History of tennis?

The modern game of tennis generally consists of two forms: indoor tennis and outdoor tennis. Tennis first began as a game played by French missionaries in the 12th and 13th centuries in the cloisters of churches, hitting the ball with the palms of their hands. It later became an indoor pastime at court. It is also believed that the origin of tennis should be traced back to the "Hundred Years' War" (1337 ~ 1453 years of war between England and France) before the French folk in the name of a ball game called Hai-Ou de Bawmai. It is said that this game is played by two people, each holding a racket, and the court is surrounded by a wall, so that the ball bounces back after hitting the wall and then crosses the net. Therefore, it has many similarities with modern tennis, both in terms of the courts and implements used, and in terms of the method of playing the game, so some people regard it as the original form of tennis. The diameter of a tennis ball is between 6.541 and 6.858 centimeters. In the beginning, tennis balls were just two hemispheres filled with grass, leaves or hair, etc. Later on, as tennis continued to develop, the balls were made with more and more care.

Development

Toward the middle of the 14th century, a French poet introduced this ball game to the French court as a pastime for men and women of royalty. The game was played in the halls of the court, without nets or rackets, and the balls were made of cloth rolled into a circle and tied with a rope. A rope was set up in the middle of the court as a boundary, and the ball was thrown from the rope using both hands as rackets, called Tennez in French and "Take it! Play", meaning "Take it! Throw it", from which today's term "Tennis" originates. Soon wooden rackets were used instead of two-handed shots, and in the early 16th century the game was discovered by French nationals who, out of curiosity, began to follow suit, quickly spreading to the major cities and improving the equipment. The ball was made more durable, the racket was changed from a wooden board to a parchment board, the surface area of the racket was enlarged, and the handle of the grip was lengthened. In the middle of the court, numerous short ropes were added to hang down toward the ground, so that the ball could be clearly detected when it passed under the ropes. Later was banned by King Louis of France ordered, and stipulated that this is a privileged game in the court. 17th century, the middle of the field no longer use rope curtains, and changed to a small square net, net than curtains better than the role of the racket changed to wear a line of the net racket, elasticity and lightweight and easy to use. In the French court for this game, the court placed next to a gold container, after each game, the audience will put money into the plate, as the winner's prize. This method was initially well-intentioned, and then gradually evolved into a kind of gambling. At the beginning of the number is still small, over time the more the more big, and even some people so that all the money, so the dispute arose, the king of France then banned the game, which is the early 18th century tennis is the main reason for the decline of the decline.

About 1358 ~ 1360 years, this ball game from France to England. King Edward III took a special interest in the game and ordered the construction of an indoor court in his palace. From then on, tennis began to popularize in Britain, became a recreational activity of the British upper class, so there is a "noble sport" of the elegant name. During this period, the popularity of indoor tennis. Until September 29, 1793, in the United Kingdom, a "sports" magazine, there is a "field tennis" called.

The history of modern tennis generally begins in 1873. In that year, the Englishman Walter Clopton Winfield improved on an earlier form of tennis by making it a summer sport played on lawns and naming it "Lawn Tennis". In the same year, a booklet entitled "Lawn Tennis" was published to publicize and promote the activity. That is why Winfield is called "the founder of modern tennis". Since then, tennis has become a sport that can be played both indoors and outdoors. At the same time, tennis clubs were established all over England, and in 1875 the All England Tennis Club was founded. In 1875, the All England Tennis Club was established, which built the world's first tennis court and organized the All England Lawn Tennis Men's Singles Championships in 1877, later known as the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament. The wide spread of the game and the increasing frequency of matches could not be achieved without standardized rules. Therefore, in 1876, representatives from some famous tennis clubs in the region met together to study and discuss the formulation of a unified tennis rules for the whole of England. After many consultations, the representatives of all parties finally reached a consensus on the venues, equipment, playing style and competition of tennis, and formed a unified rule. After about 1878, most tennis clubs in England gradually conducted their activities, training and matches according to the new playing rules.

In 1874, Mary Otterbridge, an American lady vacationing in Bermuda, became interested in the sport after watching a tennis match between British officers and brought tennis rules, rackets and balls to New York. In the United States, tennis was initially played in schools in the East, and soon spread to the central and western parts of the country, which in turn gained popularity throughout the United States. By this time, the game had evolved from grass to play on sand, concrete and asphalt, and the name "Tennis" slowly replaced the name "Lawn Tennis". This is where the name "Tennis" came from.

