Tennis
History of tennis
Unlike most modern sports, lawn tennis has a very short history, and its
invention can be precisely dated. In December
1873, Major
Walter Clopton Wingfield devised the game for the amusement of his guests at a
garden party on his estate at Nantclywd,
Wales. He based
the game on the older sport of indoor tennis or
Real
tennis, which had been invented in
France in the
12th century and played by French aristocrats down to the time of the
French Revolution.
Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of royal
tennis and applied them to his new game.
- tennis comes from the French tenez, the
imperative form of the verb tenir, to hold: it thus means "Hold!"
This was a cry used by the player serving in royal tennis, meaning "I am
about to serve!" (rather like the cry "Fore!" in
golf).
- Racquet comes from the French raquette,
although it ultimately derives from the
Arabic rakhat, meaning the palm of the hand.
- Deuce comes from the French expression à deux le
jeu, meaning "to both is the game" (that is, the two players have equal
scores).
- love comes from the French l'oeuf, the egg: a
reference to the egg-shaped zero symbol
- The convention of numbering scores "15," "30" and "40" comes from the
French quinze, trente and quarante, which to
French ears makes a euphonious sequence.
In
1874
Wingfield, seeing the commercial potential of the game,
patented it,
but he never succeeded in enforcing his patent. It spread rapidly among the
leisured classes in
Britain and the
United States. It was first played in the US at the home of Mary Ewing
Outerbridge on
Staten Island, New York, in
1874.
In
1881 the
desire to play tennis competitively led to the establishment of tennis clubs.
The first championships at
Wimbledon, in
London were played in
1877. In
1881 the United
States National Lawn Tennis Association (now the
United States Tennis Association) was formed to standardise the rules and
organise competitions. The U.S. National Men's Singles Championship, now the
U.S. Open, was first held in
1881 at
Newport,
Rhode
Island. the U.S. National Women's Singles Championships were first held in
1887. The
Davis Cup,
an annual competition between national teams, dates from
1900.
In
1926 a
group of American tennis players established a professional tennis circuit,
playing exhibition matches to paying audiences. For 40 years professional and
amateur tennis remained strictly separate: once a player had "turned pro" he
or she could not compete at the major titles. In
1968, however,
commercial pressures led to the abandonment of this principle and the "Open
Era" began, in which all players could compete in all tournaments and most
players made their living from tennis.
Tennis was for many years predominantly a sport of the English-speaking
world, dominated by the United States, Britain and
Australia,
although it was also popular in
France: the
French
Open dates from
1891. Thus Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the French Open and the
Australian Open (dating from
1905) became and
have remained the most prestigious events in tennis. Together these four
events are called the Grand Slams (a term borrowed from
bridge), and winning the Grand Slams is the highest ambition of most
tennis players.
In
1954 James
Van Alen founded the
International Tennis Hall of Fame, a not-for-profit museum in
Newport,
Rhode
Island, with a large collection of tennis memorabilia as well as a Hall of
Fame for prominent members and players of the tennis world.
Since the beginning of the Open era and the establishment of an
international professional tennis circuit, fed by revenues from the sale of
television rights, tennis has spread all over the world and has lost its
upper-class English-speaking image. Since the 1970s great champions have
emerged from
Germany (Boris
Becker,
Steffi
Graf), the former
Czechoslovakia (Ivan
Lendl and
Martina Navratilova),
Sweden (Björn
Borg),
Brazil
(Gustavo
Kuerten),
Russia (Yevgeni
Kafelnikov) and many other countries. Recently
African American players such as
Venus and
Serena Williams have become a force in the game.
Among the greatest male players of the Open era are Rod Laver, Jimmy
Connors, John Newcombe, Stan Smith, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl,
Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, Mats Wilander, Andre Agassi, and Pete Sampras.
Among the women are Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica
Seles, and the Williams sisters.
It must be remembered, however, that many of the greatest players who ever
lived played in the days before Open tennis. Most of them, even those who were
were quite prominent in their time, are now completely forgotten by modern
sports fans. Among them, in more or less chronological order, are
Bill
Tilden,
Ellsworth Vines,
Fred
Perry,
Don Budge,
Bobby
Riggs,
Jack
Kramer,
Pancho Segura,
Frank Sedgman,
Pancho Gonzales,
Ken
Rosewall, and
Lew Hoad.
For many years most observers considered Tilden to be the greatest player who
ever lived. In the
1950s and
1960s,
there was general agreement that Gonzales had replaced Tilden as the best to
ever step on a court. Whatever the case, any one of these 11 would be more
than competitive in today's game.
Who is the greatest male player of all time? It is impossible to give a
clear answer, as new techniques and improved equipment have changed the game
greatly in the last hundred years. There is no reason to believe, however,
that a 1920s Bill Tilden, for instance, who was notable for his intelligence,
adaptability, and tennis athleticism, would not be able to change his game and
strokes to emulate those of the modern players. And, as we see in the
countless upsets of the top seeds in the major tournaments by much lower
ranked players, there is probably very little difference in the quality of
play among the top several hundred players. Just as there is no reason to
believe that the great baseball stars of the pre-1968 Open tennis era such as
Ty Cobb,
Babe Ruth,
Lefty
Grove,
Ted
Williams, and
Stan
Musial would not excel in today's Major Leagues, there is no reason (save
ignorance of the history of tennis and a narrow focus on the present) to
believe that the greatest of the old-time players would not be able to hold
their own against the Pete Samprases and Andre Agassis of today.
A possible listing of the six greatest players of all time is, in strictly
chronological order: Bill Tilden, Don Budge, Pancho Gonzales, Rod Laver,
John
McEnroe, and
Pete
Sampras. A careful, objective
study of their actual records against other players could support an argument
that any one of these six was the best player who ever lived. A similar case
could possibly be made for Jack Kramer and Björn Borg. Kramer himself, who
became a top player in the early 1940s and is still alive as of 2004, believes
that Ellsworth Vines was the greatest of all time.... And so it goes -- a
fascinating topic for never-ending speculation
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