Major Walter Wingfield: The First Tennis Player

In 1874, a man named Major Walter Wingfield earned the rights to the game of Tennis, including the rules and all of the equipment that went along with it. As soon as he gained the rights to tennis, the first tennis court was built in the United States, paving the way for tennis to become popular in many other countries including China, Canada and Russia. At this time, and as time passed for quite a few years, the racket did not undergo many changes and it stayed wooden for approximately one hundred years. The wooden rackets made playing tennis very difficult because of the strength needed to hit the ball with such heavy frames. When a company called Wilson realized the inefficiency of these wooden rackets they developed a lighter and more advanced racket, which was made out of thin metal, allowing players to use more power with less effort. When this new and improved racket was first introduced it spread amongst players rapidly and became the most popular racket on the market. They then started to make them out of a material called graphite, which would become the most expensive racket available.

With every game there are rules, and …show more content…
The service box is the area from the net to the service line and in between the single sideline and the center service line, the two boxes on the court is where the server lines up to serve. The player has two chances to serve the ball and get it in play. If the ball hits the net and lands in the proper service box this is called a "let" and the player receives one more chance to get a serve in the box. Once the player gets the ball into play they rally against each other until the ball is hit out of bounds or into the net by either player. If the ball is hit outside the single sidelines or past the baseline it is considered out and the point is over. This then leads to the scoring of the