Tennis

Tennis

Tennis pictogram
Highest governing body	International Tennis Federation
First played	19th century, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Characteristics
Contact	No
Team members	Singles or doubles
Mixed sex	Yes, separate tours and mixed doubles
Type	Outdoor or indoor
Equipment	Ball, racket, net
Venue	Tennis court
Glossary	Glossary of tennis terms
Presence
Country or region	Worldwide
Olympic	Part of Summer Olympic programme from 1896 to 1924 Demonstration sport in the 1968 and 1984 Summer Olympics Part of Summer Olympic programme since 1988
Paralympic	Part of Summer Paralympic programme since 1992

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Tennis is a sport played with a felt-covered rubber ball, a tennis racket, and a court.

First, early in the 11th century, players in France played a sport like this with their hands. It was called “Jeu de Paume”. In the 15th century the players played with rackets. Now it is called “tennis”. It became popular in England and France. King Henry III of France was a big fan of the game. This kind of sport is still played but is known as real tennis ("real" here meaning "royal"). The sport of "lawn tennis" played on grass courts was invented in mid 19th-century England and later spread into many other countries.^[1][2]

1. ↑ Tyzack, Anna, The True Home of Tennis Country Life, 22 June 2005
2. ↑ History of Tennis Archived 2010-03-22 at the Wayback Machine International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 28 July 2008.