IG07 Sports

There is debate about the origins of tennis as some historians think it dates back to Egyptian times while the most common view is that it was a crude courtyard ball game invented by 11th or 12th century French monks.

The name is said to come from the French word 'Tenez!' (from the verb tenir meaning 'to take').

The game became popular as rich aristocrats modified their courtyards into indoor courts and developed gloves and then bats to hit the balls, which were made of cork wrapped in string or cloth and later, leather.

Some accounts say that by the 13th century there were as many as 1,800 indoor courts.

By 1500, a wooden frame racket laced with gut strings made from sheep's intestines was in common use - together with a cork ball weighing around three ounces.

Tennis became so popular that the Pope tried, but failed, to ban the game. It had many fans, including Henry VII and VIII who built more courts (including one of the few surviving courts, built at Hampton Court Palace in 1625).

Real Tennis

The game of 'court' or 'real' tennis is very different from the popular, global sport we know as tennis today.

In real tennis the ball is hit around a series of walls with roofed galleries. Players win points by hitting the ball into netted windows beneath the roofs. At Hampton Court, the most points are gained for hitting a wooden portrait of Henry VIII.

The court is marked with scoring lines and the net is five feet high at each end, though it droops to three feet in the middle.

The game's popularity dwindled during the turbulent 1700s but in 1850 something happened which sparked the development of modern-day tennis.

Charles Goodyear invented a process for rubber called vulcanisation which among other things made the material more bouncy.

So that meant tennis balls could be used outdoors on grass which called for an entirely new set of rules.

In London in 1874, Major Charles Wingfield patented the equipment and rules for a game which he called Sphairistiké, the Greek for 'playing at ball'.

Wingfield claimed it was based on an ancient Greek game which combined many elements of the existing indoor racket sports of badminton, court tennis and squash.
Wingfield's original court was shaped like an hourglass and shorter than the modern court.

Wimbledon

The final piece of the historical jigsaw was the intervention of the All England Club Croquet in 1877.

The club decided to hold a tennis tournament and the organising committee ditched Wingfield's odd-shaped court. They decided to use a rectangular one, similar to that used in the game of croquet which was very popular at the time.

The first champion, Spencer Gore, won a prize of 12 guineas (about £12). The club was renamed the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club (still its official title) and effectively took over development of the game.

By 1882 the committee had made many more changes to Wingfield's game by:

• lowering the net
• allowing overarm serving
• reducing the size of the service box
• introducing the 'let' rule

The rules have remained virtually the same ever since - the only major change being the introduction of the tiebreak rule in 1971.

The Rhodes Tennis Club.

In Rhodes

Islanders have participated as members of the Greek National Team and have also achieved high rankings (no. 140) in the world, as well as winning a number of International tournaments.

Three tennis clubs exist and frequently organise tournaments with the support of the National Tennis Federation.

The events, Men's Singles and Doubles, Women's Singles and Doubles and Mixed Doubles will be held at the Rhodes Tennis Club.