The origins of any game of racket and ball including tennis are traditionally credited to 11th or 12th century French game paume which was played with the hand and later advanced into jeu be paume with the use of rackets. However, not all historians agree on this, there is a theory that the word tennis comes from the name of Tinnis, a town in ancient Egypt, and the word racket – from rahat, meaning ‘palm of the hand’ in Arabic. It is believed that different versions of the game were played in ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece, although there is no additional evidence to that.

By the 14th century the game became so popular, both the Pope and Louis IV tried to ban it unsuccessfully. Tennis soon spread to England, where it obtained the "royal game" title. Both Henry VII and Henry VIII were keen players who ensured the building of more courts. One of them, Hampton Court, built in 1625, is still used today.

The scoring history has two theories as well. The first one states that the scoring has its origins in ancient numerology. In medieval times, the number 60 was considered complete in a similar way as the number 100 is considered to be a "complete" figure today. The medieval adaptation of tennis thus considered 60 to be the "game" with four steps of points like 15, 30, 45 (or 40 as it is today) and finally 60. The second theory is attributed to the presence of a clock at the end of the tennis court. A quarter move of the clock hand was made after each break with the score being referred to as 15, 30, 45 and finally 60.

Walter Clopton Wingfield is usually given credit for the invention of modern tennis. He actually patented the game in 1874, pronounced a new set of rules and moved tennis from indoors to outdoors. The same year first tennis courts appeared in the United States, and shortly after that in Russia, India, Canada and China. According to http://us-opentickets.com/, 39 major tennis tournaments were held in the past year worldwide with over 78 000 tournament tickets sold.

Tennis is a test of skill, accuracy and agility. There is a huge amount of prize money to be won and a name to be earned for oneself. The game is popular with billions of people around the world. If you want to be fit and agile, grab the racquet and head out for an invigorating game of tennis!