History & origins
The story of Tennis
Modern tennis was patented as a garden game for Victorian lawn parties, then almost immediately became serious. It carried an amateur-only pretence for nearly a century before professionals were finally admitted in 1968, an event that created the sport as it is now recognised.
Milestones
11 moments that shaped the modern game.
- c. 1200
Jeu de paume
French monks played a handball game in monastery courtyards. Rackets arrived later, and the odd scoring terms and the word 'tennis' — from tenez, 'take it' — survive from this ancestor.
- 1873
Lawn tennis is patented
Major Walter Wingfield patented a portable court and equipment set, marketed for country-house lawns. The hourglass-shaped court did not last, but the game did.
- 1877
The first Wimbledon
The All England Croquet Club added lawn tennis and ran a championship for twenty-two men to help pay for a broken roller. It is the oldest tournament in the sport.
- 1884
Women compete at Wimbledon
A women's singles championship was added seven years after the men's, and Maud Watson won it in a full-length dress and a straw hat.
- 1900
The Davis Cup
A Harvard student commissioned a trophy for a team competition between nations, which grew into the largest annual international team event in sport.
- 1926
Professional tennis begins
Suzanne Lenglen turned professional for a paid American tour, and was promptly barred from the amateur championships — the split that would define the next forty years.
- 1968
The Open Era
Grand Slams admitted professionals for the first time. Prize money, world rankings and the modern tour all follow directly from this decision.
- 1973
Equal pay and the Battle of the Sexes
The US Open became the first major to pay women and men equally, and Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in front of 90 million television viewers.
- 1973
Computer rankings arrive
The ATP introduced a points-based ranking system, replacing subjective national seeding lists and creating an objective world number one.
- 2003
Electronic line calling
Ball-tracking systems were introduced for broadcast and then for officiating, ending most line-call disputes and eventually replacing line judges at many events.
- 2004
The Big Three era
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic began two decades of shared dominance, between them winning the overwhelming majority of Grand Slam titles for twenty years.