History From real tennis to the Open Era
When Was Tennis Invented? Who Invented It, Where and How the Game Began
Tennis was invented twice. A handball game in medieval France became the indoor "real tennis" of kings, and in the 1870s English inventors moved it outdoors onto grass. The lawn game is the one played at Wimbledon today.
- Lawn tennis patent
- 1874Walter Clopton Wingfield, February 23
- First Wimbledon
- 187722 men, won by Spencer Gore
- Open Era
- 1968professionals admitted to the majors
When
When was tennis invented?
In shortTennis was invented in two steps. Its ancestor, jeu de paume, was played in France from around the 12th century. Modern lawn tennis was invented in 1873 and patented on February 23, 1874, by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield.
Ask when was tennis invented and you get two honest dates centuries apart. The first game called tennis was jeu de paume, the "game of the palm", which Britannica dates to 12th- and 13th-century France. Players hit a ball with the hand, then with gloves, and by about 1500 with wooden rackets strung with sheep gut. That indoor game survives today as real tennis, played on about 40 to 50 courts around the world.
The tennis played at Wimbledon is younger. In December 1873 a retired army officer, Walter Clopton Wingfield, introduced an outdoor game for country-house lawns, and on February 23, 1874, he patented it. Within four years it had its own championship at Wimbledon. The official centennial of lawn tennis was celebrated in 1973, which settles which date the sport itself counts from.
The name probably comes from the French too. The usual story is that the server called out "tenez", meaning "take this" or "receive", before serving. It is a popular explanation rather than a proven one, but nobody has a better one.
Timeline
The history of tennis, from monks to the Open Era
In shortEight centuries in a few stops: jeu de paume in medieval France, real tennis at the royal courts, Wingfield's patent in 1874, the first Wimbledon in 1877, the four majors, and open tennis from 1968.
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1100s
Jeu de paume
A handball game in France
Monks and then nobles hit a ball over a line or net with the palm of the hand, in cloisters and courtyards.
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1500
Real tennis
Rackets replace the hand
Wooden rackets strung with gut are in common use, and the game moves into purpose-built indoor courts.
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1526
Real tennis
A court at Hampton Court
A tennis court is built at Hampton Court Palace for Cardinal Wolsey between 1526 and 1529. Henry VIII plays there.
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1874
Lawn tennis
Wingfield’s patent
Walter Clopton Wingfield patents his outdoor game on February 23, 1874, and sells it in boxed sets.
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1877
Lawn tennis
The first Wimbledon
The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club stages a men’s singles championship in July. Spencer Gore wins.
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1881
The majors
US championships at Newport
The first US national championship is played at the Newport Casino in Rhode Island; Dick Sears wins the first of seven straight titles.
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1900
Team tennis
The first Davis Cup
The United States beat the British Isles 3-0 in Boston, playing for a trophy donated by Dwight Davis.
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1913
Governance
The international federation
The International Lawn Tennis Federation is founded in Paris, today the ITF.
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1968
Open Era
Professionals let in
Open tennis begins at Bournemouth in April; Rod Laver and Billie Jean King win the first open Wimbledon.
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1988
Olympics
Back at the Games
Tennis returns as an Olympic medal sport in Seoul, after an absence since 1924.
Real tennis and kings
Real tennis: the royal game tennis grew from
In shortReal tennis is the indoor original, played on walled courts with sloping roofs. It was the game of French and English kings, and Henry VIII played it at Hampton Court Palace.
By the 16th century tennis was the fashionable sport of European royalty. A Venetian ambassador reported 1,800 courts in Paris around 1600, according to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, while other historians give lower figures in the hundreds. Either way, it was everywhere in the city.
In England the court everyone knows is Hampton Court Palace. Historic Royal Palaces records a first court built there for Cardinal Wolsey between 1526 and 1529, and a new roofed court, the "Close Tennis Play", added for Henry VIII in 1532 and 1533. Henry was a keen and skilled player and gambled heavily on his matches. The court in use at Hampton Court today is a later rebuild from 1625, for Charles I, so Henry never played on that exact floor.
One famous story belongs here, with a warning label. According to tradition, Anne Boleyn was watching a game of tennis on the day she was arrested in May 1536. Historians repeat it with a "said to", and so should we.
