Sport says a lot about how far society has come. Leading social historian Harold Perkins once put it this way,
The history of societies is reflected more vividly in the way they spend their leisure than in their politics or their work. Sport in particular is much more than a pastime or recreation. It is an integral part of a society’s culture (and) gives a unique insight into the way a society changes and impacts on other societies.
When you watch Wimbledon this year, you will be watching a sport that is probably the closest there is to gender equality. Wimbledon gives male and female tennis players equal screen time and equal pay.
According to this article in the Atlantic, only three women appear on Forbes’ list of the 100 highest-paid athletes—all of them are tennis players.
It was the Victorians who first recognized the importance of women’s tennis. The world’s oldest tennis tournament, the Wimbledon Championships, added Ladies Singles to the roster in 1884.
In 2007, Wimbledon and the French Open joined other Grand Slam tournaments in giving equal prize money to men and women—tennis has broken down the gender pay gap.
But it wasn’t always that way.
In 1973, Billie Jean King had the weight of the world on her shoulders as she played against former number-one-ranked Bobby Riggs in a US-televised tournament dubbed “Battle of the Sexes”.
In 1973, a woman could not get a credit card without her husband or father or a male signing off on it. —Billie Jean King.
Billie Jean King triumphed that day and said it wasn’t about winning at tennis, but about showing that women were confident, strong and equal.
89 years before Billie Jean King’s historic win, there was another historic moment taking place at Wimbledon, as Maud Watson faced Lillian Watson (her sister) to become the first female Wimbledon Champion.
Imagine Maud facing one of today’s players, such as Maria Sharapova, and it becomes abundantly clear that Victorian women played with a significant handicap—their clothing!
Maria Sharapova and Maud Watson dressed for tennis
Victorian Society dictated that arms had to be covered and ankles hidden by gowns that almost touched the ground. Furthermore, women had to endure three starched petticoats under the dress to make it blossom out. Think how hot it must have been!
Naturally, the infamous Victorian corset was also a requirement to maintain an hourglass figure at all times. Not to mention the expense of the entire ensemble.
Heeled boots, a rigid whalebone collar, and a wide-brimmed hat rounded out the sporting attire.
Now imagine trying to run to the net for the drop shots … and dash back to the baseline to return a lob.
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Enjoy a trip down the tennis memory lane with these images of a bygone time.
A Game of Tennis by George Goodwin Kilburne (English, 1839 – 1924)A Rally by Sir John Lavery, 1885Tennis by James Guthrie – 1890The Tennis Racket by James Guthrie – 1890Tennis Players by Horace Henry Cauty, 1885
The Ring by Robert Vonnoh, 1892A Game of Tennis by John Strickland GoodallA Game of Tennis by John Strickland GoodallThe Tennis Party by Charles March Gere – 1900Tennis Game by the Sea by Max Liebermann – 1901Tennis Game by the Sea by Max Liebermann – 1901
The Tennis Party by Sir John Lavery, R.A. – 1885The Tennis Match by Sir John Lavery, R.A. (1856 – 1941)Portrait of His Sister in Law by Arthur Hacker (English, 1858–1919)Tennis Players by the Sea by Max Liebermann – circa 1901Tennis Anyone by Emile Vernon (French, 1872 – 1919)The Tennis Player by Percy Shakespeare (English, 1906 – 1943)A Rest after the Match by Jose Villegas y Cordero, c. 1915
During the 12th century, in monasteries across Northern France, there were some very strange goings on.
The sound of a ball being struck by hand, of laughter, shouting, and clapping. How could this be?
The game was afoot … or more precisely, at hand. Monks were playing jeu de paume—“game of the palm”—where the ball was struck with the palm of the hand in a closed courtyard.
Today, we call it “tennis”.
The Sport of Kings
Real Tennis, aka “The Sport of Kings”, was the original racquet sport and precursor to the modern game. Its popularity grew quickly among the French nobility.
The French King, Francis I (1515-47), was an enthusiastic player and advocate, building many courts and bringing the sport to a broader populace.
Henry VIII (1509–47) of England enjoyed playing the game so much that he had a tennis court built at the Royal Palace of Hampton Court in 1530. It is still used in competition today.
Some historians believe that Anne Boleyn, his second wife, was watching him play when she was arrested. Legend has it that Henry was even engrossed in a game when news of her execution arrived.
Lawn Tennis
Walter Clopton Wingfield
It was the Victorians who are widely credited with the development of the modern game.
