What a Name for
a Game
“Hey, how about a game of sphairistike?”
Fortunately the game survived but the name did not. Major Wingfield chose sphairistike, a Greek word meaning “ball game,” for the game he sought to patent in 1874. Much of Wingfield’s “invention” was based on a game played in 13th Century France called jeu de paume—literally “game of the palm.” This game was played indoors by hitting a ball over a net with a bare hand. The game was a popular recreation among monks in their monasteries.
Jeu de Paume evolved into a game called real tennis or royal tennis that became popular among French royalty. In the early 1500s, the French monarch, Francis I even had a royal tennis court built on his personal battleship.
Tennis Anyone?
By the time Major Wingfield introduced his
friends to sphairistike at a Christmas party,
there is evidence that similar games were
already being played in England. Major T.H.
Gem of Britain and J.B. Perera of Spain
had marked out a tennis court on a lawn
as early as 1858. But they were not the
one’s who wrote down what they had
done and sought a patent, so today it is
Wingfield who is considered the father of
the game. (Note to self: be sure to write
down all those games you’re dreaming
up.)
The name “tennis” apparently also goes back to jeu de paume. The French would yell, “Tenetz!” before they hit the ball. The word means, “Take heed.”
You’d Recognize
it If You Saw It
Major Wingfield’s game looked much
like the tennis we know today. Two or four
players with rackets (click here to learn
more about the history of the tennis racket)
played on a court that was shaped like an
hourglass—narrower in the middle at
the net and wider along the baselines. Historians
report the height of the net as being from
five to seven feet in Wingfield’s
version of the game. Today, the top of the
net is three feet high in the center of
the court. Courts now are rectangular and
measure 78 feet long and 27 feet wide for
singles play and 36 feet wide for doubles.
Click to read about the history of tennis rackets
Lawn tennis, as it soon came to be called (the name sphairistike was quickly ditched even after it was shortened to, “sticky”) spread quickly through the upper and middle class of Britain. It was a popular party game. British army officers began to take the game to other parts of the world. Mary Outerbridge learned tennis from a British officer in Bermuda. In 1874, she brought the game, including the equipment, back to the New York where her brother set up a court at the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club. Tennis had come to America.
Not Just for Fun
Anymore
Lawn Tennis was invented a social activity
but it quickly evolved into a highly competitive
game. The first United States tennis tournament
dates back to August 1876 in Nahant, Massachusetts.
Dr. James White, who owned the court, was
the winner. The first tennis championship
in England took place in 1877 sponsored
by the All England Croquet Club at a little
place called Wimbledon. In that first championship,
only men’s singles were played. Spencer
Gore won the tournament and took home the
Silver Challenge Cup and a Gold Championship
Prize worth 12 guineas (about $22). By comparison,
Roger Federer, the 2004 Wimbledon champion
won more than $1.08 million. The first recorded
women’s tournament was played in Dublin
in 1879 and won by May Langrishe. In 1884,
women began to compete at Wimbledon.
