Olympic Tennis

172 tennis players compete to be awarded one of 5 gold medals

Originally, tennis was known as ‘Jeu de Paume’ and was played mainly by upper class participants in France in the 11th century. Gradually, the game became better know in other countries and was played alongside croquet in England.

Tennis is one of the only sports to have been part of the original Olympic Games in 1896. During the first games of 1896 John Boland famously won the medal, despite not actually intending to participate in the games at all. Tennis was dropped in 1922 when it was felt that it did not conform to the amateur requirements, although this objection was finally resolved and tennis returned to the Games in 1988.

Competitors either compete as individuals or in pairs (same and mixed sex). The object of the game is to hit a tennis ball across a net which stands at 0.91 metres high in such a way that the opposing side cannot return the ball.

Tennis has a long history and when first established the ball was made of either wool or hair and covered in leather. Old style wooden rackets were used. Whilst it is thought that the game has been enjoyed for centuries the first recorded tournament by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 1877. The rather unusual scoring system is thought to come from French words (i.e. love meaning nil-nil is thought to have derived from the French for l’oeuf meaning egg).