Which country is the birthplace of tennis?

History of tennis
If we do not take into account the games of the ancient Greeks and Romans, in which the ball was beaten off with a hand or a wooden stick, then we will find the first mention of a game similar to tennis in the XII - XIII centuries in Italy. The game was called "jidoko", and the ball in it was beaten off by a mitten worn on the hand, a wooden shield or a leather belt. In the XIV century, the French nobility was already fond of the so-called "playing with the palm" ("jeu de paume"), which had a great influence on the development of modern tennis. It was played in halls and outdoor venues. Over time, the ball began to hit with rackets. The game was also recognized by the British, who gave it the name "real tennis" (real tennis).

The leather balls that were played in those days were stuffed with sawdust, rags, grass, etc. They could only bounce off a hard surface. With the advent of rubber balls, playing on grass became possible. In England, in 1874, thanks to Major W. Wingfield, the so-called lawn tennis (tennis on grass) arose. Lawn tennis, and today just tennis, quickly spread throughout Europe and other continents. It is played by millions of people of all ages.

At present, it is not known for certain who invented tennis, but, according to the most common version, the founder of the game was Major Walton Wingfield. He devised a game to entertain guests at receptions at his mansion in Wales, and in 1873 published the first rules for the game. As a basis, he used the game of real tennis that has existed for several centuries, which originated in the 12th century in France, and which was popular in the circles of the French aristocracy until the time of the French Revolution.

According to historical sources, the terminology of modern tennis originated during the same time period, as Wingfield borrowed both the name and many French words from royal tennis for his game:

the name tennis (eng. tennis) comes from fr. tenez, the imperative form of the verb tenir, "to hold". It means, therefore, "hold!" With this shout, a real tennis player warned an opponent that he was about to serve;
racket (English racquet) comes from fr. raquette, which in turn comes from the Arabic rakhat, meaning "palm";
the English term deuce (exactly) comes from fr. à deux le jeu, meaning "to both is the game" (the score in the game is equal); according to another version, the word comes from fr. deux points, meaning that the player needs to win two points to win the game;
English love, used to indicate the count "0" (for example, "40-love" is equivalent to "40-0"), comes from fr. l "oeuf, "egg", implying the sign "zero" in the shape of an egg;
the counting system in games "15", "30", "40" came from fr. quinze, trente, quarante, which in French pronunciation is a consonant sequence.
Anticipating the game's commercial potential, Wingfield patented it in 1874, but failed to profit from it later. Tennis began to develop rapidly in the UK and the USA.

The entire history of tennis can be conditionally divided into two time intervals. The first part is what the game was from its inception in the 11th century until the 1870s. The second - from the 1870s to the present day, this particular segment is called "modern tennis", because. found the rules of the game, which are still used today

The most common version of the origin of tennis is the assumption that the monks began to play it back in the distant 11-12th century, in France. This game was known under the name - real tennis, court tennis or jeu de paume (French for game with the palm). The whole company could play it, like basketball, the number of players sometimes reached 12 people. Engravings and records show that when this game appeared, the ball was beaten off with a hand, and only in the 16th century did a semblance of a racket and a net appear. With the advent of these innovations, the game becomes popular with French, English and Spanish kings and nobility.

It is believed that the founder of the game was Major Walton Wingfield (according to other sources - Walter Wingfield). It was he who in 1873 published the first rules of the game. The rules of real tennis and badminton were taken as a basis. At the same time, Walton patents his game and the equipment needed for the game. And already in 1874, tennis spread to many countries: the USA and Great Britain, and, a little later, to China, India, Canada.

In 1875 the rules developed by the major were slightly changed. And already in July 1877, the first lawn tennis tournament was held in English Wimbledon (still remains the most prestigious tennis tournament held on grass), in which 22 tennis players took part. The Lawn Tennis Association, which was founded in 1888, approved just under forty rules of the game, many of which are still valid today.

The US Open (at that time it was called the US Men's National Championship) was first held in 1881, and the women's championship draw, a little later, in 1887. It is currently one of the Grand Slam tournaments.

In 1899, a student at Harvard University developed a championship scheme in which national teams from different countries take part, his name was Dwight Davis. The first such tournament took place in Brooklyn in 1900 between teams from the USA and Great Britain. Since 1945, this tournament has been renamed and bears the proud name of its creator - the Davis Cup.

The first lawn tennis competitions in Australia were held in 1879, and in 1892 the first championship was held in Germany.

