History of Tennis

The origins of tennis dates back to a very long time ago. In fact, it is believed that the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians played very early versions of the game. However, the first written record of tennis dates back to 1000 when French monks started playing a game they called 'jeu de paume' or game of the hand. Over the next few centuries it became extremely popular with the nobilities in Europe in fact, it became so popular that the Pope and King Louis VI tried to ban the game. When the game spread to England King Henry VII and VIII became huge fans and had thousands of courts built throughout the country. In fact, Hampton Court Palace-one of the many courts built, still survives today.

As tennis grew in popularity, it evolved in many different ways. For example, originally balls were wooden however after time they evolved to leather balls filled with cellulose material. In 1850 Charles Goodwin created a scientific process called vulcanisation which made tennis balls bouncier which enabled tennis to be played on grass courts. Another example of how tennis evolved was in racquets. Originally, tennis was played using the hand however after a while it evolved to gloves with webbing between the fingers. In 1500, a wooden racket handle strung with sheep guts was developed which laid the foundations for tennis rackets today.

In 1873 Major Walter C. Wingfield created a set of rules for the game of tennis. While these rules are different from the ones we have now, Major Wingfield's creating of these rules allowed for the spread of tennis to Russia, China, India, Canada and the United States. Today tennis is one of the most widely played sports in the entire world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis