Game Of The Palm by Darren G. Burton

Have you ever wondered how this great sport came about? Who were the early pioneers?

It is believed tennis originated in France during the 1100's-1200's. The French version was known as "jeu de paume", representing "game of the palm". In these games the ball was hit over the net with the palm of the hand instead of a racquet. It was considered a highly fashionable sport among noblemen and kings.

The game of the palm was originally played indoors in large galleries, and points were scored according to how the ball was bounced off the walls. The game found its way to the shores of England. Here, too, it became recognized as the sport of kings. King Henry VIII was a keen tennis player and even built a court at his Hampton Court palace. This court is still used by enthusiasts today.

Tennis didn’t remain confined to France and England, however. The popularity of the sport soon spread all across Europe. It suffered a decline throughout the 18th century due to the French Revolution and the Napoleon wars.

During the 19th century there was a revival. England was prospering in the Victorian era and courts were built in famous country houses all across the nation. The first tennis clubs were formed and lawn tennis emerged. Tennis was fast becoming an outdoor, open-air sport. Vulcanized rubber was invented and the substance was adopted in the manufacture of tennis balls.

The development of modern-day tennis was due mainly to an Englishman named Major Walter Clopton Wingfield. In 1873 he introduced a version of the game very similar to today's tennis. Wingfield patented tennis equipment and his grass court rules the following year.

During the 1870's, American sportswoman, Mary Ewing Outerbridge, introduced the game to the United States. In 1874 she set up the first tennis court in the United States at New York.

In 1877 the All England Croquet Club, following the tremendous popularity of lawn tennis, decided to change its name to the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. Also in that year, the club sponsored the first major tennis tournament in England at Wimbledon. This inaugural tournament was comprised of 22 players and witnessed by some 200 spectators. From this point on, Wimbledon began to establish itself as one of the world’s greatest and most prestigious tennis events; and one of today’s few surviving lawn tennis competitions.

1881 saw the foundation of the United States Lawn Tennis Association. This association was responsible for coordinating and organising the first men's tennis tournament in the United States that same year.

At the turn of the century in 1900, Dwight Davis presented a cup, known as the "Davis Cup", to be awarded each year to the country that wins the world's men's tennis championships. The Davis Cup is possibly the most prestigious and famous of all tennis competitions worldwide.

In 1933, American Bunny Austin shocked crowds when he walked out onto centre court at Wimbledon dressed in shorts. Prior to this all men wore long trousers when playing, while women were required to wear long dresses and stockings.

The first ever radio broadcast of a tennis tournament took place in 1937 with the broadcasting of the Wimbledon championships. The advent of radio broadcasting quickly escalated public interest in the sport and introduced tennis to the world.

With the explosion of the Second World War in 1939, the Wimbledon tennis championships came to a sudden end, and weren’t revived until 1946. Post-war technology saw rapid improvements in the game. Tennis became a sophisticated pastime for the middle classes.

Up until the 1950's, world tennis had been dominated by three major nations; the United States, Great Britain and France. These three nations, up until that stage, had produced the cream of the world's tennis champions. But from 1950 onwards, Australia emerged on the scene and assumed the role of the world's greatest tennis nation until the late 1960's. From 1950-67, the Australian team won the Davis Cup a staggering total of fifteen times.

Spanning two decades, from the 1940' to the 1960's, the United States provided the world's best women tennis exponents. In 1953, Maureen Connelly became the first woman to win the tennis grand slam.

Tennis adopted a very professional status by 1968. In the 1970's, television coverage of big tournaments became common practice, helping to boost the sport's public appeal immeasurably. Tennis was now truly a global sport to be enjoyed by all; player and spectator alike.