As for Russia, this sport begins to develop in the late 1870s. One of the first tennis players was the famous writer Leo Tolstoy. In his residence "Yasnaya Polyana" appeared the only court at that time. The writer himself loved to wave the racket, and already in his old age, he was constantly in the forefront of the audience, watching the guests play.

It is also worth noting that another outstanding Russian writer - Anton Pavlovich Chekhov played tennis.

The next stage in the development of tennis is associated with Emperor Nicholas II. While not yet the ruler of Russia, young Nikolai became interested in this wonderful game, and after ascending the throne, tennis courts were built in all his official residences (about five). Noble people and persons close to the emperor were also carried away by this beautiful game. The first international tournament in our country was held in St. Petersburg in 1903.

Tennis was very popular and developed around the world quite quickly. It was even included in the program of the first modern Olympic Games - 1896.

An interesting fact about tennis: Tolkien's admirers owe the appearance of the novel "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again" to this wonderful game.
One day, already a respected teacher at the university, he went on the court against a freshman, deciding to show the class. But as a result of this meeting, the writer received an ankle injury, so serious that he was even bedridden for a couple of months. As a result of this forced rest, Tolkien gathers together all his notes and drafts and begins to work on the book. Several years pass and a novel about hobbits and elves is born.

Progress does not stand still, and with it, tennis is constantly developing, the rules of the game, the clothes of athletes, the materials for making strings, rackets and balls are changing. It is impossible to imagine, but until the end of the 1960s, rackets were made from wood. Only in 1967 they were replaced by steel rackets, which, in turn, gave way to aluminum rackets. The first racket from this material was invented and put into production by Howard Head, the founder of such tennis giants as Head and Prince. He is also considered the first to propose making rackets with a head size of more than 670 sq cm - "OverSize". And only relatively recently, in 1972, the tennis ball became exactly like that - green, which we still play with.

Whether you're an amateur, a pro, or just watching tournaments on TV, you'll want to know the history of tennis.

Tennis has been known in Europe for over seven hundred years!

Tennis owes its birth to the "mother" of England. In the role of the “father”, retired Major Walter Wingfield (Walter Clopton Wingfield, 1833-1912), who developed the “exemplary court for playing tennis” (patent No. But even earlier, in December 1873, he published the first brochure "Sferistics, or Lawn Tennis" - a set of precise rules that contributed to the spread of tennis in other countries and its transformation, (over time) from entertainment, into an international sport.

Why "spheristics"? At that time, it was customary among gentlemen to use Greek words, and "spheristics" means in Greek "playing with a ball." Although the major laid the foundation for a new time count of tennis, this game has its roots in the distant Middle Ages. Certainly, it originated in France, where it was known under the name "jeu de paume" (playing with the palm). The players hit the ball first with their palm, and with the back side too.

Valerius Maximus, a Roman writer of the time of the emperor Tiberius, in his book The Instruction of the Prince, drew the first illustrations depicting a ball game.

Then they began to wrap the hand with a leather bandage, which was replaced by a glove. By the middle of the 14th century, players had the first bits similar to those now used in cricket (the English version of baseball). Rackets with strings appeared in the middle of the 16th century. The name "racquet" could come from the Arabic word rohat (palm of the hand) or from the Latin reticulum (grid).

The most probable version of the origin of the word "tennis" is based on the fact that in France the players, before putting the ball into play, exclaimed: "Tennes!" - "Hold it! Accept!"

The first mention of the ball game can be found in church manuscripts of the 12th century. One of the very first in Europe was a court built in Valencia in 1285. Today, only the name of the street reminds of him - "Street of the Gentlemen of the Tennis Court."

Tennis has always been urban fun. It was played, as a rule, in squares, on pavements paved with stones, blocking narrow streets with a ribbon or rope, which at the beginning was stretched quite high, at the level of 2x-2.5 meters. Over time, she sank lower.

Mobile energetic game has always gathered the audience, onlookers, among whom the first fans appeared. But over time, the city authorities began to ban these games, because they disrupted traffic in the city, were accompanied by noise, screams, and broken windows.

So tennis players became troublemakers, they were fined as much as three pounds or imprisoned for a month.

Tennis was forced to go outside the city and take refuge under the roofs of houses and monasteries. The first indoor tennis courts with a gallery for the king or his retinue appeared in the 15th century.

According to the testimony of the Venetian ambassador to France, in Paris at the end of the 16th century there were about one thousand eight hundred (!) Indoor courts. Here is the proof of Sir Robert Dallington, who visited France in 1598: “The whole country is literally covered with courts. There are far more of them than churches. It seems that the French are born with a racket in their hand. They are devoid of any moderation in their passion. You can see them playing tennis in the heat of the day, when most normal people don't think about going outside."

