The History of Tennis

The History of Tennis

When we start to discuss the origins of tennis there's always some dispute. 

Some say it was invented in ancient Egypt, others suggest it was in France.

Egypt because of the root of the name, claiming that the word tennis comes from a town in Egypt called Tinnis and “racquet” comes from “rahat”, the Arabic word for palm of the hand.

The French version, which in fact has more evidence, claims that tennis dates back to the 12th century and was played by French monks who played in the form of a handball game called “jeu de paume”, meaning “game of the hand”. It’s said that the name tennis derived from the French word “Tenaz”, which means “be ready” or “take this” which used to be said by the server before the beginning of the point.

 

The game involved playing against monastery walls or over a rope stretched across a courtyard. A black leather glove was used to avoid the forming of calluses and then from their wooden bats which were added to the glove, thus originating the first racquet.

 

The game became popular in royal circles through the years and in the 18th century the “Lawn Tennis” emerged in Britain due to the fact that aristocracy preferred to entertain guests on their own backyards and gardens instead of travelling to play indoors. This made tennis the chosen sport by privileged classes and etiquette and behaviour was a must. Lawn Tennis had actually an important role in a number of historical events such as the French Revolution with the pledge signature “Tennis Court Oath” on an indoor tennis court. This pledge was signed by a number of French politicians in 1789 to avoid getting together until the monarchy was eradicated and the country had created a democratic constitution.

It is believed that the modern tennis that we know today was created by Walter Wingfield from London, who designed, patented and manufactured the first equipments in 1873.

 

Tennis became super popular from then on, mainly because croquet clubs in England started to adopt the sport when they realised that the existing grass croquet courts were suitable for tennis matches. It was in 1877 that the first ever Wimbledon Tournament took place in England.

 

Until these days tennis had evolved a lot, the tennis season is really long taking almost all year, being the main tournaments the 4 Grand Slams (Australia Open in January, Roland Garros in Paris from late May to early June, Wimbledon in late June to early July and the US Open in late August to early September).