Today, tennis has become one of the most popular sports played all around the world. But how did it all start? How was tennis first introduced into the world and evolved into the sport it is now? Many historians believe that tennis was traced all the way back to the 12th century!
So, who invented tennis?
The origin of tennis was traced back to the 12th century when monks played it with bare hands against monastery walls in France. The sport evolved to modern lawn tennis in the 18th century. The International Tennis Hall of Fame credited Major Walter Wingfield as the founder of Lawn Tennis.
In this article, we look at all the tennis events that happened in history, starting from when the original tennis was founded in the 12th century and how tennis evolved over time until the 20th century. Keep reading if you are interested!
Table of Contents
History of Tennis: The 12th Century
The sport tennis was believed to have first been seen during the 12th century in France. During that era, there was no racket yet. The sport was played using bare hands.
Back then, the sport was called jeu de paume, which translated to “game of the palm”.
The sport was played mainly by French monks who played handball against the monastery wall or over a rope strung across a courtyard.
As the game became more popular, players began to use leather gloves to avoid injuries on their hands. This was the first iteration of tennis “rackets”.
The Origin of the Name “Tennis”
The sport’s name changed to tennis in the mid-14th century, taken from the Anglo-Norman word tenez.
The old French word tenez is translated to “take!”, “receive!” or “here it comes!”, which was called by the server to the opponent to indicate that he was about to serve.
Real Tennis: The 15th Century
Real tennis is the medieval form of tennis, which originated in the 15th century, three centuries after original tennis was founded.
During this era,”rackets” were constructed from wood frames and gut strings, with balls made of cork or wool wrapped in cloth or leather.
The sport became more popular and spread to England, where both Henry VII and Henry VIII played the game at Hampton Court, which was built in 1530.
Since both Henry VII and Henry VIII were big fans of the sport, they promoted the building of more courts in the country, resulting in a total of 1800 indoor courts.
In 1583, the first proper tennis racket was invented in Italy.
Fun fact: The origin of the word “racket or racquet” was derived from the Arabic word rakhat, which means the palm of the hand.
This made real tennis increasingly popular and peaked until the 16th century.
However, the sport dropped in popularity a century later, during the 17th century.
Lawn Tennis: First Modern Tennis (The 18th Century)
As real tennis declined and was rarely seen in the 17th century, other racquet sports emerged. The most notable ones are squash and lawn tennis.
Unlike real tennis, lawn tennis is played outdoors on a grass surface and uses a new type of ball made of felt, which was an upgrade from the prior ball used.
During the 18th century, real tennis was entirely replaced by lawn tennis.
The sport gained further popularity in 1850 when Charles Goodyear invented a process of rubber called vulcanization, which made the materials used in tennis balls significantly bouncier.
Lawn tennis was first introduced by Major Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera. The idea started when they combined elements of several racquet games and played them on a croquet lawn.
The two also founded the first tennis club, the Leamington Tennis Club, in 1874.
In 1874, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed an hourglass-shaped tennis court to obtain a patent since the rectangular court was already in use.
The court was shaped like an hourglass, narrowest at the net, and much higher than the lawn tennis court, having a net height of 5 feet at the posts and 4 feet 8 inches at the center.
During the same year, major Walter C. Wingfield also published the first book about the rules and equipment for a game called Sphairistike, the Greek word for “playing a ball”. The concept of the game was similar to lawn tennis.
By 1875, lawn tennis had become more popular and even virtually replaced croquet and badminton as outdoor games for both men and women.
In 1875, Major Wingfield proposed the rules he created to the Marylebone Cricket Club, and The Rules of Lawn Tennis was made official. However, they did not use the original rules proposed by Major Wingfield. Some modifications were made from time to time.
This included changing the hourglass-shaped court to rectangular, adding deuce, advantage, and 2 chances per serve.
The rules were then adopted by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet for the first lawn tennis championship at Wimbledon in 1877.
First Tournament in Tennis History: Wimbledon 1877
The first-ever official modern tennis tournament was held at Wimbledon, England, in the year 1877.
It was held by the former All England Croquet Club, which was changed later to All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, as a marriage between croquet and tennis.
The tournament rules look pretty similar to the standard rules for tennis that we see today, with some notable differences such as the serve was exclusively underhand and only men were allowed to play in the tournament in that era.
A year later, in 1878, the committee changed the net height rule to be 4 feet 9 inches at the posts and 3 feet at the center.
And finally, starting May 1882, the net height changed to 3 feet 6 inches at the posts and 3 feet at the center as we know today.
It was not until the year 1884 that women were also allowed to play in Wimbledon. During the same year, men’s doubles was also introduced for the first time.
Tennis rules have not undergone huge changes since the first tournament. The rules remained the same, with the only significant change being the addition of the tiebreak rule in 1971.
Fun fact: The origin of the 15, 30, 40 scoring system was based on the face of a clock. It was initially 15, 30, 45 but was shortened to 40, as 45 took too long to say.
The Birth of Grand Slams Tournaments
We have talked about Wimbledon in the previous section, which was the world’s first grand slam and official tennis tournament.
Next that came up was U.S. Open in 1881. The tournament was first held in Newport, Rhode Island, restricted to only American men residents. The women’s U.S. championship was first held in the United States in 1887.
Also, in 1881, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) was formed to standardize rules and organize official tournaments.
In 1891, French championships were first played and open only for French residents.
Then in 1927, the Roland Garros Stadium was built to officially host the French Open championships.
