...............THE HISTORY OF TENNIS...............

The word "tennis" could have originated from the French "ten-ez," (to play) but there are other possibilities which date back several hundred years. The game of "jeu de paume" dating back to the 1300's and played in France was a notable precursor to the game of Lawn Tennis.

As racquet games such as badmitton or "court tennis" (a variation of squash) were becoming popular, the modern day game of tennis was officially "invented". A British Army officer, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, labeled his invention, Lawn Tennis in 1873 and filed for a patent in 1874.

It was not long after the invention of Lawn Tennis that the sport spread to the United States, both the west and east coasts. The first Wimbledon Championships occurred in 1877. Not far behind was the USA with its first United States Championships in 1881. The French Championships began in 1891 (and officially were open to all countries in 1925). The Australian Championships began in 1905.

The scoring of tennis dates back to the middle ages. The scoring goes in increments of 15, except when going from 30 to 40. No one knows for sure why these increments are used. Also somewhat of a mystery is why the term "love" is used for zero.

Rene Lacoste invented the first steel racquet. This was considered a novelty until the Wilson Sporting Goods Company came out with the T 2000 in 1967.

..taken from an article at

http://www.tennisgifts.com/info.htm