Having ceased to be a folk pastime, tennis turned into the entertainment of kings and aristocrats, and many played really well. Charles V, for example, built two courts, one of them in the Louvre. Louis XI and Louis XII were fond of tennis.

Under King Francois I, a court was built in Fontainebleau. The system of education of Louis XIII, who came to the throne at the age of nine, included tennis.

Louis XIV did not stand aside, who built in 1682. court at Versailles. English kings also built courts in London and other cities, catching up with France in popularity of the game. This game was brought from France by the knights of King Alexander III of Scotland.

After the French Revolution, many courts were closed or turned into warehouses. From that moment on, the leadership in tennis goes to the British.

Many documents testify to the popularity of tennis in England. An account for tennis balls has been preserved, which in 1454. Robert Took paid: 4 pounds, at that time, was a huge amount. For comparison: a construction worker received about 8 pounds a year. The list of goods exported to London includes balls worth £1,699.

Among the English kings, tennis occupied the second place, after hunting, among sports entertainments. King Henry II was a fan of the game.

Mentions of tennis can be found in Shakespeare's comedy "Much Ado About Nothing", in the play "Pericles", in the tragedy "Henry IV", in "Hamlet".

Popularity grew by leaps and bounds, and at the beginning of the 19th century in England they were waving rackets in full swing.

By the 18th century, the profession of "master of tennis" in Europe was hereditary and passed down from generation to generation. For example, one of these surnames is Barcelona. The elder Joseph (1729-1790) was a royal player under Louis XIV.

Joseph's brother Jean, like his son Jean-Pierre Agricole, were masters and owned a court in Grenoble. Then there was Pierre Barcellon, who published the book Rules and Principles of Tennis. Another representative of this genus, also Joseph Barcellon, received the nickname "Englishman", because. often visited England and played there on the royal courts. In 1802 he won a match against the English champion Philip Cox. Joseph continued to play until the age of eighty.

"Masters of Tennis" were not only the keepers of the courts, but also professional players. They acted as instructors, entertaining the king. Under Louis XIII, such a professional was Pierre Gentil, who received a rather high salary - 500 francs a year.

Another famous French tennis dynasty is the Masson family. Pierre Masson owned four courts in the middle of the 18th century. His son Raymond often performed before Louis XV at Fontainebleau.

Although tennis was played mainly by men, the entrance to the court was also open to women. Among them was the girl Margo, who defeated many men. A famous professional was Jacques Edmond Barret (1802-1873). He defeated all rivals on the French court for twenty years. In 1855 he retired from the king in 1200 francs, but continued to play until the end of his life.

A few years remained before the official registration of tennis. On the way to the goal was first Major Harry Gem, who in 1858 marked out a tennis court on the lawn, and became president of the first purely tennis club in the country in 1872. But then another major said his weighty word - Walter Wingfield, already known to us, who during For several years, independently of Gem, he created a game on the lawn more lively and commercially profitable. He experimented with the height of the net, the size and shape of the court, the size and weight of the racket and balls, until he finally came up with the final version. A new game has appeared - spheristics. The patent cost the inventor 25 British pounds.

The major easily "won back" this amount by selling for five guineas a standard set of tennis games: four rackets, six balls, a net and posts. Things have clearly gone, because. within a year, among the buyers were: eleven princes, seven dukes, seventeen marquises, sixty earls, one hundred and five viscounts, forty-one barons and other members of high society.

The first rules of the game were laid down in Pierre Barcelonan's book Principles and Rules of the Game, published in Paris in 1800. The rules of the game, introduced in 1875. London's Marylebone Cricket Club, with some changes and additions, are still in effect today.

In 1869 The All England Croquet Club was founded. Six years later, one of its members, Henry Jones, introduced the club to the game of tennis, which quickly became popular, and in 1877. the club was renamed the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, today known to us as Wimbledon. The first tennis championship was held at Wimbledon in 1877. (22 participants and 200 spectators). The winner was Spencer Gore.

In 1881 in Baden-Baden, the first German tennis club appeared, and in 1829. the first international championship was held there.

At first, tennis was a game of aristocrats, and only in the 20s of our century, when the best athletes - the American Bill Tilden, the French "musketeers" - Lacoste, Cochet, Brugnon, Borotra and his countrywoman Suzanne Lengren - attracted thousands of spectators to the stands, to this ordinary people began to join the sport. S. Lengren marked the beginning of professional tennis.

