History Of Tennis

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“History Of Tennis” Tennis, like many other sports, is one of those things that everyone seems to know, in the very least, the very basics of how it is played. You have a racket, with which you hit a green ball over a net. Yet, very few people seem to know its origins and history. Though not as old as some other sports, such as soccer, tennis is one of the most widely known and popular sport. Tennis was first played in the medieval ages in France. In the twelfth century, a game that was similar to handball, in which players hit a ball with their hands to each other over a net, as opposed to hitting the ball against the wall. In it's earliest forms, it was called Jeu de paume, which translates to “game of palm.” The first games were played by monks in monastery courtyards modified into playing fields. Supported by upper class patronage, tennis became a widespread activity in thirteenth century France, so much so that several unsuccessful attempts to ban the game were made. In the 1500's, English royalty began playing, beginning with Henry the V, and became more popular as Henry the VIII became an avid tennis player himself. The term tennis is derived from the French word ten nez, taken from the word tenir, which means to hold. Ten nez was shouted by the player serving the ball, and it's meaning is understood to be similar to the shouting of “Fore” in golf As the game developed and grew, the palm was replaced by a glove, and later into wooden paddles or gloves with webbing. Finally, in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, what can be called the first 'racquets,' a webbed paddle with a handle,

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