis, he patented the game but was unable to impose his view on the invention of the game. Wingfield claimed that he borrowed the principles of an ancient Greek game, which he called ‘Sphairistikē’ (Greek for ‘ball game’).
However, many researchers believe that he simply used the principles of popular English games – court games, squash rackets, and the principle of outdoor games from badminton. The first players preferred to call Wingfield’s game lawn tennis, as it was played on a small field covered with grass.
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Lawn tennis is also known as ‘royal tennis’. It was very popular in medieval France, especially among royalty. In the Middle Ages, it was widespread in Great Britain, especially during the reign of Henry VIII. Historians believe that many tennis terms are taken from the French vocabulary – terms of royal tennis at the court of the King of France.
‘Tennis’ comes from “tenez” (‘tenir’ – to hold, to catch in French). When tennis players were about to serve the ball, they would shout ‘tenez!’
“Deuce” comes from the French ‘deux le jeu’, which means ‘even’, i.e. an equal number of points at this stage of the game.
The scoring system of 15-30-40 comes from the French words ‘quinze’, “trente” and ‘quarante’, which sound pleasant to the French ear, or from quarters of an hour (15-30-45, where 45 was transformed into 40).
Initially, the ball was made of sheep’s wool and filled with sawdust, sand and wool. Later, a ball with a high bounce was invented, and tennis began to be played on grass.
The history of world tennis
The game appeared in the United States thanks to Mary Ewing – the first tennis match was presumably held in 1874 on the grounds of a cricket and baseball club on Staten Island.
The first amateur championships were held on the courts of the All England Lawn Tennis and Cricket Club, Wimbledon (in 1877 for men and in 1884 for women).
In 1900, the Davis Cup, an international team tennis tournament, was held, which attracted even more attention to tennis from the global community. In 1963, the Federation Cup, a women’s tournament, was held, which became the equivalent of the Davis Cup. These two championships increased the prestige of tennis.
When the game began to generate large profits in the 1920s, a large number of amateur players joined the professional tour.