From 1896 to 1924, tennis was an Olympic sport, and only in 1988, at the Olympic Games in Seoul (South Korea), after a long break, did it become it again.

April 22, 1968 in the south of England in the town of Bournemouth, the amateur tennis championship was held, to which professionals were admitted for the first time, and it began to be called "open".

The first Italian club appeared in 1878. in the resort of Bordighera, and the first national championship was held in 1895.

In the Netherlands, the first club was founded in Haarlem in 1882. The first clubs were founded in 1889. in Portugal and in 1890. in Belgium. In the Czech Republic, a tennis club appeared in 1893, and in Bulgaria - in 1896.

In Poland in Warsaw in 1896. the first tournament was held. In Spain, the first tennis lawn club was founded in Barcelona in 1899, despite the fact that in the Middle Ages it was already known under the names "long pom", "kurt pom", "pilotta".



Tennis If you were looking for an article about ping pong, then it is called Table tennis.

Inventory

Court

Tennis is played on a rectangular court with a flat surface and marked markings - a court.

There are different types of tennis court surfaces: grass, clay, hard, or synthetic carpet (artificial grass, acrylic surfaces). The type of surface affects the bounce of the ball and the dynamics of the movement of players, so the strategies for playing on courts with different surfaces can vary dramatically. At the same time, there is no one preferred surface, and even the most prestigious professional tournaments are held on different types of courts.

Strings for tennis rackets are artificial (nylon, polyester, kevlar) and natural (made from bull sinew). Previously, natural strings were considered to have the best playing characteristics, but modern artificial strings have been compared in performance to natural strings. In addition, natural strings are more expensive, susceptible to moisture, less durable, and require delicate care. The strings are stretched on special machines, sometimes by hand. The tension force of horizontal and vertical strings is usually different, and horizontal strings are pulled by 2 kg less. The standard tension on the new rackets is 26 to 24 kg. The tighter the string tension, the easier it is to control the ball on impact, but the force of impact is less. The weaker the stretch, the easier it is to disperse the ball, but the control is worse. Thin strings tend to be taut with less force, their use improves ball control, but they are less durable. In many ways, the quality of a string depends on its structure.

Ball

For the game, a hollow rubber ball is used, covered with felt, painted in a bright color, with a closed line of a characteristic shape applied. Pressure balls are the most common, but there are non-pressure balls made from harder rubber for better rebound.

Rules of the game

Players (teams) are on different sides of the grid. One of them is server and puts the ball into play, produces filing. Second player - receiving feed. The task of the players is to direct the ball with the blows of the racket to the side of the opponent, while hitting the ball into the boundaries of the court. The player must have time to hit the ball in turn before it has touched the court more than once. It is also possible to hit the ball without waiting for it to fall on the court - to play from the fly. The player who makes the mistake loses the rally and his opponent scores a point.

Players need to collect points to win games(4 balls: 15-30-40 (exactly)-game, but not less than a difference of 2 balls). The player who wins 6 games first (provided that his opponent won no more than 4 games) is considered to have won the "set". After the score in the set is 5:5, to win the set, you need to win two games in a row. If a set is played with a “tie-break” (up to 7 goals are played, but not less than a difference of two goals), it is assigned when the score in the set is 6:6. For the win match you need to win 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 5 sets. As soon as one of the players reaches the required number of won sets, the match ends.

In official matches there is always a referee, who sits on a raised platform for a better view of the court - tower, so it is called referee on high. The referee has the absolute right to make decisions, and it is considered bad form in tennis to challenge them. The umpire can be assisted line judges, which determine whether the ball has landed within the court.

Since the 2006 season, the WTA and ATP tournaments began to officially use the system electronic refereeing. Such systems make it possible to determine the point of impact of the ball with high accuracy and thereby reduce the number of referee errors and disputes.

Tournaments

Tennis tournaments are usually divided into men's and women's. A predetermined number of players can participate in each tournament. The most common competitions are singles for men and women, doubles for men and women (teams of two players of the same sex participate), mixed doubles (teams of players of both sexes). Tournaments for a certain age group are often held: children's, youth, veterans' tournaments. There are also tournaments for the disabled.

The largest and most representative tournaments are held as part of the ATP tour for men and the WTA tour for women. The winners and participants of tournaments receive prize money, as well as points, on the basis of which the world rankings for men (ATP ranking) and women (WTA ranking) are built.

