Origins
Some historians believe that tennis first originated in the Ancient Egypt. There is a general belief that the word ‘racket’ derives from the Arabic word ‘rakhat’, which means a ‘palm’. However, the most common point of view is that French monks started to play tennis in 11-12 centuries. Tennis started to develop into a professional sport from 1872, when the first lawn tennis club was established. Hoa Pereira, a Portuguese merchant, and doctors Wellesley Tomkins and Frederick Haynes played a Spanish game with the ball called ‘pelota’ on lawns of the Leamington resort. Later, the original rules for lawn tennis were secured (tennis on a lawn).
Wingfield
Although it is impossible to state a definite origin of this game, it is recognized that a British army officer Walter Clopton Wingfield invented rules for tennis, later calling it ‘lawn tennis’ in 1873. He had noticed a significant commercial potential of lawn tennis and patented the game, though he failed to justify its creation. Mr. Winfield said that he had borrowed the principles of the Greek game called “Sphairistike” (Greek for playing ball). However, many researchers believe that he just used the principles of popular English games - playing at courts, squash rackets, playing badminton outdoors. Very first tennis players preferred to call Wingfield’s game “tennis on the green”, because they would play tennis on a small, grassy lawn.
Court Tennis
Lawn tennis is also known, as ‘court tennis’ was very popular in medieval France even among the upper classes. During the same time it was also very popular in Great Britain, especially in the times of Henry VIII. Historians hold a belief that the most of tennis terms derived from the French vocabulary. In fact, the word ‘tennis’ comes from the word ‘tenez’ (‘tenir’ means to hold/ catch in French). When tennis players were going to hit a serve, they would scream out ‘tenez’. The word ‘Deuce’ came from the French word ‘deux le jeu’ that means ‘equally’ - in other words to draw a score at the present stage of the game. Calling the score 15-30-40 derived from the euphonic French words ‘quinze’, ‘trente’ and ‘quarante’, or quarters (15-30-45, where 45 was transformed into 40).
The Davis Cup

Tennis Association

20th Century
