Ancient influencesThe Medieval form of “
tennis” is termed as real “
tennis”. Real “
tennis” had evolved over three centuries from an earlier “ball” game played around the 12th century in
France. This had some similarities to palla, fives, pelota, or hand ball, involving hitting a “
ball” with a bare hand and later with a glove. One theory is that this game was played by monks in monastery cloisters, based on the construction and appearance of early courts. Some would be
grass fields that they played on. By the 16th century, the glove had become a racquet, the game had moved to an enclosed playing area, and the rules had stabilized. Real “
tennis” spread in popularity throughout royalty in Europe and reached its peak in the 16th century. Francis I of France (1515 - 1547) was an enthusiastic player and promoter of real “
tennis”, building courts and encouraging play among the courtiers and commoners. His successor Henri II (1547 - 1559) was also an excellent player and continued the royal French tradition. During his reign, the first known book about “
tennis”, Trattato del Giuoco della Palla was written in 1555 by an Italian priest, Antonio Scaino da Salo. Two French kings died from “
tennis” related episodes - Louis X of a severe chill after playing and Charles VIII after being struck with a “ball”. King Charles IX granted a constitution to the Corporation of “
tennis” Professionals in 1571, creating the first pro “
tennis” 'tour', establishing the three levels of professionals: apprentice, associate, and master. The first codification of the rules of real “tennis” was written by a professional named Forbet and published in 1599.Royal interest in England began with Henry V (1413 -14 22) but it was Henry VIII (1509 - 1547) who made the biggest impact as a young monarch, playing the game with gusto at Hampton Court on a court he had built in 1530, and on several other courts in his palaces. It is believed that his second wife Anne Boleyn was watching a game of real “
tennis” when she was arrested and that Henry was playing “
tennis” when news was brought to him of her execution. During the reign of James I (1603 - 1625), there were 14 courts in
London.
Real “tennis” racquets and “balls”
Real “tennis” is recorded in literature by William Shakespeare who mentions "“
tennis balls” in his play Henry V, when a basket of them is given to King Henry as a mockery of his youth and playfulness. One of the most striking early references to the game of “
tennis” appears in a painting by Giambattista Tiepolo entitled The Death of Hyacinth (1752 - 1753) in which a strung racquet and three “
tennis balls” are depicted. The theme of the painting is the mythological story of Apollo and Hyacinth, written by Ovid and translated into Italian in 1561 by Giovanni Andrea dell'Anguillara who replaced the ancient game of discus, throwing of the original text by that of pallacorda or “
tennis”, which had achieved a high status as a form of physical exercise at the courts in the middle of the sixteenth century. Tiepolo's painting, displayed at the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza in Madrid, was ordered in 1752 by a German counts Wilhelm Friedrich Schaumburg Lippe, who was known to be an avid “
tennis” player. The game thrived among the 17th century nobility in France, Spain, Italy, and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but suffered under English Puritanism. By the Age of Napoleon, the royal families of Europe were besieged and real “
tennis” was largely abandoned. Real “
tennis” played a minor role in the history of the
French Revolution, through the “
tennis” Court Oath, a pledge signed by French deputies in a real “
tennis” court, which formed a decisive early step in starting the revolution. In England, during the 18th century and early 19th century as real “tennis” died out, three other racquet sports emerged: racquets, squash racquets, and lawn “
tennis” (the modern game).
Birth of Modern Game It was establishment as the
modern sport can be dated to two separate inventions. Between 1859 and 1865, in Birmingham, England, Major Harry Gem, a solicitor, and his friend Augurio Perera, a Spanish merchant, combined elements of the game of “
rackets” and the Spanish “
ball” game Pelota and played it on a croquet lawn in Edgbaston. In 1872, both men moved to Leamington Spa and in 1874, with two doctors from the Warneford Hospital, founded the world's first “
tennis” club. The Courier of 23 July 1884 recorded one of the first “
tennis”
tournaments, held in the grounds of Shrubland Hall. In December 1873, Major Walter
Clopton Wingfield devised a similar game for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd in Llanelidan, Wales. He based the game on the older Real “tennis”. At the suggestion of Arthur Balfour,
Wingfield named it "lawn “
tennis”, and patented the game in 1874 with an eight-page rule book titled "Sphairistike or Lawn Ten-nis", but he failed to succeed in enforcing his patent.1896 Olympic “
tennis” tournament match between Boland and Kasdaglis.
Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of real “
tennis”:
• “
Tennis” comes from the French
tenez, the imperative form of the verb
tenir, to 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 raquette, which derives from the Arabic rakhat, meaning the palm of the hand.
• Deuce comes from à deux le jeu, meaning "to both is the game" (that is, the two players have equal scores).
• Love is widely believed to come from "
l'oeuf", the French word for "
egg", representing the shape of a zero.
• The convention of numbering scores "15", "30" and "40" comes from quinze, trente and quarante, which to French ears makes a euphonious sequence, or from the quarters of a clock (15, 30, and 45) with 45 simplified to 40.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tennis)
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