How old is tennis

The rules for scoring have remained almost entirely static ever since, despite some attempts to simplify it. This youngster himself may never know it. For a starter, there is the scoring system.

Today, despite the scoring system, some tennis players are super stars, hundreds of thousands attend games in person, millions avidly watch televised matches and about 18 million people play the game in the U. Contact us at letters time. By Merrill Fabry. Get our History Newsletter. Put today's news in context and see highlights from the archives. Please enter a valid email address. Please attempt to sign up again.

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By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. The History of tennis game was developed from a 12th century French handball game called "Paume" palm.

In this game the ball was struck with the hand. After some time "Paume" game produced handball "Jeu de Paume" game of the palm and there were used racquets. The game was first created by European monks for entertainment roles during ceremonial occasions. At first, the ball was hit with hands. Later, the leather glove came into existence. This leather glove was replaced with an adaptive handle for effective hitting and serving of the ball.

That was a birth of tennis racquet. Development of tennis racquet , tennis balls also underwent frequent modifications. First tennis ball was from wood. Later in the history of tennis ball was filled with cellulose material to gave way to a bouncier. Monks from all areas of Europe favored "Jeu de Paume" game during 14th century much to the chagrin of the mother Church. The game spread and evolved in Europe. He was also ranked No.

However, at times he has been in on the joke and has appeared in several commercials acting out his infamous outbursts. Kimiko Date has played professional tennis for nearly all of her adult life.

Date started playing tennis when she was in elementary school and went pro as soon as she graduated from high school in A year later, Date made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open. Although Date wanted to continue playing tennis, she was forced to retire in because her body was no longer in shape enough to keep going. Billie Jean King is a legendary tennis player who is made many advancements in the sport for women. She also successfully lobbied for equal prize money for men and women at the U.

Open in In her personal life, King was one of the first female athletes to publicly come out as a lesbian, which caused her to lose all of her endorsement deals. King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco is currently still active in the professional tennis circuit.

El Aynaoui has been playing professionally since and is still going strong. Their match is considered one of the greatest Grand Slam quarterfinals ever and at the time, it was the fifth longest set in Grand Slam history. That year, El Aynaoui reached his career high rank of No. Martina Navratilova is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time of any gender. According to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, which inducted Navratilova in , no male or female tennis player has won more singles tournaments than Navratilova , doubles events , or matches 2, That year, a month shy of her 50th birthday, Navratilova won the mixed doubles championship at the US Open, making her the oldest tennis player in history to win a major title.

In addition to being a legendary tennis player, Navratilova has been an LGBT activists since she came out in