International book international book of favorite sports2 | Page 93

X is history's first tennis player known by name. Another of the early enthusiasts
of the game was King Charles V of France, who had a court set up at the Louvre
Palace.
It wasn't until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began
to be called "tennis", from the French term tenez, which can be translated as
"hold!", "receive!" or "take!", an interjection used as a call from the server to his
opponent. It was popular in England and France, although the game was only
played indoors where the ball could be hit off the wall. Henry VIII of England was
a big fan of this game, which is now known as real tennis. During the 18th
century and early 19th century, as real tennis declined, new racket sports
emerged in England.
Further, the patenting of the first lawn mower in 1830, in Britain, is strongly
believed to have been the catalyst, worldwide, for the preparation of modern-
style grass courts, sporting ovals, playing fields, pitches, greens, etc. This in turn
led to the codification of modern rules for many sports, including lawn tennis,
most football codes, lawn bowls and others.
VII.3 Tennis – origins of the modern game
Between 1859 and 1865 Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera developed a
game that combined elements of racquets and the Basque ball game pelota,
which they played on Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham, England, United
Kingdom. In 1872, along with two local doctors, they founded the world's first
tennis club on Avenue Road, Leamington Spa.
In December 1873, British army officer Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed
and patented a similar game ;– which he called sphairistikè(Greek: σφαιριστική,
meaning "ball-playing"), and was soon known simply as "sticky" – for the
amusement of guests at a garden party on his friend's estate of Nantclwyd Hall,
in Llanelidan, Wales. According to R. D. C. Evans, turfgrass agronomist, "Sports
historians all agree that [Wingfield] deserves much of the credit for the
development of modern tennis." [ According to Honor Godfrey, museum curator
at Wimbledon, Wingfield "popularized this game enormously. He produced a
boxed set which included a net, poles, rackets, balls for playing the game – and
most importantly you had his rules. He was absolutely terrific at marketing and
he sent his game all over the world. He had very good connections with the
clergy, the law profession, and the aristocracy and he sent thousands of sets out
in the first year or so, in 1874." ] The world's oldest tennis tournament,
the Wimbledon Championships, were first played in London in 1877. The first
Championships culminated a significant debate on how to standardize the rules.
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