Baseline information: The place tennis comes from and the way the sport has modified

Should you really feel like everyone seems to be speaking about tennis, you are undoubtedly not alone.

The game has surged in reputation for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic, when thousands and thousands flocked to their native courts for some socially distanced exercise.

And for a lot of, it wasn’t only a section: In response to the newest analysis shared by america Tennis Affiliation, 1 in 12 Individuals performed tennis as of 2024, the best share on document.

Even when you have not picked up a racket, possibly you have seen — or heard the thrill about — the 2024 tennis movie Challengers, or observed an upswing in preppy “tenniscore” attire on retailer cabinets and social media.

Or maybe you are watching Wimbledon, the game’s oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam. This yr’s event — which ends Sunday — has been filled with drama, from a document variety of top-seed early eliminations to historic tech upgrades.

Whereas Wimbledon’s pristine grass courts, all-white competitor gown code, royal patronage and customary strawberries-and-cream snack might look a lot the identical as they did when the event started again in 1877, lots about tennis has modified alongside the best way.

“It’s a super-old, historical sport,” says freelance author and editor Julie Kliegman, who’s engaged on a e-book about transgender tennis participant Renée Richards. “Making sure that the modern-day game is as rich as its history and even more exciting and compelling, I think the better it is for spectators, the better it is for pros … everyone wins.”

This week’s installment of Phrase of the Week appears to be like on the evolution of tennis — each the phrase and the game.

The place did tennis come from? 

Essentially the most extensively accepted concept is that the game originated in France someday across the twelfth century and obtained its title from the phrase that gamers would yell earlier than serving: “tenez,” that means to take or obtain.

“The argument goes that … tenez functioned as a sort of verbal ritual, a fair warning called out by servers to their opponents before starting a point,” explains Tennis.com. “By and by, English speakers picked up the game and, presumably, the utterance.”

The earliest model of tennis was known as jeu de paume, or “game of the palm,” as a result of no rackets had been concerned till the sixteenth century (and that was solely after gamers tried out gloves, picket bats, paddles with handles and so forth).

The handball-esque sport was initially favored by medieval monks and knights however rapidly grew to become standard amongst French royalty — which is why it was sometimes performed indoors, like in palaces.

“By the 1500s, there were apparently more than a thousand tennis courts in France already,” says Kliegman. “It was meant for royalty all along, but commoners did enjoy the game as well.”

That unique model of tennis continues to be performed — on indoor, asymmetrical courts (assume squash) — in some components of the world, together with the U.S., the place it is called “court tennis” or “real tennis.” The trendy recreation you are in all probability picturing, with its grass, clay or laborious courts, has a special algorithm and title altogether: “lawn tennis.”

Garden tennis arose in 18th-century Britain, the place aristocrats most popular to entertain in their very own backyards quite than journey to indoor courts, in keeping with the Worldwide Tennis Federation.

“As a result, lawn tennis soon became the chosen sport of the privileged classes and immense importance was placed on proper etiquette and controlled behaviour,” it explains.

Welsh inventor Walter Clopton Wingfield, then a retired British Military officer, is credited with pioneering the game round 1873. He designed, patented and manufactured tennis tools like nets, rackets and rubber balls. He named the game “sphairistike,” from the Greek phrase for “sphere,” but it surely did not precisely roll off the tongue.

Garden tennis, because it rapidly grew to become recognized, reached the U.S. in 1874 and continued to unfold world wide. However the period of tennis as we all know it at the moment would not begin for an additional century.

How has tennis modified over time? 

Tennis historian Joel Drucker says the one largest change for the reason that daybreak of garden tennis was the professionalization of the game, which occurred in 1968.

“1968 is kind of the B.C./A.D. year in the history of tennis,” he explains.

Earlier than that, solely amateurs had been allowed to play in prestigious tournaments like Wimbledon, they usually could not make any cash doing so — no less than not legally. Skilled gamers did exist however may compete solely in separate, invitation-only occasions and excursions.

A confluence of things — together with the rise of shade TV, the local weather of social change within the Sixties and selections by governing teams just like the British Garden Tennis Affiliation — helped usher within the “Open Era” and, importantly, the inflow of prize cash and company sponsorships.

“It changed tennis from this feudalistic environment of amateurs and clubs,” Drucker says. “Now, tennis is in the marketplace. … All sorts of things changed, because then comes money.”

Money, he mentioned, allowed gamers to each play and take higher care of themselves year-round, hiring groups of consultants in areas like sports activities science and vitamin. It led to the creation of higher amenities — for coaching and spectating — in addition to higher rackets, courts and extra.

This was additionally a time when the game opened as much as folks of various backgrounds, like girls and racial minorities.

In 1968, Arthur Ashe grew to become the primary Black American man to win a U.S. Open singles title. The Seventies noticed the formation of the Virginia Slims tour (which later grew to become the Girls’s Tennis Affiliation tour) and the struggle for equal pay, encapsulated by Billie Jean King’s victory within the “Battle of the Sexes.”

All 4 Grand Slams have required equal prize cash for women and men since 2007. And Black girls like Venus and Serena Williams are credited with serving to encourage a brand new era of gamers. All types of individuals can take up and excel in tennis now, Kliegman says — a far cry from the game’s origins.

“It’s seen as an inaccessible kind of country club-y sport, but I think over time it has become at least relatively more accessible,” they are saying. “You don’t actually need to be a member of a country club or royalty or anything to enjoy it anymore.”

Why does tennis matter at the moment? 

That does not imply there is not room for enchancment in tennis and its tradition.

Lately, many massive questions are likely to revolve round subjects like know-how — that is the primary time Wimbledon is utilizing digital line calling as an alternative of human judges, not with out controversy — and psychological well being, with Japan’s Naomi Osaka changing into some of the distinguished advocates not solely in tennis however in all of sports activities.

Kliegman says it is thrilling and inspiring that such conversations are taking place in tennis, as a result of it is going to hopefully make younger folks — from children to varsity athletes — really feel much more accepted within the sport.

“I think the more people who are interested in it, the better,” they add. “And the [more] we can get those pipelines to the pros more active and more robust, the better the end product is going to be for everyone.”

Simply this month, Wimbledon noticed a historic variety of upsets in each singles attracts — the primary time within the Open Period that eight prime 10 gamers went down within the opening spherical of a Grand Slam.

Drucker factors out that it is an unusually fascinating second in professional tennis, between the retirements of legends like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and the emergence of recent stars and potential rivalries, corresponding to between Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Italy’s Jannik Sinner.

It is an particularly thrilling time to be a U.S. fan: The primary two Grand Slam girls’s singles titles of 2025 each went to Individuals, Madison Keys and Coco Gauff. And whereas there are a variety of top-seeded American males, one hasn’t gained a Grand Slam singles title since 2003.

Most of the largest names on the tennis circuit will quickly carry their abilities stateside. The Mubadala Citi DC Open involves the nation’s capital in late July, and the U.S. Open — the final Grand Slam of the yr — arrives in New York in late August.