The history of tennis can be traced back to the 12th century were French monks used to play a court game called 'Paume' were the ball was struck with the hand back and forth. To protect the hand a glove was worn rolled up by cords which evolved into an oval glove used with a pallet to extend the 'glove' outward. It was not till the end of the 19th century however that the game evolved to what now resembles modern tennis thanks to the invention of 'Sphairistike' by Major Walter Wingfield which is a Greek name for playing ball.
In the Middle Ages only the elite of Europe were able to play tennis since the scoring system was too complex and courses and instruction to be able to play tennis was far too expensive for the common people. Major Walter Wingfield's game however simplified the rules and made the game adaptable to play on a simple court of grass
Modern Rules of Tennis
The game starts with a server who delivers the ball to the receiver on the other side of the net across the court. The server has to stand on the service line and wait till the receiver is ready; the server must then serve the ball inside the receivers very own service box who has to let the ball bounce once. If the server fails twice he loses the point and has to pass the ball to the receiver who now becomes the server himself. If the server is able to score a point he wins a score of 15. This is because in tennis the scoring is done in the convention of a clock. The word love was introduced to tennis from 1742 to mean no score- from the notion of playing "for love", came the notion "playing for nothing". The second point is then 30, then 45 (or now a days also called 40) and the game is won when the score reaches love again.
If both opponents are sitting on scores of 40 it is called deuce and one side must win by a further two points. After the first game it is the receivers turn to serve. The server switches back and forth until someone wins six games. The ball can land anywhere inside the line and on the line and still be considered in play. If the ball however goes into the net or outside the boundary the player that last touched the ball with his racquet loses the point. A player can also lose a point if he touches the net, drops his racquet, if the ball touches him or the opponent, or if he deliberately tries to put off the opponent.
The Popularity of Tennis Today
Tennis is very popular in today's world and is played by people of all ages. Because of its relatively easy rules and abundance of playing areas due to its popularity in Western culture tennis players can begin playing the sport in childhood and can continue to play into adulthood. The most common physical injury due to playing tennis is muscle sprains and ligament sprains.
