Jeu de paume

Tennis begins in twelfth-century France as *jeu de paume*, the game of the palm, played by monks against courtyard walls with a bare hand and later a glove. The word tennis itself probably comes from *tenez* — "take this" — called by the server. By the sixteenth century rackets had appeared and the game had moved indoors, becoming the enclosed sport now called real tennis, played by kings in France and England.

Lawn tennis

The modern outdoor game dates to 1873, when Major Walter Clopton Wingfield patented a lawn game he called Sphairistike, played on an hourglass-shaped court. The All England Croquet Club adopted and reshaped it, and in 1877 held the first Wimbledon Championships on a rectangular grass court with a scoring system already close to today's. Wimbledon remains the oldest tournament in the sport.

The four majors

The US Championships followed in 1881, the French in 1891 and the Australasian Championships in Melbourne in 1905. Together they became the four Grand Slam events. Australia's championship moved between cities — and countries, with two editions in New Zealand — before settling in Melbourne, and shifted from grass to hard courts at Flinders Park in 1988.

The Open Era

Until 1968 the majors were closed to professionals, splitting the best players between amateur tournaments and paid touring circuits. The Open Era began at the 1968 French Open, when professionals were admitted for the first time. The ATP formed in 1972 and the WTA in 1973, the year Billie Jean King secured equal prize money at the US Open — a fight Wimbledon did not concede until 2007.

Equipment and the modern game

Wooden frames of about 65 sq in ruled until the 1970s. Aluminium, then graphite composites, made frames lighter, larger and stiffer, and polyester strings in the 2000s made heavy topspin available to almost everyone. Court speeds slowed, rallies lengthened and the athletic demand of the sport rose sharply.

Tennis in Australia

Australia has produced an outsized share of the game's history: Rod Laver's two calendar-year Grand Slams in 1962 and 1969, Margaret Court's 24 major singles titles, Evonne Goolagong Cawley's seven, and a long run of Davis Cup dominance in the 1950s and 60s. The public-court culture that produced those players — clubs, competitions and coaching in every suburb — is the same infrastructure junior players use today.