Australian Open was introduced in 1905, with the venue alternating between Australia and New Zealand.
The concept of “Grand Slam” was proposed in the 1930s, which means winning the four “major” tournaments (Wimbledon, U.S Open, Australian Open, French Open).
In 1930, Brame Hillyard changed the rules of tennis fashion by playing in shorts at Wimbledon.
First International Tennis Tournament: The Davis Cup
The first international team competition was a showdown between the United States and Great Britain.
The idea was introduced by a U.S. doubles champion, Dwight Davis, in 1900, held in Boston, Massachusetts.
The competition was officially called the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy, later renamed Davis Cup.
The United States took the first Davis Cup victory with Davis himself playing on the U.S. team.
Several years later, the Davis Cup attracted several more European national teams, and eventually, Australia and New Zealand also joined in 1914.
In 1913, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) was created to regulate all international events and standardize rules for international play.
The Fed Cup: First Women International Tennis Tournament
Naturally, there will also be an international championship for worldwide women’s teams.
The first international women’s tournament, the Federation Cup, was played in 1963, sponsored by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for their 50th-anniversary celebration.
Teams from 16 different countries participated in the first Fed Cup tournament.
The Birth of Open Era: The 20th Century
The Open Era began in 1968, where professionals can then compete with amateurs in tournaments. Before this, only amateurs were allowed to compete in the Grand Slam, Davis Cup, or any other official tournaments.
The first Open Grand Slam Tournament was the French Open in May 1968, held at the Roland Garros Stadium and won by Ken Rosewall.
The Open Era allowed all tennis players to make a living by playing tennis.
World Championship Tennis (WCT)
For the first 2 years of the Open Era, the National Tennis League (NTL) and World Championship Tennis (WCT) are the two tours that host men’s professional tennis leagues.
The first WCT tournaments were held in February 1968, and the first NTL tournaments in March 1969. In July 1970, the National Tennis League (NTL) was sold to World Championship Tennis (WCT).
Grand Prix
Jack Kramer, the best player of the early 1950s, created the Grand Prix tennis circuit in late 1969 and was approved by The International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF).
The Grand Prix tennis circuit was more for independent players, while WCT was mostly for contracted players.
In 1971, WCT hosted the Australian Open, whereas the French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open were ILTF Grand Prix events.
Due to the rivalries between these two groups, there was a period of time when ILTF banned contract professional players from attending ILTF Grand Prix events, which included the 1972 French Open and the 1972 Wimbledon.
In 1978, the ILTF Grand Prix and WCT circuit merged but separated again in 1982. The WCT was unsuccessful after the separation, so the Grand Prix became the primary circuit.
ATP Tour
The WCT then disbanded with the creation of the ATP tour in 1990.
The ATP tour was created by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the governing body of men’s professional tennis. The ATP tour hosts tournaments such as Grand Slam, Davis Cup, and Master Series.
WTA Tour: Women’s Professional Tennis Circuit
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) was formed in 1973 as the organizing body for women’s professional tennis.
The WTA created WTA Tour as the worldwide tennis tournament for women’s professionals.
The championship was a best-of-five series from 1984 to 1998. But reverted back to a best-of-three until today.
Also, in 1973, player’s global and weekly rankings started showing from ATP and WTA.
Summary of Key Events in Tennis History
Tennis was a sport that originated way back in the past and evolved into one of the popular sports in today’s time.
Starting from jeu de paume in the 12th century, the sport was initially played with bare hands against monastery walls.
Then, the sport evolved to real tennis in the 15th century, where it was played mainly by royalties, and the first iteration of tennis racquet and bouncing balls were invented.
In the 18th century, the sport evolved into lawn tennis, with the rules originally founded by major Walted Wingfield and adopted to official tournaments, with the first one being Wimbledon in 1877.
In 1986, the white balls were replaced with yellow balls. As more people watch tennis on TV, they want to make the color more colorful to appeal to TV cameras.
Here is the summary of the key events that happened in tennis history:
1100s (12th Century) – Origin of tennis, jeu de paume, was played by monks in France
1300s (14th Century) – The name tennis was created, taken from the word tenez
1500s (16th Century) – Sport evolved into real tennis, played mostly by royalties
1583 – The first proper tennis racket was created in Italy
1600s (17th Century) – The sport dropped in popularity and rarely seen
1700s (18th Century) – Sport evolved into lawn tennis, where tennis are played on grass court
1850 – Tennis balls became bouncier due to Goodyear’s introduction of vulcanization
1874 – Lawn tennis with official rules and equipment was introduced by Major Walter C. Wingfield
1877 – The first tennis tournament, Wimbledon, was introduced
1881 – The U.S Open was created for men’s U.S residents
1884 – Men doubles was introduced, and women could play at Wimbledon
1887 – The U.S Open hosted championships for women
1891 – The French Championship was first held
1900 – The First International Tennis Championship, the Davis Cup was held
1905 – The Australian Open was created
1913 – The International Tennis Federation (ITF) was introduced
1927 – Roland Garros Stadium was built to host the French Open
1930 – The first concept of Grand Slam Tournaments was introduced
1954 – Creation of the International Tennis Hall of Fame
1963 – The Fed Cup, first women international tournament, was held
1968 – The Open Era was introduced, where professionals could compete in tournaments
1969 – Grand Prix circuit was introduced
1973 – The start of ATP and WTA global and weekly rankings
1986 – Tennis balls was changed from white color to yellow color
