Making a Tennis Court

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Walsh George E.. Making a Tennis Court

INTRODUCTION

Making a Tennis Court

LOCATION

KINDS OF COURTS

CONSTRUCTING DIRT COURTS

CONSTRUCTING GRASS COURTS

SIZES AND MARKING

BACKSTOPS AND NETS

CARE OF COURTS

Отрывок из книги

ALTHOUGH the game of lawn tennis as played to-day dates back only some forty to forty-five years, it is in reality one of the oldest of all existing ball games. The origin of the game is involved in considerable obscurity, but it has numberless historical associations which make it of peculiar interest.

Tennis was mentioned in the Arthurian romances, and it was quite extensively played in Europe in the Middle Ages. It was played upon open courts in the parks or ditches of the feudal castles of France and Italy. It was called, in Italy, giuoco della palla; in Germany, Ballspiel; in France, jeu de paume; and in Spain, jugar al able.

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Lawn tennis was brought into this country the same year it appeared in England, 1874. The first court was laid out at Nahant, near Boston, on private grounds, and others soon appeared at Newport, Staten Island, and near Philadelphia. The game grew rapidly in popularity until tens of thousands of people, young and old, were following it as one of the most fascinating of outdoor recreations.

To-day it is one of the most popular of our outdoor games for both sexes, and it has retained its hold upon the public for a good many years in spite of the introduction of other games and the craze for novelties. Tennis gives just the right amount of exhilarating exercise in the open air that one seems to need, and there are hundreds of thousands of devotees of the game who play it regularly throughout the season.

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