|
tennisRacket-and-ball game invented towards the end of the 19th century. Although played on different surfaces (grass, wood, shale, clay, concrete), it is also called ‘lawn tennis’. The aim of the two or four players (in singles or doubles matches) is to strike the ball into the prescribed area of the court, with oval-headed rackets (strung with gut or synthetic alternatives), in such a way that it cannot be returned. The game is won by those first winning four points (called 15, 30, 40, game), unless both sides reach 40 (deuce), when two consecutive points are needed to win. A set is won by winning six games with a margin of two over opponents, although a tie-break system operates at six games to each side except in the final set of certain competitions. A match lasts a maximum of five sets for men, three for women. | Major events include the Davis Cup, first contested in 1900 for international men's competition; Wimbledon, a UK open event for players of both sexes; and the US, French, and Australian Opens. |
| Tennis was introduced by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield at a Christmas party at Nantclwyn, Wales, in 1873. His game was then called ‘Sphairistike’. It derived from court tennis. |
| Until the mid-1970s, tennis rackets were made from wood or moulded from aluminium. In 1976, the Prince racket, made from sandwiched layers of aluminium and glass fibre, doubled the racket area to 130 sq in. Today, rackets are made from graphite and glass fibre. |
tennis - events| c. 1100 | France | Jeu de paume, a handball game and the forerunner of real-tennis, is first played in France by monks in monastery cloisters; it is later taken up and played on courts by the French monarchy and aristocracy but it is not played with rackets until around 1500. | | 9–19 July 1877 | UK | The first All England Lawn Tennis Championships are played at Wimbledon, London. A crowd of 200 people watches Spencer Gore defeat William Marshall in the final of the Gentlemen's Singles, the only event at the meeting. | | 8–10 August 1900 | USA, UK | The US public official Dwight Filley Davis presents an international challenge cup for lawn tennis, the Davis Cup. The USA wins the trophy, beating Britain 3–0 at Brookline, Massachusetts. | | 1938 | USA, England, France, Australia | Donald Budge of the USA becomes the first tennis player to achieve the Grand Slam, holding all four major tournaments (Wimbledon and the US, French, and Australian championships) simultaneously. | | 1953 | USA | The US lawn tennis player Maureen ‘Little Mo’ Connolly, aged 18, becomes the first woman to achieve the Grand Slam, winning the singles titles at the Australian, French, Wimbledon, and US championships within the same calendar year. | | 6 July 1957 | USA, UK | Althea Gibson of the USA becomes the first black player to win a singles title at the Wimbledon lawn tennis championships in London, England. | | 1962 | Australia | The Australian tennis player Rod Laver achieves the Grand Slam, winning all four major tennis championships (the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open) in the same calendar year. He is the first person to do so since Don Budge of the USA in 1938. | | 30 March 1968 | world, UK | The International Lawn Tennis Association abolishes the distinction between amateurs and professionals following the example of the British Lawn Tennis Association of 15 October 1967. | | 24 June–6 July 1968 | UK, Australia, USA | At the first ‘open’ Wimbledon tennis championships in London, England, the singles titles are won by Rod Laver of Australia and Billie Jean King of the USA, who win £2,000 and £750 respectively. | | January–September 1970 | Australia | The Australian tennis player Margaret Court becomes only the second woman (after Maureen Connolly in 1953) to achieve the Grand Slam, winning all four major tennis tournaments (the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open) in the same calendar year. | | 3 October 1971 | USA | US tennis player Billie Jean King is the first female athlete to earn more than $100,000 in prize money in a year | | 5 July 1980 | UK, Sweden | The Swedish tennis player Björn Borg wins his fifth consecutive men's singles title at the Wimbledon championships in London, England. | | January–September 1988 | West Germany, Australia, France, UK, USA, South Korea | The West German tennis player Steffi Graf becomes the third woman to win the ‘Grand Slam’ of all four major tournaments (the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open). She also wins an Olympic gold medal, following the restoration of tennis to the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. | | 10 December 2000 | Spain | Spain's national tennis team claims the Davis Cup for the first time, following their victory in the final against Australia in Barcelona. |
How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
?Sign in  |
|---|
|
|
|
)
)
)