Vicarage Tea Party
Sphairistike had its origins in large Victorian acreage properties whereby at an 1873 Christmas gathering in Wales; Wingfield demonstrated Sphairistike to upper middle-class citizens. Tennis was displayed as a source of amusement whereby people’s love of novelty combined with their longing for an outdoor sport made lawn tennis an instant success. In no time, it became the most fashionable game in England, and the fact that society adopted it made it the more popular (Brasch 1986, 360).
Unlike other sports, tennis shattered the strong gender divisions, which were highly evident in mid 1870s society. Tennis was adopted by both genders unlike such sports as cricket and rugby. Although the idea of women and men playing tennis together was socially accepted, women were not supposed to become good at it. This was proceeded by croquet, whereby young English-Victorian women were able to compete against men. As well as hitting, she could run, participate in mixed doubles and able to compete on equal terms with men. The concept of tennis became a truly social sport, one more move towards liberation (Arlott, 1975: 604)
The suburban garden or club was for polite courtship and friendly relations between social equals. Vigorous play was permitted to men but hard, sweaty rallies and a fierce will to win were “not the thing”, even for energetic young ladies of the era (Holt, 1989: 127). Furthermore, the social idea of a tennis club formulated the focal point of a local community whereby holding bridge parties and dances, picnics and even elocution lessons (Holt, 1989:126)
Patent of Tennis Court
When Wingfield deposited the specifications for a patent in 1874, he described his invention as “a new and improved portable court for playing the ancient game of tennis. He propagated hits virtues enthusiastically, but Sphairistike had its critics. The critics believed that the game of tennis was too social to be serious. There were those who thought that it should disregard women whilst others believed it was only a women’s game. Wingfield’s hour glass court and unsatisfactory rules were soon eliminated, under the guidance of MMC (Marylebone Cricket Club). This new sport was given the name of lawn tennis, and adopted an oblong court and the server retreated from the diamond crease to the baseline (Arlott, 1975: 604).
To assist in the development of tennis, Wingfield marketed the creation of a tennis kit. In it there were pegs, poles, nets and a mallet to bang the poles into the ground, all for five guineas. What the kit didn’t include was either rackets or balls, because Wingfield assumed people would use real tennis rackets and the comparatively new India rubber balls, developed as a result of the American Charles Goodyear’s invention of the vulcanisation process, in 1839. (Rice, 1996: 171)
All England Croquet Club
In 1870, the All England Croquet Club rented for 50 pounds a year four-greenfeild acres close by the London and SouthWestern Railway line, Wimbledon. Five years later they were in trouble; croquet dropped in popularity, and the All England Croquet Club were close to financial ruin. They took an interest in tennis, and club officials, decided to hold a championship to raise funds for the club. Three members drew up the rules, and the first Wimbledon lawn tennis championships were held in 1877 on the original ground at Worple Road - Wimbledon. (Nelson and MacNee, 1996: 528).
After consultation with Wingfield and Marylebone Cricket Club in its capacity as the governing authority of rackets and real tennis, the tournament committee came up with new rules. Wingfield and Marylebone’s concepts were abandoned – owing to the influence of certain gentlemen who belonged to the All England Croquet Club. (Cuddon 1980: 497)
A rectangular court and a set of rules that are essentially the game we know today. The net was still five feet high at the sides, a carryover from the game's indoor ancestor, and the service boxes were 26 feet deep, but by 1882, the specifications had evolved to their current form; and remain the same today other than tie breakers, and foot fault law changes. (The Driftway Collection, 2001).
First Wimbledon July 1877
At the first Wimbledon championships there was only one event: the mens singles. The winner was presented with the Gold Champion prize (worth 12 guineas), plus the Silver Challenge Cup, donated by the sporting magazine “the Field”. There was a second prize of 7 guineas and a third of 3 guineas. Twenty-two competitors took part, and 200 spectators who each paid a one-shilling entrance fee watched the finals. A profit of £10 was made on the whole event. How far tennis has come is astronomical (Cuddon, 1980: 498).
