Jacqueline Wolfe, age 12, of Nashville, Tenn., for her question:
WHERE DID TENNIS ORIGINATE?
Tennis originated in France during the 1100s or the 1200s. The game was called "jeu de paume," which means "game of the palm." The players batted a ball back and forth over a net with the palms of their hands.
Then in England in 1873 a military man named Major Walter Clopton Wingfield became the father of modern tennis when he introduced a version of the game that closely resembles the one that we use in the modern sport of tennis.
Wingfield in 1874 patented tennis equipment and rules for playing on grass courts. He called his game "spharistrike," the Greek word for "playing ball," but the name was quickly replaced by "lawn tennis."
Some historians also give Major Harry Gem of England a lot of credit for starting the modern sport of tennis. He refined the game in the 1860s.
It wasn't long until almost everybody in England was asking the question: "Tennis, anyone?" Tennis replaced croquet as England's most popular outdoor sport. In 1877, the All England Croquet Club changed its name to the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. Also in 1877, the club sponsored the first major tennis tournament at its headquarters in Wimbledon, a suburb of London. This tournament has become the unofficial world championship for tennis.
An American sportswoman named Mary Ewing Outerbridge introduced tennis to the United States in 1874 when she purchased tennis equipment from British army officers in Bermuda. Outerbridge used the equipment to set up the first U.S. tennis court on the grounds of the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club in New York City.
The United States National Lawn Tennis Association (now the United States Tennis Association) was established in 1881.
Tennis today ranks as one of the world's most popular spectator sports as well as a favorite participant sport. Millions of people watch and play the game.
For many years, all major tennis tournaments were played on grass courts. But grass courts cost much to maintain and so nearly all of them have been replaced by other surfaces. The courts at Wimbledon, England, however, remain as lawn courts of well groomed grass.
The most popular surfaces for outdoor courts today are asphalt, clay and concrete. Most indoor courts have a carpet type surface layed over concrete or plywood. Several manufacturers have developed surfaces made of synthetic materials. Many of these surfaces can be laid on either indoor or outdoor courts. No rules govern the size and weight of tennis rackets, and so the models of various manufacturers differ slightly. But nearly all rackets measure 27 inches long. Most men choose a racket that weighs about 14 ounces. Most women select one that weighs about 13 ounces. In general, young players use rackets that weigh about nine ounces.
Almost all tennis racket frames are made of steel, wood or a metal alloy. The striking surface is a net of tightly strung catgut or nylon strings.