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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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tennis
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(also known as lawn tennis to distinguish it from *real tennis)
Game which achieved a very rapid success after being introduced in Britain in the 1870s. There had been various attempts to adapt the indoor game of real tennis to one that could be played on a lawn, and the first lawn tennis club was probably established at Leamington Spa in 1872. But it was a version patented by Major Walter Wingfield in 1874 which triggered the explosion of interest.
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He called his game Sphairistiké (from a Greek root meaning 'playing at ball'); it had a court in the shape of an hour-glass, narrower at the net, and it was first tried out at a country-house party in Wales in 1873. Two factors were of importance in its surge of popularity: many middle-class homes now had smooth lawns, thanks to the recent success of *croquet; and lawn tennis was the first energetic game which could be played respectably by both sexes. Mixed doubles were of the essence from the start.
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The crucial moment for the game was the involvement of the All-England Croquet Club at *Wimbledon, where the first championship was held in 1877 (an event which also established today's shape and size of court). Tennis then spread rapidly to the USA, where the men's championship dates from 1881 and the women's from 1887. The two most promiment international team cups were both donated by American players. Dwight F. Davis gave the Davis Cup in 1900, to be competed for by national teams of men; each contest involves four singles matches and one doubles. Hazel Wightman gave the Wightman Cup in 1923 for teams of women. Unlike the Davis Cup, it was restricted to the USA and Britain. It was discontinued in 1990 because the contests had become too uneven; the USA had won 7-0 in four of the previous five years.
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