The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to … See more

Tennis is mentioned in literature as far back as the Middle Ages. In The Second Shepherds' Play (c. 1500) shepherds gave three gifts, including … See more

Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of real tennis:
• Tennis comes from the French tenez, the formal imperative form of the verb tenir, to hold, meaning "hold!", "receive!" or "take!", an interjection used … See more

The Open Era began in 1968 when Grand Slam tournaments agreed to allow professional players to compete with amateurs. Before 1968, only amateurs were allowed to compete in Grand Slam tournaments and other events organized or sanctioned by … See more

The word tennis came into use in English in the mid-14th century from French, via the Anglo-Norman term Tenez, which can be translated as … See more

The lawyer and memoirist William Hickey recalled that in 1767 "in the summer we had another club, which met at the Red House in Battersea fields, nearly opposite Ranelagh.... The game we played was an invention of our own, and called field tennis, which … See more

Amateur tournaments
The Four Majors
The four majors or Grand Slam tournaments, the four biggest competitions on the tennis circuit, are See more