The most prestigious tournaments are the Grand Slams, which include the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

Tournaments are also held among national teams among men - the Davis Cup, among women - the Federation Cup and among mixed teams - the Hopman Cup. These competitions are held under the auspices of the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

The largest tournament hosted in Russia is the Kremlin Cup.

Wiktionary has an article "tennis "

Links

• News from the world of tennis (Russian)
• ATP tour official website (English)
• WTA tour official website (English)
• Official website of the ITF (English)
• World Tennis News (Russian)
• Tennis Federation of Ukraine (ukr.)
• Tennis in the Encyclopedia "Krugosvet" (Russian)

Literature

• Patrick McEnroe, Peter Bobo Tennis for Dummies = Tennis For Dummies. - M.: "Williams", 2007. - S. 288. - ISBN 0-7645-5087-X

Metzler P. Tennis / Per. from English. V. Vashedchenko, Yu. Yasneva. - M .: Agency "FAIR", 1997. - 336 p., ill.

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Synonyms:

See what "Big Tennis" is in other dictionaries:

Tennis, lawn tennis Dictionary of Russian synonyms. tennis n., number of synonyms: 2 lawn tennis (2) ... Synonym dictionary

Tennis- (tennis lawn), playing ball with a racket. Usually in B.t. play on outdoor courts, but indoor courts are becoming more and more popular. The size of the court is 24 x 8 m for a single game, and for a doubles it is wider in both directions by two tram lines. ... ... Peoples and cultures

Tennis (colloquial); lawn tennis (outdated) Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z. E. Alexandrova. 2011. tennis n., number of synonyms: 7 ... Synonym dictionary

Wimbledon. Court number 18 ... Wikipedia

Moscow ... Wikipedia

- (Tonnies) Ferdinand (1855 1936) German. sociologist, one of the founders of sociology. science in Germany. In 1881 he defended Dr. dis. in philosophy at the University of Kiel; he worked here until 1933 (from 1909 TENNIS extraordinary prof., from 1913 ordinary ... ... Encyclopedia of cultural studies

An old English game of throwing balls over a net; since 1873 it has been changed and is now in great use under the name lawn tennis. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. TENNIS, see ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

The history of tennis and the development of tennis in Russia.

Tennis is one of the favorite sports of people from different countries, is an exciting spectacle and becomes even more popular from year to year.

Tennis opened to the world such names and surnames as:
Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Jimmy Connors, Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Marat Safin, Maria Sharapova, and many other names that are known all over the world not only won titles and championships, but also strong will and desire to win, diligence, steel character.

Tennis has its own history, which consists of confirmed data, officially recorded, and various assumptions.

There is a version according to which this game appeared in Egypt about 2500 years ago; another version suggests the beginning of the history of this sport since ancient times, (in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome). It was a game with a small ball, which, with the help of a palm (which gloves were put on a little later) or special devices, the players interrupted through the net.

The first materials about tennis could be read in Italian writings of the 12th-13th centuries. Tennis was named after the Italian word jidoko. The game used a cork ball, which was sheathed in leather. This ball bounced off the floor very badly, so the games were played in halls specially built for this purpose with a stone floor.

According to other versions, tennis appeared in the 14th century in France and was called “jeu de paume”, which means “playing with the palm of your hand”, and the literal translation from French sounds like “Here you are! Play!". The game was very popular among the French nobility, the clergy.

Tennis terms are practically all of French origin. When tennis players were ready to serve the ball, they shouted "tenez!" (to hold, to catch), and our modern counting (15-30-40) comes from the French “quinze”, “trente” and “quarante”, on the other hand from quarters of an hour, only “45” was remade into “40 ".

The game gradually became popular, and at the end of the 15th century, King Louis XI of France issued a decree on the production of special balls for games. The first balls were made of sheepskin, stuffed with sawdust or sand. A little later, a new rubber ball was invented that had a high rebound, so tennis was moved from the premises to the lawn. An interesting fact in the history of tennis is that tennis was not only a favorite pastime of men. So, in the written sources of 1427, there is information about a certain Margo, whose ball-handling power was equal to that of a man.

Tennis lovers also appeared in England. King Henry VIII loved this game. True, he preferred not to serve the ball himself, but to use the services of his servants for these purposes.

Gradually, the game acquired a modern look: the balls began to be beaten with rackets. The British gave the name to the game - "real tennis" or "real tennis".

In the history of tennis, 1859 is known for the first university competitions in Great Britain, and the first amateur championship was held in 1877 among men at Wimbledon, the courts of the General English Tennis and Cricket Club. Only seven years later, women began to play on these courts.

