History of tennis

The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis was invented in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, and is now commonly known simply as tennis. It is the direct descendant of what is now known as real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sport with more complex rules.

Most rules of (lawn) tennis derive from this precursor and it is reasonable to see both sports as variations of the same game. Most historians believe that tennis originated in northern France in the 12th century, but the ball was then struck with the palm of the hand, hence the name jeu de paume (lit. 'game of the palm'). It was not until the 16th century that rackets came into use and the game began to be called 'tennis'. It was popular in the Kingdom of France as well as in England, where Henry VIII of England was a notable enthusiast of the game now referred to as real tennis.

By the late 19th century real tennis had a long history of rule codification, with Marylebone Cricket Club's 1872 Rules of Lawn Tennis regarded as the most authoritative. There was no such consensus for lawn tennis. As the new game began to spread in the early 1870s, several competing rulebooks emerged, causing confusion among players and clubs. In March 1875, an open meeting at Lord's was organised, resulting in the publication of the 1875 MCC Laws of Lawn Tennis in May. This code provided the foundations for the rules used at the first Wimbledon Championships in 1877.

The Davis Cup, an annual competition between men's national teams, dates to 1900. The analogous competition for women's national teams, the Fed Cup, was founded as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Tennis Federation, also known as the ITF. Promoter C. C. Pyle created the first modern professional tennis tour in 1926, with a group of American and French tennis players playing exhibition matches to paying audiences. The most notable of these early professionals were the American Vinnie Richards and the Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen. Players turning pro could not compete in the major (amateur) tournaments.

In 1968 commercial pressures and rumours of some amateurs taking money under the table led to the abandonment of this distinction, inaugurating the Open Era, in which all players could compete in all tournaments and top players were able to make their living from tennis. With the beginning of the Open Era, the establishment of an international professional tennis circuit, and revenues from the sale of television rights, tennis's popularity has spread worldwide, and the sport has shed its upper/middle-class Anglophone image (although it is acknowledged that this stereotype still exists).