It has been a long time since professional tennis has been affected by the development of advanced sports science. Today’s athletes are fitter, healthier, and more strong than ever before.
Roger Federer has been playing tennis into his late thirties, which shows that the average age of tennis players has also changed.
It’s not unusual for a top tennis player to travel with a group of coaches, strength and endurance trainers, a nutritionist, and even a sports psychologist with them when they go on tour. A player who has more knowledge off the court can stay at the top of their game for a longer time. This has helped to raise the level of professional tennis to its highest level ever. Due to the advancement in sports all around, people can now not only watch a tennis game but also wager on them by visiting some of the tennis betting events online anywhere at anytime.
Where It All Started: France
Most historians agree that 11th century French monks were the first to play tennis. There is very little evidence of tennis in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It was common in monasteries across the country to play a very simple form of handball against walls.
They called it jeu de paume, or “game of the hand.” According to some people, the name tennis comes from tenez, which means “take this.” This is what players used to say before they serve the ball, and it means “take this.” Historical research has shown how courtyards were used to make indoor courts.
A glove was used by tennis players because their bare hands were too painful. Finally, these gloves were upgraded to ones with webbing sewn between the fingers.
The Sport of Early-Modern Aristocracy
The French nobility took the game from the monks, and by the 13th century, it was said to be found in nearly 2,000 courts across the country. A lot of people were playing this game, so the Pope and Louis IV both tried to stop it, but they didn’t do very well.
Soon, the game of tennis spread to England, where King Henry VII and King Henry VIII were big fans of the game. They wanted more courts to be built, so more courts were built. In fact, the one that was built at Hampton Court is still in use today.
Tennis In The 20th Century
Clay, lawn, and concrete were the most common surfaces for tennis courts in the early 1900s, but other types of courts were becoming more and more common as well. Dress for tennis also made a lot of progress. Men’s clothes became more practical for running, and for women, their skirts got shorter over time from the 1920s on.
The changes that were made to the game in the early part of the century were mostly for the purpose of growing tournaments, which led to an international scene. At the first Davis Cup in 1900, there were four major tournaments. These were Wimbledon, the US Open, the Australian Open (and the French Open), and so on.
It was the Great Depression that changed the history of tennis. During this time, a lot of public works projects in the U.S. included building tennis courts all over the place. More and more people were taking up the sport, and tournaments were no longer just for members of certain clubs.
Tennis, on the other hand, was becoming more professional. This led to the International Lawn Tennis Federation, which was first called the International Lawn Tennis Federation, then without the word “lawn,” being founded in 1913. The new sport even made it to the 1924 Olympics, but it didn’t show up again for 60 years. By this point, the rules for the sport had been set in stone. The All England Club’s style of play is still the most common in the modern game.