Royal tennis in four dates
Hampton Court and Paris, from the court Wolsey built to the one in use today.
1526
Wolsey's court
First court at Hampton Court, built 1526 to 1529.
1532
Henry VIII's court
The roofed Close Tennis Play, added 1532 to 1533.
1,800
Courts in Paris
Reported around 1600; other historians say hundreds.
1625
Today's court
The Hampton Court court in use now, rebuilt for Charles I.
Who
Who invented tennis? Wingfield, Gem and Perera
In shortMajor Walter Clopton Wingfield is credited with inventing lawn tennis. He introduced it in 1873, patented it in 1874 and sold it in boxed sets. Harry Gem and Augurio Perera played a similar game in Birmingham and founded a club in Leamington Spa, so they have a fair claim too.
Who invented tennis depends on whether you mean the idea or the product. Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera were playing a similar outdoor game in Birmingham in the early 1870s, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame credits them with setting up a lawn tennis club in Leamington Spa in 1872. Local historians argue over the exact year.
Wingfield did what they did not. He wrote the rules down, patented the game on February 23, 1874, and sold it in boxed sets with rackets, balls and a net. He called it sphairistike, Greek for ball games, and played it on an hourglass-shaped court, narrower at the net than at the baselines. The name did not last, and within three years the court had become the rectangle every club uses today.
The technology counted for as much as the inventors. Charles Goodyear's process for vulcanizing rubber made balls bouncy enough to play outdoors on grass, and without it there would have been no lawn game to patent.
From hourglass to rectangle
Wingfield's 1874 court pinched in at the net. Within three years it had become the rectangle every club uses today.
1874: the hourglass
1877 on: the rectangle
Who got there first
Three claims, in order. Wingfield won because he wrote the game down and sold it.
1872
Gem and Perera
A lawn tennis club in Leamington Spa, by the Hall of Fame's account.
Dec 1873
Wingfield's rulebook
Dedicated to the party at Nantclwyd, a Welsh country house.
Feb 1874
The patent
Sphairistike, patented February 23 and sold in boxed sets.
Spring 1874
Across the Atlantic
A set reaches Staten Island, brought from Bermuda by Mary Outerbridge.
Where
Where was tennis invented?
In shortThe original game was invented in France. Lawn tennis was invented in Britain, and its first known outing was at a country-house party at Nantclwyd in Wales in December 1873.
France gave tennis its first form, its courts and probably its name. Britain gave it the lawn. Wingfield's own rulebook was dedicated "to the party assembled at Nantclwyd in December 1873", a country house in Wales, which makes Wales the most precise answer to where tennis was invented, at least in its modern form. Gem and Perera's games in Birmingham and Leamington Spa make the English Midlands a close second.
The game crossed the Atlantic almost immediately. Mary Ewing Outerbridge is believed to have brought a set from Bermuda to Staten Island in the spring of 1874, the same year as the patent, although the earliest account of it was written in 1887 and others have claimed to be first.
The first Wimbledon
The first Wimbledon, 1877
In shortThe first Wimbledon was played in July 1877 at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club on Worple Road. Twenty-two men entered a single event, and Spencer Gore won the final.
The All England Croquet Club added lawn tennis in 1875, and two years later it needed money, because the pony-drawn roller that flattened its lawns had to be repaired. A tennis tournament was the fundraiser. Play started on July 9, 1877, with 22 entrants in the men's singles, and Spencer Gore beat William Marshall 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the final in front of about 200 spectators, who paid a shilling each.
The club's committee wrote the rules for the event, and they stuck, with a rectangular court and the scoring of real tennis, 15, 30, 40 and game. Why those numbers? The most common theory links them to the quarters of a clock face, with 45 shortened to 40, but it remains a theory. Women's singles followed in 1884, won by Maud Watson. The full tournament story, from Worple Road to the modern grounds, is in our Wimbledon guide, and the courts the club plays on today are counted in how many courts there are at Wimbledon.
Wimbledon, July 1877
The first tournament was a fundraiser for a lawn roller.
22
Men entered
One event, men's singles.
200
Spectators
About, at a shilling each.
3-0
The final
Spencer Gore beat William Marshall 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
1884
Women join
Maud Watson won the first women's singles.
