The History of Tennis
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Ancient Beginnings Ball games can be traced back to ancient times and the earliest representations can be found in carvings
in Egyptian temples dating from 1500BC. The Ancient Egyptians and the people that followed actually played ball games as part
of their religious ceremonies. These traditions and the whole concept of the ball game spread into Europe in the 8th century,
the influence spread by the Moors whose Empire reached into Southern France. As strange as it may seem, it was the meeting
of this eastern culture with Christianity which eventually gave rise to tennis! Christian Monks became interested in the religious rites of the Moors and were the first Europeans to play
the ball game that was to become tennis. The earliest version of the game was called 'La Soule' where players would
hit a ball to each other using either their hands or a stick. The game became very popular in Monasteries all over Europe,
so much so that the Church of the day even considered prohibiting the game! This very early version of tennis, where the ball was often hit against courtyard walls, soon made it out
of the monasteries and during the 12th and 13th centuries it was to develop further. Players found that they had more control
over the ball using just their hands, so the natural development was to create a leather glove. It was only a matter of time
before the glove was supplemented with a wooden handle - creating the very first tennis racket! The balls were refined too,
moving from solid wood to much softer designs made of leather stuffed with bran. The game soon became very popular, particularly
in France where it was adopted by Royalty.
It was in France that the game as we know it today really came into being. During the 16th, 17th and 18th
centuries it became the highly fashionable sport of kings and noblemen and was called ' Jeu de paumme' - the game of
the palm. Early French players would begin a game by shouting 'tenez' i.e. 'Play!' and the game soon became known as Royal,
or Real Tennis. Real tennis was actually very different to the game that we know today. It was played indoors, in large
galleries with jutting roofs and points were won according to how the ball was played off of the gallery walls. This is very
different to today's Lawn Tennis, where the rectangular court is laid out on a grass surface and the play is within marked
boundaries, not off of the walls. Another key difference is that Real tennis used a system of chases. In today's game if a
ball bounces twice it is dead. In Real Tennis however, a marker would mark the point of the second bounce. This was known
as the chase. In addition to playing for points, opponents would compete by trying to put their chase as close as possible
to their opponents back wall. A player who had lagged behind in the points could come from behind to win the match by being
more skilful at the chase. After its initial rise in popularity with the French nobility, tennis spread throughout Europe, becoming
particularly popular in England. As in France the game became recognised as the sport of kings. Henry VIII was a very keen
player and built a court at his palace in Hampton Court, still used today by Real Tennis enthusiasts. Tennis wasn't just confined
to France and England though, and the game also spread to Spain, Italy, Holland, Switzerland and Germany. In the 18th century
however, the game went into decline, the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars virtually eliminating it across most of
Europe.
This was to change in the 19th century when Victorian prosperity in England prompted a significant revival.
Courts were built in many famous country houses and the first tennis clubs providing facilities for members began to appear.
In was during this period that the game of Lawn Tennis began to emerge. Enthusiasts had been trying for some time to adapt
the game into an open-air sport and as strange as it may seem this was largely brought about by the development of vulcanized
rubber. This enabled the production of balls that were soft enough so as not to damage the grass, but which still retained
the elasticity and liveliness of rubber. Another important factor was the ease and simplicity of Lawn Tennis. All that was needed was a flat grass
surface and Lawn Tennis courts became commonplace in the rolling estates of the wealthy. Real Tennis had always been the domain
of royalty and nobility but in Victorian England the sport was soon embraced by the upper classes. The term Lawn Tennis was coined by Arthur Balfour, a British Statesman and it didn't take long before lawn
surfaces were replaced with various turf derivatives and eventually clay and concrete. Within a very short time Lawn Tennis
began to replace croquet as the summer sport. The biggest boost for tennis however came in 1875. The All England Croquet Club,
formed in 1869 had failed to attract enough visitors and in 1875 they decided to offer Lawn Tennis as an added attraction.
The new game was an instant success, so much so that in 1877 the name of the club was changed to the All England Croquet and
Lawn Tennis Club. Rising rents at their four-acre site in the London suburb of Wimbledon however, meant that the club had
to raise additional funds. Later that year the first ever Lawn Tennis tournament was organised. A committee was established
to draw up a set of rules the first tournament went ahead with 22 players, watched by some 200 spectators. The Wimbledon Championship
was born. Wimbledon Over the next few years the sport gained tremendous popularity, not just in England but all over the world
and in 1905 May Sutton from the USA became the first international player. In this year the tournament attracted 71 players.
A few years later in 1909 the now titled All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club adopted the purple and green colours still
used today. The growth of tennis continued and the 1927 Championship saw the first ever radio braodcast of a tennis
event. This increased it's popularity further and in the 1930s the game became highly fashionable, led by British stars such
as Fred Perry and Don Budge and International Champions such as Henri Lacoste. Tennis fashions were somewhat different
in those days! Long trousers were the order of the day for men, and for women it was long dresses and stockings. Fashion trends became a development in their own right and Bunny Austin from the USA shocked the crowds
in 1933 when he became the first player to step out on to centre court wearing shorts! The 1930's became Wimbledon's boom
time and in 1937, the championship was broadcast on the radio for the first time. This was a significant event, truly introducing
tennis to the world. All this came to a sudden end in 1939 when the second world war closed the championships until 1946. (Incidentally
this was the last year at Wimbledon when a player wore long trousers on court!) The post war generation went on to transform
the sport, adding technical improvements which turned it into a sophisticated pastime for the middle classes. The 1960s were
dominated by Australian Players Rod Laver and Roy Emerson and with the spread of television introducing the game to a much
wider audience, tennis became a big-money, international sport. The first colour television broadcast from Wimbledon came
in 1967. Thoughout the 1970s and 1980s the game became dominated by the new legion of international players and
crowds became captivated by the likes of Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe. In the ladies game stars such as Sue
Barker, Chris Evert Lloyd and Martina Navratilova filled the courts with fans. Britain's foremost ladies player was Virginia
Wade, the last Brit to win the Championships in 1977. The prize money went up, as did the hemlines of players clothing! In
1986 the Championships adopted yellow tennis balls for the first time - partly to make the speeding balls more visible for
television cameras. Into the 1990s the championships became more popular than ever - particularly as Great Britain's hopes
for a champion became rekindled with the likes of Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman. Despite being a truly international event,
Wimbledon has become the British sporting event of the year. Today, tennis is a world-class competitive sport captivating millions of players and fans all round the
world. A constant programme of tournaments and events takes place throughout the year and top players have become sporting
icons for a new generation. Something that was once the pastime of Kings has become a sport for all - including the musicians
of Bristol! 'I think about that sometimes - learning to play in a parking lot, stringing
nets between cars. I learned to play by hitting against a brick wall, not a ball machine or other players. And my Father was
my coach - teaching me from a twenty year-old book. When I hear people say that you can't make it in tennis if you don't have
a lot of money, I know they're wrong. We didn't have much money. But I loved the sport and that was enough.'
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