From royal courts
The forerunner of tennis, known as royal or real tennis (jeu de paume), had been played in Europe since the Middle Ages, first with the palm of the hand and later with a racket. Wingfield adapted the game for grass and sold it in a box with rackets, balls and a net.
Strange scoring
Points are counted 15, 30, 40 and game. The origin is unclear; one theory points to a clock face on which the hand moved forward by a quarter of an hour. Over time 45 became 40 because it was easier to say.
The four Grand Slams
| Tournament | City | Surface |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | Melbourne | hard |
| Roland Garros | Paris | clay |
| Wimbledon | London | grass |
| US Open | New York | hard |
Slovak and Czech tennis
Czechoslovakia was a tennis powerhouse. In 2002 Slovakia won the Fed Cup, the competition for women's national teams. We write about Slovak and Czech stars in the articles Miloslav Mečíř, Daniela Hantuchová and Dominika Cibulková. How technology changed the game is covered in the article Technology in tennis.