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The history of tennis

Every sportsman should probably know the history of his kind of sport – its rules, technique, tactics, and also the equipment necessary for it. The knowledge of the past of a sport helps to understand its present, increases in general one’s sports level. That’s why it might be interesting for you to learn how tennis was played long time ago and in what way it was different from the game of nowadays.

If we don’t take into consideration the games of ancient Greece and Rome with the ball hit by one’s hand or a wooden stick, a game much like tennis was first mentioned in XII – XIII centuries in Italy. It was called “djidoco”, and the ball was hit with a glove put on one’s hand, a wooden board or a leather belt. In the XIV century French aristocrats were quite fond of a so called “palm game” (“jeu de paume”) which had a great influence on the development of modern tennis. It was played indoors and at outdoor grounds. Later they began to use rackets to hit the ball. The game became popular with the English who named it “real tennis”.

Leather balls used for the game in those times were filled with sawdust, cloths, grass and so on. They could bounce only on a firm surface. When rubber balls appeared it became possible to play on the grass. In 1874 in England the so-called lawn tennis (tennis on the grass) appeared owing to major W. Wingfield. Lawn tennis, or just tennis, as we call it today, quickly spread over the whole Europe and other continents. Millions of people of all ages play it.

The number of the so-called open tournaments increases every year and nowadays professionals as well as amateurs of a certain qualification may take part in any of them. The best players selected according to their performance in competitions are estimated annually by their results in Grand Prix tournaments organized by International Tennis Federation and by ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) scale.

In Czech tennis on the grass was played already in the second half of the 1870-ies (the first tournament was held here in 1885). But at that time tennis was only accessible to the nobility and it remained till World War II a game of the well off.

Nowadays tennis is one the most popular sports in Czech Republic and anybody can afford playing it (by the end of 1984 the tennis union counted more than 60 thousand members).

The essence of the tennis game and the technique of strokes changed with the course of time. At the first lawn tennis competitions sportsmen played only at the baseline, underspinning the ball or combining underspin with lateral spin. This technique existed till World War II. In 1920-ies they started playing all over the court. At the first opportunity the players advanced to the net and tried to finish the rally with a volley or an overhead, in most cases a flat one. The American W. Tilden was a typical representative of this tactics.

In the second half of 1930-ies net game became more important. Two American players D. Badge and R. Riggs were the best at it. Right after the serve or the return of the serve they advanced to the net and tried to hit a winner – usually a volley or an overhead.

Nowadays they play both at the net and all over the court. On clay the game all over the court is more preferable while on grass and on a smooth artificial surface it is better to play at the net.

In 1970-ies some world-class tennis players won matches making shots, mainly topspins, from the baseline.

This manner of playing was based on a long rally finished with the rival’s mistake or a passing shot rather than on net game.

Here are three more interesting facts.

Do you know what the origin of the word “tennis” is?

It is believed that this word originated from the French word “tenez” meaning “take it”, “seize it”. That was the way for the players to draw the rival’s attention to the beginning of the game.

Do you know the link between the term “serve” and the word “service”?

There really used to be a service in the game. Some very important representatives of nobility, namely Henry VIII, the king of England of the XVI century, did not serve the ball themselves but preferred to use the “service” of their servants.

Do you know why the player who wins a game gets a particular number of points?

The system of counting of points that appeared in the epoque of the old French game is based on the division of a day into 24 hours (they played 24 games). The hours in their turn were divided into four quarters; every won ball equaled one quarter of an hour, i.e. 15 minutes corresponded to 15 points. Thus a game lasted up to 60 points, which were counted in the following way: 15, 30, 45, 60. The number of games reduced gradually to 6 in one set, and every third ball that is won brings 10 points now, so instead of 45 points 40 are announced.