| For any future athlete that intends to start a new | | | | essentially the game we know today. The net was still |
| activity, knowing a little bit of history about the sport is | | | | five feet high at the sides, a carryover from the |
| always a good idea. | | | | game's indoor ancestor, and the service boxes were |
| Ball games can be traced back for hundreds and | | | | 26 feet deep, but by 1882, the specifications had |
| thousands of years. Usually played for entertainment | | | | evolved to their current form. |
| or during religious ceremonies, ball games became | | | | The growth of tennis continued and the 1927 |
| highly popular in countless civilizations worldwide. | | | | Championship saw the first ever radio broadcast of a |
| European monks probably created the game of tennis. | | | | tennis event. This increased its popularity further and in |
| The players quickly found out that instead of hitting the | | | | the 1930s the game became highly fashionable, led by |
| ball off walls they had better control using their hand. A | | | | British stars such as Fred Perry and Don Budge and |
| leather glove was soon created, and not long after, an | | | | International Champions such as Henri Lacoste. You'll |
| adapted handle completed the first racquet. As the | | | | notice from the photographs that tennis fashions were |
| racquets evolved, so did the balls that were used. A | | | | somewhat different in those days! Long trousers were |
| bouncier type stuffed with bran material soon replaced | | | | the order of the day for men, and for women it was |
| the first primitive wooden balls. The game became | | | | long dresses and stockings. |
| highly popular amongst monasteries all around Europe | | | | Fashion trends became a development in their own |
| during the 14th century. At one time, the church | | | | right and Bunny Austin from the USA shocked the |
| considered forbidding the game. | | | | crowds in 1933 when he became the first player to |
| In1874, Major Walter C. Wingfield patented in London | | | | step out on to centre court wearing shorts! The 1930's |
| the equipment and rules for a game fairly similar to | | | | became Wimbledon's boom time and in 1937, the |
| modern tennis. In the same year, the first courts | | | | championship was broadcast on the radio for the first |
| appeared in the United States. By the following year, | | | | time. This was a significant event, truly introducing |
| equipment sets had been sold for use in Russia, India, | | | | tennis to the world. |
| Canada, and China. | | | | Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the game became |
| Croquet was highly popular at this time, and the | | | | dominated by the new legion of international players |
| smooth croquet courts proved readily adaptable for | | | | and crowds became captivated by the likes of Bjorn |
| tennis. Wingfield's original court had the shape of an | | | | Borg, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe. In the ladies |
| hourglass, narrowest at the net, and it was shorter | | | | game stars such as Sue Barker, Chris Evert Lloyd and |
| than the modern court. His rules were subjected to | | | | Martina Navratilova filled the courts with fans. Britain's |
| considerable criticism, and he revised them in 1875, but | | | | foremost ladies player was Virginia Wade, the last Brit |
| he soon left the further development of the game to | | | | to win the Championships in 1977. The prize money |
| others. | | | | went up, as did the hemlines of players clothing! In 1986 |
| In 1877, the All England Club held the first Wimbledon | | | | the Championships adopted yellow tennis balls for the |
| tournament, and its tournament committee came up | | | | first time - partly to make the speeding balls more |
| with a rectangular court and a set of rules that are | | | | visible for television cameras. |