The final of the first Wimbledon was delayed until after the weekend in July 1877, because it would otherwise have clashed with the Eton v Harrow cricket match at Lord’s; and this match was undoubtedly the social event of the sporting season. It rings true with the era, and the influence of English Public schools, on the sporting lifestyle of the public (Rice, 1998: 181).
Enthusiasm for the game was such that in the same year (1877) the name of the club was extended to include the new vogue, so it became called the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The game has been linked with Wimbledon ever since, from where it has spread all over the world.
Spread of Lawn Tennis
The spread of tennis started to emerge in 1874, when a US traveller Miss May Ewing Outerbridge brought the game to New York. Lawn tennis spread with remarkable speed during the rest of the nineteenth century, particularly throughout the old British Empire. In the opening years of the 20th Century the game became international becoming well established in Canada, South Africa, Australia, France Germany, Belgium and Austria. All around this time beginning National Tournaments. (Cuddon 1980: 500)
International tennis was also booming. In 1889 E.G. Meers was the first Englishman to take part in the American Championships; in 1895 the first representative contest in the US between Britain and America took place. All these were forerunners to the Davis Cup, which began in 1900. (Parsons, 1998:13)
Associations
The Lawn Tennis Association is the governing body of lawn tennis in England, Scotland, and Wales and was founded in 1888. The two men largely responsible for its formation were, H.S. Scrivener, the president of the Oxford University Lawn Tennis Club, and G.W. Hillyard, of the MCC (Parsons, 1998: 13).
The governing body for the game at this time By 1886 the All England Club was still the governing body with the MCC having less and less to do with the sport. In 1888, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) was formed, thanks largely to Scrivener and Hillyard. (Cuddon 1980: 498)
The LTA was concerned with the creation and maintenance of the rules of the game until 1913 when the international Lawn Tennis Federation was founded. The LTA remains the principal body for England, Scotland, and Wales. The equivalent of the LTA in the USA is the Lawn Tennis Association – founded in 1881 (Parsons, 1998: 13).
The US Lawn Tennis Association was formed in 1881. International competition soon followed, with the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy (later the Davis Cup) first contested in 1900 and the Wightman Cup, for competition between British and American women's teams, in 1923. Men's singles and doubles play was included on the program for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 (Parsons, 1998: 360).
Conclusion
By the end of the century, tennis was established as a leading sport, for playing and watching all around the world. It was so popular that it was chosen as one of the original sports included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 (Rice, 1998: 193). Tennis developed all the time further and further away from the idea that Major Wingfield had patented. New strokes were employed, and players had a dominance over the game in their eras. Such as Gore’s volley; Hadow’s lob; and the Renshaw smash, therefore new tactics were worked out to counter them. (Rice, 1998: 193). Just how much further will tennis go?
REFERENCES
Arlott, J (1975) The Oxford Companion to Sports and Games Oxford University Press, London.
Brasch, R. (1986) How did sports begin? Harper Collins Publishers, Sydney
Cuddon, J (1980) The MacMillan Dictionary of Sports and Games MacMillan Press, London.
Gillmeister, H. (1998) Tennis a Cultural History University Press, New York
Hutchinson, R (1996) Empire Games: The British Invention of Twentieth Century Sport, Mainstream Publishing, London.
Masters, J (2002) The Online Guide to Traditional Games
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Nelson, R and MacNee, M (1996) The Olympic Factbook: A spectator’s guide to the Summer Games Visible Ink Press, United States of America.
Parsons, J (1998) Origins of the Game Carlton Books, New York.
Tennis at a Turn (2001) The Driftway Collection 1873-1938,
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Last Accessed: 3rd June 2002.
Rice, J (1998) Start of Play: The curious origins of our favourite sports Prion Books Limited, Great Britain.
Holt, R. (1989) Sport and the British: A Modern History, Clarendon Press, Oxford
