Tennis dates back to thousands of years ago. Some would be surprised to know that this sport was originally played by monks during religious activities. Unfortunately when this first began, they did not use rackets to hit the object, they used their hands. It is hard to imagine athletes doing that now.
As you can imagine, the hands were having a tough time keeping up with this activity, so they created leather gloves. However, this was still a difficult thing so they began using handles to strike the object. This was inevitably the first racket. Interesting.
As crazy as using hands sounds, the first ball was wooden which sounds even crazier. It had to hurt when they were smacking it since they had to use their hands to do such a thing. Years progressed and they decided they needed a change so they started using a leather ball full of this bouncy material substance.
In 1874, America came to know this activity. At first it was in France and was done by the royals. What a fine game it was. Back in the day it was known as the “Game of the Palm”. Years later, America gained a patent for the equipment needed and then tennis was born in the United States of America.
When this first came out, women did not play. Man were originally allowed to play. However, in 1887 the world welcomed the US Women’s National Singles Championship.
As seen on TV, a lot of Americans love the US Open. This is an amazing tournament. It started in August 1881, but it was strictly for men. In 1900, another championship arrived on the scene.
Scoring was used clear back into the ancient times. They believed that 60 was the complete number and considered reaching that to be “game”. They made it a four point game where you achieved 15, 30, 45, and 60. This has been slightly adapted today but the only difference is 45 is now 40. Some believe they copied the numbers of a clock such as quarter after, half after, quarter til, and noon.
The courts for this were originally indoor and the players would bounce the ball off of walls. The net was 5 feet high on the sides and 3 feet in the middle. It has been modified and now you have what we see today.
Tennis has been around for quite some time and has evolved into an amazing activity for individuals around the world. It has a great deal of media attention and many athletes who excel in all areas of this sport.
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