The kind of game that is known in the modern world was proposed by British Army officer Walter Wingfield in 1873.

In the same year, his brochure with the rules of the game "Sferistics, or Lawn Tennis" was published. Spheristics is the art of playing ball in Greek. Lawn tennis (English) - tennis on the lawn. The word "tennis" comes from the French "tenez" - take it, take it! Racket (English racquet) comes from fr. raquette, which in turn comes from the Arabic rakhat, meaning "palm"; the English term deuce (exactly) comes from fr. deux le jeu, meaning "to both is the game" (the score in the game is equal); according to another version, the word comes from fr. deux points, meaning that the player needs to win two points to win the game; English love, used to indicate the count "0" (for example, "40-love" is equivalent to "40-0"), comes from fr. l "oeuf, "egg", implying the sign "zero" in the shape of an egg; the counting system in the games "15", "30", "40" comes from the French quinze, trente, quarante, which in French pronunciation represents a sequence.

And on February 23, 1874, Walter Wingfield received a patent for a rectangular court, but he could not get any benefit from this later. The new rules contained a number of differences. At first, the court was shaped like an hourglass, tapering towards the net, and the net was stretched at a height of 1.5 meters. A specific place was intended for serving within the court (and not on the back line), and to win the game it was necessary to score 15 points, and only the person serving could score a point.

Tennis began to develop rapidly in the UK and the USA.

The modern account system appeared because of the love to play for money. Since the 60-number system was common in those days, the count was kept in multiples: 15, 30, 45, 60. 60 small coins can be exchanged for a large one, for example, 1 crown = 60 pence or 1 pound sterling (sovereign) = 60 groats = 4 crowns = 20 shillings. To participate in the first tournaments, the players handed over to the general fund in pounds sterling.

Since that time, tennis has become one of my favorite sports. The rules of the game were gradually changed and supplemented, the athletes used a new technique of strikes.

Initially, the game was played from the back line, so the ball acquired the bottom rotation. Only since the 20s of the XX century began to play on the territory of the entire court.

Beginning in the 1920s, tennis players began to receive money for their performances, and amateur and professional tournaments were strictly separated. A professional player was not allowed to play in amateur tournaments. In 1968, the International Tennis Federation approved the equal rights of tennis players. Since that time, all players had the right to play in any tournaments, and the best tennis players provided themselves with performance in competitions.

The emergence of tournaments

In the 20th century 4 major tournaments appeared in the history of tennis - Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open and the Australian Open, they became the most prestigious in tennis. Later they had one name - "Grand Slam tournaments", a term borrowed from the card game bridge. Winning these tournaments is the goal of any professional tennis player.

As already mentioned, in July 1877 in Wimbledon, London, the first lawn tennis tournament was held, organized by the General English Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. Participants had to pay an entry fee, the tournament was open to everyone, the winner received a gold prize, and the finalist received a silver one. In 1888, the Lawn Tennis Association was founded, which established 43 rules of the game, many of which are still valid today.

Since 1891, the French Open has been held in France, also known as Roland Garros - one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, now held in Paris (France) on the courts of the local Roland Garros tennis complex. The playing surface is one of the modifications of the clay court.

The tournament was first held in 1891 in one day. Only French tennis players, as well as members of French tennis clubs, could take part in it. The first winner in the club was the Englishman H. Briggs. The first winner of the women's tournament was in 1897 Francoise Masson. The tournament was not very popular in the early years due to the status of the national competition - the best tennis players in the world could not take part in it. The situation changed when the championship was given international status in 1925.

In 1881, the US National Lawn Tennis Association was formed, now called the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The purpose of its creation was to streamline the rules of competitions and conduct tournaments. The U.S. Men's National Championship, now called the U.S. Open, was first held in 1881 in Newport, Rhode Island. The corresponding women's tournament, the U.S. Women's National Championship, was first held in 1887.

In 1899, four students at Harvard University came up with the idea of ​​holding a tennis tournament in which national teams participate. One of them, Dwight Davis, developed a scheme for holding the tournament and bought a prize for the winner - a silver cup with his own money. The first tournament was held in Brooklyn, pc. Massachusetts in 1900, and the teams of the USA and Great Britain took part in it. D. Davis played in the US team, which unexpectedly won, winning the first three matches. Since then, the tournament has been held almost every year, and after the death of D. Davis in 1945, it was called the Davis Cup and is now a popular annual event in the tennis world.

