Origins Of Tennis Essay, Research Paper

Historians trace the origins of tennis back to the Stone Age, when humans first used clubs to hit rocks back and forth over barricades of dirt and stone. The next sign of tennis development was in the form of handball played in ancient world of Greece, Rome, and Egypt. However, these Herculean atheletes did not have a name for this pastime. It was left up to the French in medieval times to designate a proper name for the ever-proper sport. Still using their hands to bat the ball, they referred to it as jeude paume. Translated literallly, it means game of the palm. Thus, tennis was born. Tennis racquets began to change to keep up with the changes of the game. By the early 1500’s, all-wood models, more like paddles, evolved to a newer version with a wooden handle and the head strung with sheep gut. According to Lorimer the court of early tennis games was slightly larger than that one used today.