Ancient Beginnings
Ball games can be traced back to ancient times and the earliest representations
can be found in carvings in Egyptian temples dating from 1500BC. The
Ancient Egyptians and the people that followed actually played ball games
as part of their religious ceremonies. These traditions and the whole
concept of the ball game spread into Europe in the 8th century, the influence
spread by the Moors whose Empire reached into Southern France. As strange
as it may seem, it was the meeting of this eastern culture with Christianity
which eventually gave rise to tennis!
Christian Monks became interested in the religious rites of the Moors and
were the first Europeans to play the ball game that was to become tennis.
The earliest version of the game was called 'La Soule' where players would
hit a ball to each other using either their hands or a stick. The game
became very popular in Monasteries all over Europe, so much so that the
Church of the day even considered prohibiting the game!
This very early version of tennis, where the ball was often hit against
courtyard walls, soon made it out of the monasteries and during the 12th
and 13th centuries it was to develop further. Players found that they had
more control over the ball using just their hands, so the natural development
was to create a leather glove. It was only a matter of time before the
glove was supplemented with a wooden handle - creating the very first tennis
racket! The balls were refined too, moving from solid wood to much softer
designs made of leather stuffed with bran. The game soon became very popular,
particularly in France where it was adopted by Royalty.
Real Tennis
It was in France that the game as we know it today really came into being.
During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries it became the highly fashionable
sport of kings and noblemen and was called ' Jeu de paumme' - the game
of the palm. Early French players would begin a game by shouting 'tenez'
i.e. 'Play!' and the game soon became known as Royal, or Real Tennis.
Real tennis was actually very different to the game that we know today.
It was played indoors, in large galleries with jutting roofs and points
were won according to how the ball was played off of the gallery walls.
This is very different to today's Lawn Tennis, where the rectangular
court is laid out on a grass surface and the play is within marked boundaries,
not off of the walls. Another key difference is that Real tennis used
a system of chases. In today's game if a ball bounces twice it is dead.
In Real Tennis however, a marker would mark the point of the second bounce.
This was known as the chase. In addition to playing for points, opponents
would compete by trying to put their chase as close as possible to their
opponents back wall. A player who had lagged behind in the points could
come from behind to win the match by being more skilful at the chase.
After its initial rise in popularity with the French nobility, tennis
spread throughout Europe, becoming particularly popular in England. As
in France the game became recognised as the sport of kings. Henry VIII
was a very keen player and built a court at his palace in Hampton Court,
still used today by Real Tennis enthusiasts. Tennis wasn't just confined
to France and England though, and the game also spread to Spain, Italy,
Holland, Switzerland and Germany. In the 18th century however, the game
went into decline, the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars virtually
eliminating it across most of Europe.
Lawn Tennis
This was to change in the 19th century when Victorian prosperity in England
prompted a significant revival. Courts were built in many famous country
houses and the first tennis clubs providing facilities for members began
to appear. In was during this period that the game of Lawn Tennis began
to emerge. Enthusiasts had been trying for some time to adapt the game
into an open-air sport and as strange as it may seem this was largely
brought about by the development of vulcanized rubber. This enabled the
production of balls that were soft enough so as not to damage the grass,
but which still retained the elasticity and liveliness of rubber.
Another important factor was the ease and simplicity of Lawn Tennis.
All that was needed was a flat grass surface and Lawn Tennis courts became
commonplace in the rolling estates of the wealthy. Real Tennis had always
been the domain of royalty and nobility but in Victorian England the
sport was soon embraced by the upper classes.
