Play Tennis Day

The common benefit of sports is exercise, bringing moments of relaxation after a stressful working time. Tennis is no exception and has its own benefits. With its own benefits and strengths, Tennis has become a favorite and very popular sport today. On the calendar, February 23 every year is National Tennis Day, which is held annually to spread the love of tennis to everyone.

Have you ever wondered where the sport of tennis came from and by who was the first player? Below will be all the knowledge about the sport of tennis that is loved by millions of people around the world.

The origin of the famous tennis

Ancient Origins

If you do your research on tennis, you will discover that ball games have been played since ancient times with the first descriptions being found on Egyptian temple inscriptions dating back to ancient times from 1500 BC. It is said that the ball game actually formed part of the religious rites of the ancient Egyptians. In the 8^th century the Moors brought this tradition to Europe.

It was Christian monks, influenced by the religious customs of the Moors, who would be the first Europeans to play the rough form of tennis. In the first version of this game, called "La Soule", the players hit the ball against each other, either with their bare hands or using sticks. The game became so popular in monasteries across Europe that the Church even contemplated banning the game.

This was the first form of the game, in which the ball was usually hit against the walls of a court, soon began to be played outside of monasteries, with it developing further in the 12th and 13th centuries. Players soon discovered that they could control the ball better with just their hands, which soon led to the creation of a leather glove. It wasn't long before gloves began to be attached to a wooden handle, thus creating the first tennis racket. The balls undergo several refinements, changing from solid wood to bran stuffed into the skin. The game quickly became very popular. And especially in France it was taken up by royalty.

The development of tennis

The tennis that we play every day today, was really grown up in France. Originally named "Jeu de paumme", or "game of the palm", it became a high fashion sport played by kings and the aristocracy, during the 16th century 17 and 18. In those days, French players would call out 'Tenez', or 'Play', at the start of the game, and it soon became known as the Royal sport.

Tennis is really different from the game played today. It used to be an indoor game, played in large galleries. Players gain points the way they play the ball out of the room walls. Another way in which batting differs from the game today is a system of chases is used. In the game played today, the ball is considered dead if it bounces twice. However, in old Tennis, the point where the ball would bounce a second time would be marked with a marker, called the chase. So in addition to playing for points, the players will compete by trying to chase their ball as close to the opponent's wall as possible. Therefore, a player who scores fewer points can actually win the match using more skill chasing.

After gaining popularity with the French nobility, tennis began to spread throughout Europe, especially popular in England. Here too, the game was quickly adopted by royalty, thus becoming known as the sport of kings. Henry VIII, a game enthusiast, had a tennis court built at Hampton Court, his palace, which is still used by fans of Tennis. However, tennis was not limited to England and France, as it soon spread to Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain. However, in the 18th century, the game was almost eliminated across Europe by the Napoleonic wars and the French revolutions.

The appearance of grass in tennis

In the 19th century, with the strong prosperity of Victoria from England, the game was revived again. Several notable states had ball courts built in their facilities along with the first appearance of tennis clubs that provided facilities for their members to be carried out. Game enthusiasts, in fact, have been trying for a long time to modify the game into an outdoor sport, eventually facilitating the introduction of vulcanized rubber. This makes it possible to create balls that are soft enough not to damage the grass, yet retain the vibrancy and elasticity of the rubber.

One factor that contributed to the game's resurgence was the simplicity and ease of the outdoor version. A flat grass surface was all that was required, and soon it became a common feature to have grass tennis courts. While Tennis is truly a sport of royalty and aristocracy, in Victorian England it was the upper classes that adopted the sport in the form of lawn tennis.

It was Arthur Balfour, a British statesman, who coined the term "lawn", and soon many other derivatives began to replace tennis court surfaces with grass, which was eventually replaced with grass concrete and clay surfaces. Soon, the tennis lawns began to be replaced with a new style of play as a summer sport.

Famous tennis tournaments

Wimbledon Championships

One of the most important developments in tennis history was the birth of the Wimbledon Championships. The tournament captured the public's imagination and before the first champions began to emerge, the first of them was William Renshaw. He won the title eight times between 1881 and 1889, being runner-up in 1887, a record that remains undefeated to this day.

In the following years, the sport became extremely popular, not only in the UK but around the world. May Sutton of America became the tournament's first international player in 1905, which was the year Wimbledon drew 71 players.

The league continued to grow with games becoming very eye-catching in the 1930s, led by British players such as Don Budge and Fred Perry and international stars such as Henri Lacoste. Photos of tournaments held in those days reveal tennis fashion that seems odd to us these days, with men wearing long pants and women playing with long skirts on top.

The Championship became not only a hub for tennis sports but also for fashion, with America's Bunny Austin shocking spectators in 1933 by stepping out onto center court in shorts. The 1930s were a boom time for Wimbledon, with the championship being broadcast for the first time on radio in 1937. It was an important event in tennis history, with the game being introduced to spectators all around the world.

However, there was an abrupt end to all this with the outbreak of World War II in 1939, which closed the championships until 1946. The sport was transformed by post-war generation, with technical improvements added to it, making it a sophisticated entertainment for the increasingly prosperous middle classes. Australian players such as Roy Emerson and Rod Laver dominated the sport in the 1960s. And with the growth of television, the game was introduced to a wider public, making the sport of tennis the sport of tennis become an international sport attracting huge amounts of money. Wimbledon was first televised in color in 1967.

US Open Tennis Championships

Everyone knows, The US Open is the richest tournament in the world because of the largest prize money. The idea of ​​creating an American tennis championship arose when the United States Tennis Association was formed in May 1881, offering to make the national championship.

The showcase competition, which took place in Newport Island, Rhode Island, had 26 players, and it was called the United States National Singles Championship. To be eligible to play in the competition, a player must be a member of the National Lawn Tennis Association of the United States. Richard Sears was the first winner of the championship, and he continued to be the reigning winner for the next six years.

Since the championship started moving around the country, with 9 event venues, it has led to the men's doubles event, split into a West and East competition. W.F. Taylor and Clarence Clark won their first doubles title in 1900.

The establishment of the "open era" in 1968, which meant that players could participate in all tournaments, led to the creation of the modern championship we are familiar with today. Five different tournaments were combined into a single US Open championship, held in New York, at the Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens. The prize money was $100,000, shared by 63 women and 96 men participating in the event. The system of additional late-game play when two teams have the same score was first adopted by the US Open, in 1970. The tournament was moved to its current court, the US National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, in 1978.

Tennis has today become a highly competitive world-class sport, attracting thousands of players and fans around the world. There is a constant program of events and tournaments going on throughout the year and the top tennis stars have become icons of the game for the new generation. A game that used to be a pastime of royalties, has become a sport that receives a huge response from everyone.

Along with the development and ups and downs of this sport. Through tournaments and upgraded to become a sport that makes everyone fall in love with it.

Observing Play Tennis Day

One of the great ways to celebrate Play Tennis Day is to get together with your friends and family, bring your tennis racquet and ball, and head to the local court. For many people who do not understand tennis as well as the rules of this tennis sport, Play Tennis Day is exactly the time for you to learn more about it. Tennis is a sport with high intensity and continuous movement. So it helps you to gain strength as well as flexibility for the body. Playing Tennis also helps you feel more relaxed and comfortable after stressful working hours. Playing tennis also helps you increase bone density to reduce the risk of bone diseases, especially in middle age. Scientists around the world have shown that regular tennis players of the same age have less bone diseases.