Many forms of tennis have been played throughout history, but today’s form of tennis dates back to the 1800’s in England. Tennis was a forgotten sport for many years because no one could afford courts due to a poor English economy. The prosperity that came with the Victorian Era changed that. With a recovering, economy many courts were built at upper class houses and the first tennis clubs sprung up around England, especially London.

This picture shows a court at a noble's home in England in the 1800's.

Early courts were grass that was cut very short because the material used today was not created yet. The balls they were using created a problem. They were too hard for the grass and excessively damage the ground when they bounced. This enabled the production of balls that were soft enough not to damage the grass, but which still retained the elasticity and liveliness of rubber.

This court is just a back yard with normal grass and lines painted on the lawn.

The first racquets were first patented by Major Walter C. Wingfield in 1874. They were very similar to the wooden racquets of the 1970’s. They were made out of wood, with a pretty small face compared to today’s racquets. A huge problem came with these racquets was their weight. They usually weighed around 13-14 ounces which lowered accuracy but gave the player more power. Players that wished to have more accuracy made their own racquets which were much lighter than the patented ones. As time progressed, so did tennis technology and the racquets got much better and easier to use.

These badminton racquets are similar to what very early racquets looked like.	This is what some of the racquets of the early to mid 1900's looked like.

The rules of modern tennis are essentially the same as they were when Major Walter C. Wingfield published the first official rules. The only changes came with new technology such as Shot Spot. Shot Spot is a computer used to create an exact image of where a ball bounces. If a player feels a call was incorrect, they can ask for a Shot Spot review. They only get a certain amount of challenges per match. If the model shows the call was incorrect, it is immediately reversed and play continues.


This is an example of a Shot Spot review.