The Australian Open is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments currently held in the Australian city of Melbourne on the courts of the local sports complex Melbourne Park. The tournament was first held in Melbourne in 1905 and was called the Australasian Championship. 17 athletes took part in it, and 5 thousand spectators attended the final match. In 1927, the tournament was renamed the Australian Championships. In 1969, it became open to professionals and received its current name.

Only two male tennis players in history have completed a Grand Slam in a single season, the first being Don Budge in 1938, and the only one to win every major tournament in the Open Era was Rod Laver (he collected a Grand Slam in 1969 and before that in 1962).

However, there is such a thing as a "career Grand Slam" - winning all four major tournaments during a tennis career. Only seven tennis players have been able to assemble a Grand Slam in their careers. These seven of the best tennis players in history are presented in the ranking, which is compiled by the number of tournaments won in men's singles.

7th place: Don Budge / - American tennis player of Scottish origin, the first ever holder of a calendar Grand Slam, which he won in 1938. Budge has won 6 Grand Slams in total.

6th place: Fred Perry / - English tennis player who won 8 Grand Slam tournaments.

5th place: Andre Agassi / - American tennis player of Armenian-Iranian origin, the first of the men who collected the career Golden Slam, i.e. who managed to win not only all the Grand Slam tournaments, but also became the Olympic champion in tennis (Agassi won at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996). Agassi has won 8 Grand Slams. In total, Agassi won 60 tournaments during his career.

4th place: Rod Laver is an Australian tennis player who has won 11 Grand Slam tournaments. Rod Laver is the only tennis player in history to win two calendar Grand Slams (in 1962 and 1969).

3rd place: Roy Emerson / - Australian tennis player who has won 12 Grand Slam tournaments. Emerson still holds the record for the most Australian Open titles won by a man.

2nd place: Rafael Nadal / Rafael - Spanish tennis player who won 14 Grand Slam tournaments. Nadal holds the record for most men's French Open wins. In addition, Nadal is the second tennis player in history (after Andre Agassi) to collect a career Golden Slam (Nadal won the Beijing Olympic tennis tournament in 2008). In total, Nadal won 66 tournaments.

1st place: Roger Federer / - Swiss tennis player who has won a record number of Grand Slam tournaments - seventeen: 7 times Wimbledon (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012), 5 times US Open (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008), 4 times Australian Open (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010) and once Roland Garros. In total, Federer has won 76 tournaments and is the absolute record holder for the number of prize money earned - more than $ 73 million.

History of tennis in Russia.

The game of tennis in Russia has been known for a long time, but it became widespread as a separate sport at the end of the 19th century. The development of tennis in Russia took place in the 1870s thanks to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (younger brother of Nicholas II). In the diary of the Grand Duke of 1875 there is an entry: "We play tennis on grass for training with brothers ...". Through the efforts of Sergei Nikolaevich, the first tennis clubs appeared in St. Petersburg. Tennis quickly became a popular pastime.

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His elder brother Nicholas II also fell in love with the game of tennis and often went to the court himself.

Domestic tennis has its own historical date - August 18, 1878. It was proclaimed the "Manifesto for the all-round development of lawn tennis in Russia", adopted by a group of people, which included tennis fans from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kharkov and Riga. It was headed by the then-famous writer and historian Dmitry Solovyov. The group also found support in the family of Count Leo Tolstoy, next to whose house in Yasnaya Polyana a tennis court was built. At a time when the game was just conquering the world, the heroes of his novels were already playing tennis. The first lawn tennis club in Russia appeared in the summer cottage Lakhta near St. Petersburg in 1888. Tennis in Russia has quickly become one of the favorite pastimes of many famous personalities. The writer Vladimir Nabokov and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin played tennis.

In 1913 Russia joined the International Lawn Tennis Federation. Wooden tennis courts were built in many estates and estates. The wooden flooring of the court was laid directly on the green lawn. At first, only foreigners who had their own plants, factories and banks in Russia played tennis, but very quickly tennis became a favorite game of domestic magnates. The number of sports societies and clubs increased every day.

According to Panin-Kolomenkin, “in order to get into the club, one had to receive recommendations from two of its members and pass a ballot at a general meeting. The candidate was not asked about his political beliefs, but he had to belong to the circle of so-called "decent people".

In 1898 there were 9 tennis clubs in Russia, and in 1914 there were already 48 clubs.

