Origins of Tennis

Ireland has a glorious place (or footnote) in the history of tennis. John Pius Boland, Irishman, was the first Olympic tennis champion, in 1896.

From the Appletree Press title A Little History of Tennis by John Crace

Among the many inventions of the Victorian era were the lawn mower, the garden roller, and the rubber ball, and it was these, as much as the inspiration of Walter Wingfield, a retired army officer, who introduced the game of Sphairistike to the gardens of England’s leisured classes, that marked the birth of the modern game of lawn tennis in 1874. But the ancient game of tennis - or jeu de paume as it was known, to which lawn tennis is closely related, dates back to the twelfth century, and its history is interwoven with the social fabric of medieval Europe.

It is not certain whether jeu de paume originated in France or Italy, but, as its name suggests, it was in France where the game achieved its greatest popularity. In the early days the game was played by hitting the ball with the palm of the hand; some time later a glove was developed to protect the hand, but it wasn’t until the 15th century that the first, primitive rackets came into use. [In some respects, this is the same as the Irish sport of handball]

Almost from the very beginning, jeu de paume existed in two formats - longue paume and courte paume, the former being played on a specially prepared open space, and the latter in an area enclosed by walls. Neither were played with any net or line markings, but unsurprisingly, given the space requirements, its was courte paume that took off in the towns and cities. The earliest enthusiasts appear to have been ecclesiastical students playing against the cloister walls, but, because of the cost of hiring a wall space was unaffordable to most people, within a comparatively short period of time courte paume had become identified as the game of royalty and the aristocracy. The first monarch known to have played courte paume was Louis X (1314-16) of France who died after catching a chill while cooling off from a particularly energetic game.

Jeu de paume crossed the channel to Great Britain sometime in the mid-14th century, where it quickly became known as tennis. There has been much speculation as to how the game came to be so-called: the most likely explanation is that players used to call out ‘tenez’ (hold) before serving. Tennis soon gained the same popularity as it had in France, such that by 1365 it was felt necessary to pass laws prohibiting such ‘vain games’ in order to promote more war-like pursuits, such as archery. Not that these laws applied to the King himself, mind. If we are to believe William Shakespeare then Henry V (1413-22) was more than well-acquainted with the game, for when the French Dauphin sent him some tennis balls as a present, Henry replies:

‘When we have matched our rackets to these balls, We will, in France, by God’s grace, play a set.’

The 16th century was tennis’ golden age. Henry VII (14865-1509) was a frequent player, as was his son Henry VIII (1509-47), and during their reigns a large number of courts were built, including those in the royal palaces of Westminster, Windsor, Whitehall, Hampton Court and St. James’.

Elsewhere, the game enjoyed enormous success throughout Europe, but it was in France that the greatest expansion of the game took place. By the end of the reign of Louis XII (1498-1515) there were over 40 courts in his home town of Orleans, and his successor Francois I (1515-47) continued the good work. Wherever he travelled he built courts, including those at the Louvre and Fontainebleau, and even insisted on having a tennis court built on board his four-masted warship, La Grande Francoise. In 1571 King Charles IX (1560-74) formalised the constitution of the Corporation of Tennis Professionals, and by the end of the century there were over 250 courts in Paris, with some 7,000 people directly employed in the tennis industry.