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A Brief History of Tennis

Source file: Brief-History-of-Tennis.docx.txt

Domain: history / open-era

Tier: reports/tier-3-niche-specialty

Used in artifact: artifacts/reports/tier-3-niche-specialty.md

Abstract

Chronological history of tennis from jeu de paume through lawn tennis to the Open Era.

Key points

  • Tennis originated in France as jeu de paume, 12th century.
  • Lawn tennis derived from real tennis in 1873 by Major Walter Wingfield.
  • The Open Era began in 1968 when Grand Slams allowed professionals.
  • Rod Laver won the Grand Slam in 1969 (the last calendar-year Slam by a male player).
  • The Open Era produced the Big Three (Federer / Nadal / Djokovic) era from 2003–2016.

Raw dump (first ~1000 words)

Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis.[1] It had close connections both to various field (lawn) games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport today called real tennis. During most of the 19th century, in fact, the term tennis referred to real tennis, not lawn tennis: for example, in Disraeli's novel Sybil (1845), Lord Eugene De Vere announces that he will "go down to Hampton Courtand play tennis."[2] The rules of modern tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point-challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of a point, a system known as Hawk-Eye. Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is also a popular worldwide spectator sport. The four Grand Slamtournaments (also referred to as the Majors) are especially popular: the Australian Open played on hard courts, the French Openplayed on red clay courts, Wimbledon played on grass courts, and the US Open also played on hard courts. Contents [ hide ] 1History 1.1Predecessors 1.2Origins of the modern game 2Equipment 2.1Rackets 2.2Balls 2.3Miscellaneous 3Manner of play 3.1Court 3.2Play of a single point 3.3Scoring 3.4Rule variations 4Officials 5Junior tennis 6Match play 6.1Continuity 6.2Ball changes 6.3On-court coaching 7Shots 7.1Grip 7.2Serve 7.3Forehand 7.4Backhand 7.5Other shots 8Injuries 9Tournaments 9.1Grand Slam tournaments 9.2Men's tournament structure 9.3Women's tournament structure 10Players 10.1Professional players 10.2Grand Slam tournament winners 10.3Greatest male players 10.4Greatest female players 11In popular culture 12See also 13References 14Further reading 15External links History Main article: History of tennis Predecessors Jeu de paume in the 17th century Historians believe that the game's ancient origin lay in 12th century northern France, where a ball was struck with the palm of the hand.[3]Louis X of France was a keen player of HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeu_de_paume" \o "Jeu de paume" jeu de paume ("game of the palm"), which evolved into real tennis, and became notable as the first person to construct indoor tennis courts in the modern style. Louis was unhappy with playing tennis outdoors and accordingly had indoor, enclosed courts made in Paris "around the end of the 13th century".[4] In due course this design spread across royal palaces all over Europe.[4] In June 1316 at Vincennes, Val-de-Marne and following a particularly exhausting game, Louis drank a large quantity of cooled wine and subsequently died of either pneumonia or pleurisy, although there was also suspicion of poisoning.[5] Because of the contemporary accounts of his death, Louis X is history's first tennis player known by name.[5] Another of the early enthusiasts of the game was King Charles V of France, who had a court set up at the Louvre Palace.[6] It wasn't until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called "tennis", from the French term tenez , which can be translated as "hold!", "receive!" or "take!", an interjection used as a call from the server to his opponent.[7] It was popular in England and France, although the game was only played indoors where the ball could be hit off the wall. Henry VIII of England was a big fan of this game, which is now known as real tennis.[8] During the 18th century and early 19th century, as real tennis declined, new racket sports emerged in England.[9] Further, the patenting of the first lawn mower in 1830, in Britain, is strongly believed to have been the catalyst, worldwide, for the preparation of modern-style grass courts, sporting ovals, playing fields, pitches, greens, etc. This in turn led to the codification of modern rules for many sports, including lawn tennis, most football codes, lawn bowls and others.[10] Origins of the modern game Augurio Perera's house in HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgbaston" \o "Edgbaston" Edgbaston , Birmingham, where he and Harry Gem first played the modern game of lawn tennis Between 1859 and 1865 Harry Gem and his friend HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augurio_Perera" \o "Augurio Perera" Augurio Perera developed a game that combined elements of racquets and the Basque ball game pelota, which they played on Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom.[11 ] [12] In 1872, along with two local doctors, they founded the world's first tennis club on Avenue Road, HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leamington_Spa" \o "Leamington Spa" Leamington Spa.[13] In December 1873, British army officer Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed and patented a similar game ;– which he called sphairistikè (Greek: σφαιριστική, meaning "ball-playing"), and was soon known simply as "sticky" – for the amusement of guests at a garden party on his friend's estate of HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantclwyd_Hall" \o "Nantclwyd Hall" Nantclwyd Hall, in HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanelidan" \o "Llanelidan" Llanelidan , Wales.[14] According to R. D. C.