Sportsmanship
Sporting Gentleman
Wingfield used his marketing skills , as well as the production of a starter set ( net , poles , racquets , balls , and most importantly rules ). He sent out sets to his friends in the clergy , legal profession , and aristocracy ( over 1000 sets in the first year alone ).
The Marylebone Cricket Club ( MCC ) the elders of Cricket , who were custodians of Wingfield ' s rules & the newly formed All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club ( AELTC ) came together to formulate the rules of the modern game for the launch of the Wimbledon championships in 1877 .
Since its early conception , tennis has always been a gentleman ' s game . Played by kings , and aristocracy , army officers of old , and clergy , the game has not only the rules of the games itself , but at the same time it is surrounded by a secondary set of unspoken rules - The rules of sportsmanship .
These rules of sportsmanship extends not only to the players , but also over the officials , ball boys and girls , and spectators alike .
Spectators are expected to behave in a manner respectful to the players . They are expected to remain quiet during the points , so that the players can compete undisturbed . They are expect to keep their support for either player positive ( no booing or jeering ), and they are also expected to honour the looser for their quality of play , and their valiant fight and determination .
In 1977 the Association of Tennis Professionals ( ATP ) set up a Sportsmanship Award . In 1978 , the Women ' s Tennis Association started a parallel award named after Karen Krantzcke , who died of a heart attack the previous year . In both cases , the award is given to the player that has been voted for by ATP members ( fellow players ). The winners are selected as the players who have most demonstrated the ideals of sportsmanship throughout the year .
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