The production of tennis equipment in Russia was started by two peasant brothers Maxim and Mikhail Tsygankov. Mikhail and Maxim Tsygankov did not have special technology and tools; only ingenuity and sleight of hand helped them out. They steamed the first bars for bending the rim in a samovar. The quality of the first rackets left much to be desired, and Maxim Matveyevich decided to make a trip to England, where he hoped to learn from the experience of making rackets. But the British did not want to share the secrets of craftsmanship. Quite by accident, one of the brothers found out that when the strings are stretched, a typewriter is placed in the middle of the rim. After some time, Mikhail Matveyevich invented and designed a machine for stretching strings on a rim. Now Russian-made rackets were in no way inferior to foreign ones, but Russian rich people were in no hurry to acquire them. The Tsygankov brothers had to revise their technology once again, but their work was not in vain. Soon all of Russia began to play with Maxim rackets.

The first international tournament in Russia took place in 1903 in St. Petersburg. At the same time, this tournament was the first championship in St. Petersburg. The tournament was held in men's singles and doubles with the participation of 15 Russian and three foreign tennis players, who won in both categories. In 1908, the All-Russian Union of Lawn Tennis Clubs was founded, the main governing body of Russian tennis until 1918.

All-Russian tennis competitions began in 190. Ladies also became interested in the popular game, they said that tennis allows you to "save the waist." In 1909, the first women's tennis tournament took place. The first champions of Russia were Nadezhda Martynova and Georgy Brey.

Prince Felix Yusupov received the glory of "the uncrowned first racket of the empire". In 1913, the prince played tennis with Nicholas II, who noted that Yusupov "has a lot to learn."

High sports achievements in competitions were shown by the nephew of Prince Yusupov - Mikhail Sumarokov-Elston. He became an 8-time champion of Russia. Participated in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, but lost. The world victory went to the athlete after years in exile, in 1921 he won the open championship of Nice.

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After the revolution of 1917, "bourgeois sport" was persecuted, tennis clubs were closed, property was stolen "for the good of the people." Many tennis players who did not have time to leave Russia had to leave their favorite business. Tragic was the fate of the chairman of the Russian Tennis Committee - McPherson, who was arrested and died in prison.

Main dates of Russian tennis

1918 - The first Moscow tennis championship was held, in which tennis players from 11 clubs took part.

1956 - The USSR Tennis Federation was formed and admitted to the International Tennis Federation. Since 1956, international tennis tournaments have been regularly held in the USSR - a traditional winter international tournament on indoor courts, and since 1957 - an international summer tournament.

1958 - Soviet athletes took part in official international tournaments for the first time. Anna Dmitrieva and Andrey Potanin competed in the open championships of Kent, London and in the Wimbledon junior tournament. Dmitrieva took 2nd place at the Beckham tournament and became the second at Wimbledon. Potanin became the finalist of the Beckham tournament and reached the quarterfinals of the junior tournament at Wimbledon.

1962 - in the State Central Order of Lenin, the Institute of Physical Culture, a tennis department was opened, where they began to train specialists.

1999 - Yevgeny Kafelnikov was the first Russian tennis player to take 1st place in the world singles ranking.

2000 - for the first time a Russian tennis player became the Olympic tennis champion - Yevgeny Kafelnikov won the Olympic tournament in Sydney.

2000 - Marat Safin won the US Open.

2002 - the Russian team won the Davis Cup for the first time. In the final, the team led by Shamil Tarpishchev defeated the French team.

2004 - Anastasia Myskina won the Roland Garros final against compatriot Elena Dementieva. For the first time, two representatives of Russia played in the Grand Slam final.

2004 Maria Sharapova was the first Russian tennis player to win the Wimbledon singles tournament.

2004 - Svetlana Kuznetsova became the winner of the US Open in singles.

2004 - the Russian women's team for the first time became the owner of the Federation Cup. In Moscow, the Tarpishchev team won against the French team.

2004 - for the first time the International Tennis Federation named a Russian woman the world champion among professional tennis players - Anastasia Myskina became her.

2005 - Maria Sharapova was the first Russian woman to rise to the 1st step of the world ranking in singles.

2005 - the Russian team won the Federation Cup again. On the courts of Roland Garros, the Russians beat the French team for the second time in a row.

2006 - The Russian men's team in the Moscow final of the Davis Cup won against Argentina and won the unofficial world team championship for the second time.

2007 - 100 years after the first Russian Championship, the jubilee Russian Championship took place in Vsevolozhsk, a suburb of St. Petersburg. The champions were: among men - Mikhail Elgin (St. Petersburg), among women - Anastasia Pivovarova (Moscow).

2007 - the Russian women's team won the Federation Cup for the third time in the last four years (Moscow, ISA Luzhniki).