How tennis spread
How tennis spread around the world
In shortWithin a few decades lawn tennis had its four national championships, the future Grand Slams: Wimbledon in 1877, the US in 1881, France in 1891 and Australasia in 1905. The Davis Cup began in 1900 and the international federation in 1913.
The United States moved first after Britain. The US National Lawn Tennis Association was founded in 1881, and the first national championship was played that summer at the Newport Casino in Rhode Island, where Dick Sears won the first of seven straight titles. The French championships followed in 1891 and the Australasian championships, today's Australian Open, in 1905.
International competition arrived with the Davis Cup in 1900. A Harvard student, Dwight Davis, donated the trophy, and the United States beat the British Isles 3-0 at the Longwood Cricket Club near Boston. In 1913 twelve national associations founded the International Lawn Tennis Federation in Paris. Tennis was also at the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896, dropped out after 1924 and only returned as a medal sport in Seoul in 1988. For how the four majors compare today, see our Grand Slams guide.
The Open Era
The Open Era: when tennis became the modern pro game
In shortThe Open Era began in April 1968, when the majors first admitted professionals. The tiebreak, the ATP (1972) and the WTA (1973) followed within five years.
For its first 90 years tennis kept professionals out of its biggest events. That ended with the British Hard Court Championships at Bournemouth, which started on April 22, 1968, as the first open tournament. Wimbledon went open the same summer: Rod Laver won £2,000 and Billie Jean King £750.
The modern game took shape fast after that. The US Open introduced the tiebreak in 1970, an idea of Jimmy Van Alen. The men formed the ATP in 1972, and on June 21, 1973, on the eve of Wimbledon, the women founded the WTA at the Gloucester Hotel in London, with Billie Jean King as their first president. Even the ball changed: the ITF approved yellow balls in 1972 because they showed up better on television, though Wimbledon kept white until 1986. For the records the Open Era has produced since, see our tennis records page.
The modern game in five years
From the first open tournament to the women's tour.
1968
The first open
Bournemouth, April 22, then Wimbledon went open that summer.
1970
The tiebreak
Introduced at the US Open, an idea of Jimmy Van Alen.
1972
The ATP, yellow balls
The men formed the ATP; the ITF approved yellow balls.
1973
The WTA
Founded June 21 at the Gloucester Hotel, with Billie Jean King as president.
FAQ
When was tennis invented? Questions and answers
In shortShort answers to what people ask most about where tennis came from.
When was tennis invented?
Tennis as we know it was invented in 1873 and 1874. Walter Clopton Wingfield introduced his lawn game in December 1873 and patented it on February 23, 1874. The older game it grew from, jeu de paume, was played in France from around the 12th century.
Who invented tennis?
Major Walter Clopton Wingfield is credited with inventing lawn tennis, which he called sphairistike and sold in boxed sets from 1874. Harry Gem and Augurio Perera were playing a similar game in Birmingham and founded a lawn tennis club in Leamington Spa, so they have a rival claim.
Where was tennis invented?
The original game was invented in France, where monks and then nobles played jeu de paume. Lawn tennis was invented in Britain. Wingfield dedicated his rules to a party at Nantclwyd in Wales in December 1873.
Was tennis played in the 1500s?
Yes, as real tennis, the indoor game played with rackets and a sloping-roofed court. Wooden rackets strung with gut were in use by about 1500, and Hampton Court Palace had a tennis court for Cardinal Wolsey by the late 1520s.
Did King Henry VIII play tennis?
Yes. Henry VIII was a keen and skilled real tennis player who played at Hampton Court Palace, according to Historic Royal Palaces, and he bet heavily on matches. The court used there today was built later, in 1625, for Charles I.
What was tennis originally called?
The French game was jeu de paume, the "game of the palm", because it was first played with the hand. Wingfield called his lawn version sphairistike, from the Greek for ball games, but players quickly settled on lawn tennis.
Which sport is older, golf or tennis?
It depends on what you count. Tennis's ancestor jeu de paume goes back to 12th-century France, earlier than the first records of golf in 15th-century Scotland. Modern lawn tennis, though, only dates from the 1870s, long after golf took its modern form.
When was tennis invented in the United States?
Lawn tennis reached the US in 1874, the same year as Wingfield's patent. Mary Ewing Outerbridge is believed to have set up a court on Staten Island after seeing the game in Bermuda, and the first US national championships were held at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1881.