The term Lawn Tennis was coined by Arthur Balfour, a British Statesman
and it didn't take long before lawn surfaces were replaced with various
turf derivatives and eventually clay and concrete. Within a very short
time Lawn Tennis began to replace croquet as the summer sport. The biggest
boost for tennis however came in 1875. The All England Croquet Club,
formed in 1869 had failed to attract enough visitors and in 1875 they
decided to offer Lawn Tennis as an added attraction. The new game was
an instant success, so much so that in 1877 the name of the club was
changed to the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. Rising rents
at their four-acre site in the London suburb of Wimbledon however, meant
that the club had to raise additional funds. Later that year the first
ever Lawn Tennis tournament was organised. A committee was established
to draw up a set of rules the first tournament went ahead with 22 players,
watched by some 200 spectators. The Wimbledon Championship was born.
Wimbledon - The World's Favourite Tournament
The Wimbledon Championship was one of the most significant developments
in the history of tennis. The game captured the imagination of the
public and it didn't take long before the first champions emerged.
The first
of these was William Renshaw who won the championship title 8 times
between 1881 and 1889 (he was runner-up in 1887) - a record that
remains unbeaten
today.
Over the next few years the sport gained tremendous popularity, not
just in England but all over the world and in 1905 May Sutton from
the USA
became the first international player. In this year the tournament
attracted 71 players. A few years later in 1909 the now titled All
England Lawn
Tennis and Croquet Club adopted the purple and green colours still
used today.
The growth of tennis continued and the 1927 Championship saw the first
ever radio braodcast of a tennis event. This increased it's popularity
further and in the 1930s the game became highly fashionable, led by British
stars such as Fred Perry and Don Budge and International Champions such
as Henri Lacoste. You'll notice from the photographs that tennis fashions
were somewhat different in those days! Long trousers were the order of
the day for men, and for women it was long dresses and stockings.
Fashion trends became a development in their own right and Bunny Austin
from the USA shocked the crowds in 1933 when he became the first player
to step out on to centre court wearing shorts! The 1930's became Wimbledon's
boom time and in 1937, the championship was broadcast on the radio for
the first time. This was a significant event, truly introducing tennis
to the world.
All this came to a sudden end in 1939 when the second world war closed
the championships until 1946. (Incidentally this was the last year at
Wimbledon when a player wore long trousers on court!) The post war generation
went on to transform the sport, adding technical improvements which turned
it into a sophisticated pastime for the middle classes. The 1960s were
dominated by Australian Players Rod Laver and Roy Emerson and with the
spread of television introducing the game to a much wider audience, tennis
became a big-money, international sport. The first colour television
broadcast from Wimbledon came in 1967.
Thoughout the 1970s and 1980s the game became dominated by the new legion
of international players and crowds became captivated by the likes of
Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe. In the ladies game stars
such as Sue Barker, Chris Evert Lloyd and Martina Navratilova filled
the courts with fans. Britain's foremost ladies player was Virginia Wade,
the last Brit to win the Championships in 1977. The prize money went
up, as did the hemlines of players clothing! In 1986 the Championships
adopted yellow tennis balls for the first time - partly to make the speeding
balls more visible for television cameras
Into the 1990s the championships became more popular than ever - particularly
as Great Britain's hopes for a champion became rekindled with the likes
of Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman. Despite being a truly international
event, Wimbledon has become the British sporting event of the year.
Tennis - The Sport for All
Today, tennis is a world-class competitive sport captivating millions
of players and fans all round the world. A constant programme of tournaments
and events takes place throughout the year and top players have become
sporting icons for a new generation. Something that was once the pastime
of Kings has become a sport for all.
That's why the Cliff Richard Tennis Foundation is so passionate about
taking tennis into every school in the country. We may or may not find
the next Wimbledon Champion, but we will at least introduce thousands
to a sport that will change their lives in so many positive ways.
If you have found this history of tennis interesting we strongly recommend
a visit to the Tennis Museum at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet
Club - the home of the Wimbledon Championships. The Museum has a vast
collection of tennis memorabilia and exhibits covering the history of
the game, the development of rackets and balls and the paraphernalia
of the modern game. There is also a chance to view Centre Court - one
of the Museum's main attractions. To visit the website, where you'll
find details of opening times and admission fees, click on the Wimbledon
Championships logo.
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