Walter Clopton Wingfield was a Welsh army officer and inventor.
In the late 1860s Wingfield recognized that vulcanized bouncing rubber balls could transform real tennis from an indoor game to one played outdoors on modified croquet lawns.
Wingfield patented his court design and in 1874 began selling boxed sets including poles, court markers, racquets, balls, and instructions.
First Wimbledon Championships, 1877.
Tennis was growing in importance as a supplement to cricket and was even played at Lord’s Cricket Ground. The governing body for cricket decided to adopt and modify Wingfield’s system of rules, leading to the formation of a new club for tennis.
In 1877, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) launched the Wimbledon Championship.
Lawn tennis will never rank among our great games.
—Spencer Gore, first Wimbledon champion.
200 spectators watched Spencer William Gore beat William Marshall 6–1, 6–2, 6–4 on 19 July 1877 at a cost of one shilling. Today, tickets cost £2,667 (about $4200).
That first year at Wimbledon, when service was underarm, the champion Spencer Gore predicted that lawn tennis would never rank among the great games.
Tennis Terms
Tennis comes from the French tenez, meaning “hold!”, “receive!” or “take!”—a call from the server to tell the opponent that they’re about to serve.
Racket derives from the Arabic rakhat, meaning the palm of the hand.
Deuce comes from à deux le jeu, meaning “to both is the game” (both players have the same score).
The origin of the use of Love for zero is thought to derive from “l’oeuf”, the French word for “egg”, which is shaped like a “0”.
Alternatively, it could be from the Dutch saying “iets voor lof doen”, which means to do something for praise (for the love of it).
Ever wonder why scores are unevenly spaced as “15”, “30” and “40”? A popular theory is the quarters of a clock, but “45” was simplified over time.
Tennis Through the Centuries
First known depiction of a medieval tennis court. From a french translation of Valerius Maximus, original today in British Library.
Copper engraving of a game of Tennis in France, in the 16. century. From the series “Children games”. Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes, Paris.
Medieval Tennis, France, c. 1510
A Tennis game, one of the first depictions of a line in the middle (the predecessor of today’s net).
Watercolor painting from an unknown German student who had studied in Italy (Padua or Siena), depicting an early form of Tennis
Real Tennis (predecessor of modern tennis) in Germany, 17th century.
Copper engraving of a tennis game at the College Illustre (university) of Tübingen, Germany
Creation of a tennis racket in the 18th century
Early advertisement for tennis equipment, from an English newspaper.
Lawn Tennis in Bad Homburg, Germany, 1885
Drawing of a Lawn Tennis court as originally designed by Walter Clopton Wingfield in 1874.
Engraving of the first Wimbledon Championships 1877
First Official Tennis Tournament in the US, Staten Island Cricket Club, New York City, on September 1st, 1880.
William Renshaw and Herbert Lawford, playing a match at the Wimbledon Championships in the 1880s
“A Rally” painting by Sir John Lavery, Irish artist (1885); shows woman playing tennis with vigor, despite fashionable Victorian clothing.
Two women dressed for a game of tennis, 1890-1900
A. Gillou, French contestant, at the 1900 Olympic games Tennis tournament, at the Tennis court Cercles des Sports de l’Ile de Puteaux, Paris. Cover page of magazine La vie au grand air, No 97 from July 22nd, 1900.
Three young women in light dresses holding tennis racquets, 1900
Walking home after an afternoon of tennis, Uppsala, Sweden in 1902.
Dorothea Köring and Heinrich Schomburgk, German tennis players, gold medal winner in tennis mixed of the 1912 Olympics.
New Zealand tennis player Anthony Wilding in 1913
British tennis player Dorothy Holman, 1919
St. Anne’s Union Lawn Tennis Club, Waterford, Ireland, 1924
Daphne Akhurst (1925) and Christian Boussus (1927)
Australian tennis player Jack Crawford (left) and British tennis player Fred Perry (right) at the White City Stadium in Sydney, Australia with a senior tennis offical (center) 1930s
American tennis player Don Budge at the White City Stadium, Sydney, 1937
Rosewall (right) and Hoad playing doubles at the Wimbledon Championships in the 1950s
Australian tennis player Evonne Goolagong at the 1971 Dutch Open tournament in Hilversum.
Björn Borg (1979) and John McEnroe (1979)
Young Boris Becker playing at the Kitzbühel Tennis Tournament
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams – highest Seeded Players in 2015 and 2016
