Tennis in a Nutshell
Tennis is a game played with a racket and a ball by two (as in singles) or four (as in doubles) competitors, on a rectangular court with a net strung between the midpoints of the longer sides of the court. The game ranks as one of the most popular spectator and participation sports in the world, with fans and competitors in more than 100 countries.
Aaron's Tennis Highlights
Tennis is the oldest of all the racket games. The game started to form in the 11th century when monks in Italy and France played hand ball. This continued in many different versions, until the pope banned it in the 14th century. Originally the game was played with the bare hand, later with a glove, then someone had the bright idea of attaching cord or tendons to the fingers. It was a short step to attaching these cords to a frame and adding a handle to form a racket.
Lawn Tennis (today's tennis), which derived from what is called "Real Tennis" in about 1874, is played on a marked-out surface without side or end walls. Court Tennis, to use the American name for Tennis, indicates that Tennis is played in a special court with walls on four sides. In the mid 19th century there was a tennis revival, followed by an increase in court construction (mostly private).