In the early days of modern tennis, women were often excluded on the grounds that the game was not suitable for them. It was also considered indecent for women to play tennis. Therefore, in the early days of tennis, there were only men's singles and doubles, and no women's tennis programs. However, some female players not only dared to break through social opinion and family obstacles, but also the technical level of some even exceeded that of male players. In some informal singles matches, there are often male players on one side and female players on the other. This is what forced some tennis clubs to break the ban and allow women to participate in the sport. So from 1879 the mixed doubles competition was born, as a result of women's own efforts.

The first men's doubles tournament was held in England in 1878, and the first women's singles and mixed doubles tournaments were held in Ireland in 1879. women's singles and men's doubles tournaments were added at Wimbledon in 1884, and women's doubles and mixed doubles tournaments were added in 1913.

In 1881, the world's first national tennis association, the National Lawn Tennis Association of the United States (the word "national" was dropped in 1920), was established. The association held the first U.S. Lawn Tennis Men's Singles and Men's Doubles Championships in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, from August 31 to September 3 of that year, adopting the rules of Wimbledon for the tennis tournament courts[3] and involving 26 participants.

Dwight Dwight, president of the National Lawn Tennis Association of the United States, and Sears, the U.S. men's singles champion, were among the first overseas athletes to participate in the Wimbledon Championships.

The U.S. Lawn Tennis Women's Singles Championships began in 1887, with women's doubles and mixed doubles beginning in 1890 and 1892, respectively.

In 1891, the first men's singles and men's doubles championships were held in France, with participation limited to French citizens, and women's singles began in 1897.

In 1900, Davis, a 21-year-old American tennis player, donated a large sterling silver bowl in a gold village called the Davis Cup in order to promote the development of modern tennis. It went on to become the permanent, mobile trophy for the most prestigious men's team championship in international tennis. The names of each year's winning team and players were engraved on the cup, and when it was filled with names in 1920, Davis donated another padded box, and later added two more trays.

The Australian Lawn Tennis Association was formed in 1904 and began hosting the Australian Championships in 1905, with men's singles and men's doubles; women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles were added in 1922. The French Tennis Championships, the British Wimbledon Tennis Championships, the American Tennis Caddies[4] Tennis Championships and the Australian Tennis Championships together are the most prestigious "Grand Slam" tennis tournaments in the world. Any player or group of doubles players who wins all four tournaments in the same season is honored as a "Grand Slam" winner.

On March 1, 1913, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) was founded in Paris by representatives of 12 national tennis associations, including Australia, to coordinate international tennis activities, arrange the year-round schedule of matches, revise the rules of the game, and oversee their implementation. In 1919, a "seeding" system was adopted for the draw of lots, and in 1927, seamless tennis was introduced in the United Kingdom to speed up the speed of the ball. 1945 to the 1960s saw the professionalization of tennis, and in 1963, the Federation Cup, a women's team competition, was introduced. In 1968, Wimbledon was the first to introduce a system that did not distinguish between amateurs and professionals. 1972 saw the establishment of the International Association of Men's Professional Tennis Players (IAMPPT), and in 1973 the International Women's Tennis Association (IWTA) was founded.

The men's singles and doubles events were included in the first Olympic Games of the modern era, held in Athens in 1896. Subsequently, due to the disagreement between the IOC and the ITF over the issue of "amateur athletes", the Olympic tennis program, which had been in existence for seven consecutive years, was canceled. It was not until the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics that tennis was included as a performance sport. In 1988, tennis was reintroduced as an official sport at the Seoul Olympics.

Because the original game of tennis originated in the courts, it's understandable that the scoring methods were localized. They took clocks that could be toggled to count points, and for every point they scored they turned the clock by a quarter, or 15 points (a quarter), and similarly, for two points they turned the clock to 30, all at their convenience, of course. This is the origin of 15 and 30 minutes.

As for 40 minutes, it's a bit more bizarre in that it's not a multiple of 15. That's because in English, 15 cents is pronounced "fifteen," a two-syllable word, and 30 cents is pronounced "thirty," also a two-syllable word; but 45 cents, pronounced "forty-five," becomes a two-syllable word. But 45 cents, pronounced as "forty-five" in English, became three syllables, which was a bit awkward for the English at that time and did not conform to the principle of "convenience", so it was changed to 40 cents (forty), which is also a two-syllable word. That's where the illogical 40 cents came from.

While this may seem strange, it's still a tradition today, and we're all used to it coming from the court.