National Tennis Month – May 2025

History of National Tennis Month

Tennis is believed to have been invented in Croydon, England, and was known as lawn tennis then. Now, it is simply known as tennis with more complex rules. Lots of historians believe tennis originated in northern France in the 12th century, but back then, the ball was struck with the palm, giving it the name ‘jeu de paume,’ meaning “game of the palm.” Rackets then came into use in the 16th Century, and the game began to be called ‘tennis.’ It was a very popular game in England and France, and King Henry VIII of England was a big fan of the game.

In 1900, the Davis Cup, an annual competition between men’s national teams, was founded. The equivalent competition for women, the Fed Cup, was founded in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation, also known as the I.T.F. In 1926, the first professional tennis tour was launched with a group of American and French tennis players playing exhibition matches to paying audiences. The most notable of these early professionals were Vinnie Richards, an American, and Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen. Professional tennis players couldn’t compete in major (amateur) tournaments.

In 1968, commercial pressures led to the abandonment of this distinction, allowing professional tennis players to compete in major tournaments and thus inaugurated the Open Era in which all players could compete in all tournaments. The beginning of the Open Era had a ripple effect on spreading tennis’ popularity worldwide and somewhat led to the sport shedding its upper/middle-class English-speaking image.