The factsInitially, lawn tennis was played on an hourglass-shaped court
The game of lawn tennis was inspired by the ancient game of real tennis, a game that was very popular among the European aristocracy for centuries but could only be played indoors. When Charles Goodyear introduced a new ball made of rubber that could bounce on the lawn and replaced the old leather balls, many true tennis players began to find a way to play an outside version of their beloved game.
While Harry Jame and Augurio Perera were experimenting with a new game they called Pelota, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield invented his own rules in the early 1870s. His idea was to create a portable court to play old-fashioned tennis, and he envisioned the game building on croquet.
Wingfield In February 1874, he patented his game under the name Sphairistikè (ancient Greek for “the art of playing the ball”), and in the spring of the same year he began selling kits that included rubber balls, a net, sticks, court markers, and an instruction manual.
In addition, Wingfield wrote two supplementary books. The game bookfollowed by Major game lawn tennis. In its first version, the game was played on an hourglass-shaped court, and the net was about 50 cm higher than today. The serve was to be made from the diamond-shaped box at one end only, and it was to be bounced beyond the service line instead of in front of it.
Major Wingfield’s friends weren’t too keen on the game’s original name. According to the BBC: It was Arthur Balfour, who later became Prime Minister, who suggested “lawn tennis”.
According to Honor Godfrey, former director of the Wimbledon Museum, “Wingfield had very good connections with the clergy, the legal profession and the aristocracy, and he sent thousands of trips in the first year or so.” The game quickly gained popularity and the first tournament was held in Birmingham in 1874. The following year he was invited to a meeting at Marylebone Cricket Club (Lord’s) to discuss the standards of the game, and Wingfield then considered that his sport was now entrusted to the MCC. Around the same time, after the deaths of his three sons, the inventor of lawn tennis lost interest in his game.
In the years that followed, the rules of lawn tennis evolved, and in 1877 the hourglass became rectangular for the first Wimbledon championship, won by Spencer Gore in July. After the game authorities analyzed the results, it was decided to reduce the target area for the server and reduce the height of the net to facilitate passing shots.
What next?? Wingfield was posthumously inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame
While lawn tennis continued to grow in popularity around the world, Major Wingfield kept himself busy. Around 1890, he founded a culinary company called Le Cordon Rouge and also invented a special type of bicycle called the Butterfly.
Wingfield died in 1912 at the age of 78. In 1997, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame for his contribution to tennis. The Wingfield restaurant at the All England Club is named after him.
