History of Tennis

         Tennis is one of the oldest competitive sports. Tennis originated  in the late 19th Century in the United Kingdom. Rules of the game were confirmed by the year 1890 and hasn’t change much. The sport rapidly gained popularity because it was really simple, just needed a rackets and a ball, even older people were playing the game. The first players recorded in a tennis match were Augurio Perea and Harry Gem in the mid-19th century. The two players created the first tournament in Shrubland Hall and then found the Worlds First Tennis Club in 1872.

         The four main tournaments in Tennis are the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon and the US Open and are known as Grand Slam tournaments. The US Open is now called US National Men’s Singles Champion took place in Newport, Rhode Island. The first Wimbledon championships were played in London and started spreading around the world from there on. The United States Tennis Association was established on May 21, 1881 and had strong foundation for tennis to become a popular sport.

           Like other sports tennis also has had great players. Rod Laver is considered the best male tennis player of all time. Laver won all four grand slams in a single year twice and was undefeated for quite some time. Another great tennis player that is still playing today is Roger Federer ranked number several times. The other player is Rafael Nadal that has taken Federer spot once in 2008 and is making Roger Feferer life miserable because Rafael wants to be number one and be the greatest player in the World.


If you want to know more about the History of tennis click the links below:
http://tennis.about.com/od/history/a/earlyhistory.htm
http://www.athleticscholarships.net/history-of-tennis.htm
http://www.e-tennis.org/infohistoryoftennis.html