History of tennis
Real tennis was a French game developed in the 16th century. During the 19th century people in Victorian Britain invented a game a lot like real tennis and called it lawn tennis. It was called lawn tennis as it was always played on lawn (Grass). Tennis was a massive hit with wealthy nobles and royals in Victorian England just like real tennis was. Lawn tennis lost the name of lawn tennis very early in the history of tennis this being because of other surfaces for instance Clay and Hard courts.
Today tennis is played all over the world. There are more than a 1000 people
on the men's tour and there are 3 levels off tennis on the tour they are;
ATP Tour- Grand Slam, Masters, International
Challenger Circuit
Future Circuit
Hall Of Fame
Grand Slam Legends
All Time Legends
Roy Emerson AUS= 53 points
Rod Laver AUS= 53 points
Fred Perry GBR= 52 points
Ken Rosewall AUS= 52 points
Andre Agassi USA= 51 points
Jean Borotra FRA= 50 points
Don Budge USA= 50 points
Frank Sedgman AUS= 50 points
Pete Sampras USA= 33 points
Roger Federer SUI= 32 points
Bill Tilden USA= 31 points
Jimmy Connors USA= 28 points
Henri Cochet FRA= 28 points
Mats Wilander SWE= 27 points
Jack Crawford AUS= 27 points
Ivan Lendl CZE/USA= 27 points
Rene Lacoste FRA= 26 points
John Newcombe AUS= 26 points
Boris Becker GER= 26 points
Ashley Cooper AUS= 25 points
Lew Hoad AUS= 25 points
Arthur Ashe USA= 25 points
Tony Trabert USA= 25 points
Stefan Edberg SWE= 25 points
Guillermo Vilas ARG= 25 points
Bjorn Borg SWE= 17 points
Lawrence Doherty GBR= 15 points
John McEnroe USA= 13 points
Rafael Nadal ESP= 12 points
Tony Wilding AUS= 12 points
Jaroslav Drobny EGY= 10 points
Manuel Santana ESP= 10 points
Neale Fraser AUS= 10 points
Gerald Patterson AUS= 10 points
Bobby Riggs USA= 10 points
Ellsworth Vines USA= 10 points
Frank Parker USA= 10 points
Jan Kodes CZE= 10 points
Jim Courier USA= 10 points
Norman Brookes AUS= 10 points
Richard Sears USA= 5 points
William Renshaw GBR = 5 points
William Larned USA= 5 points
Robert Wrenn USA= 2 points
Reginald Doherty GBR= 2 points
James Anderson AUS= 1 point
Malcolm Whitman USA= 1 point
Adrian Quist AUS= 1 point
Arthur Gore GBR= 1 point
Wilfred Baddeley GBR= 1 point
Oliver Campbell USA= 1 point
Gustavo Kuerten BRA= 1 point
To be a legend you must of won 3 grand slam titles scoring works like this;
3 Wimbledon Titles= 1 points
4 Wimbledon Titles= 2 points
5 Wimbledon Titles= 3 points
6 Wimbledon Titles= 4 points
7 Wimbledon Titles= 5 points
8 Wimbledon Titles= 6 points
3 Australian Titles= 1 point
4 Australian Titles= 2 points
5 Australian Titles= 3 points
6 Australian Titles= 4 points
7 Australian Titles= 5 points
8 Australian Titles= 6 points
3 US Open Titles= 1 point
4 US Open Titles= 2 points
5 US Open Titles= 3 points
6 US Open Titles= 4 points
7 US Open Titles= 5 points
8 US Open Titles= 6 points
3 Roland Garros Titles= 1 point
4 Roland Garros Titles= 2 points
5 Roland Garros Titles= 3 points
6 Roland Garros Titles= 4 points
7 Roland Garros Titles= 5 points
8 Roland Garros Titles= 6 points
Winner of 2 separate grand slams= 10 points
Winner of 3 separate grand slams = 25 points
winner of 4 separate grand slams= 50 points
Australian Open
Most Time Gentleman Winners Since 1905
Before 1968
Roy Emerson Australia- Won 6 times, 1961, 1963-1967
After 1968
Andre Agassi USA- Won 4 times, 1995, 2000-2001, 2003
French Open (Roland Garros)
Most Time Gentleman Winners Since 1891
Before 1968
Max Decugis France- Won 8 times, 1903-1904, 1907-1909, 1912-1914
After 1968
Bjorn Bjorg Sweden- Won 6 times, 1974-1975, 1978-1981
The Championships Wimbledon
Most Times Gentleman Winners Since 1877
Before 1968
William Renshaw Great Britain- Won 7 times, 1881-1886, 1889
After 1968
Pete Sampras USA- Won 7 times, 1993-1995, 1997-2000
US Open
Most Times Gentleman Winners Since 1881
Before 1968
Richard Sears USA- Won 7 times, 1881-1887
Bill Larned USA- Won 7 times, 1901,1902,1907-1911
Bill Tilden USA- Won 7 times, 1920-1925, 1929
After 1968
Jimmy Connors USA- Won 5 times, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1983
Pete Sampras USA- Won 5 times, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002
History of Wimbledon
Prior to the second world war
Tennis was a game for the upper class when it first began. Wimbledon first started on an amateur basis in 1877. Only 22 men could play in the first Wimbledon championships tennis event. It was the first ever organised tennis tournament which saw Spencer Gore win. Gore received 12 guineas for his effort now the winner of Wimbledon would receive about 11 million pounds. In 1884 women's singles was put into the Championships and men's doubles was introduced. It took 29 years for women's doubles to hit the championships(1913), the same year that mixed doubles began. For the first 30 years Brits dominated, it wasn't until 1907 that a non Brit won and that was by a member of the commonwealth called Norman Brookes. The Aussie was also the first non Brit finalist 2 years prior to his win. Arthur Gore got the title back for the Brits the next year and also winning in 1909. But Anthony Wilding another Australian became the first non Brit to win the title 4 times. In 1913 a young American named Mcloughlin became the first person from outside of the commonwealth to reach the championships final. In 1915 the Championships where terminated due to WW1. The Championships did not begin again until 1919 the year after the end of the great war. In 1920 the first man who wasn't in the commonwealth won the championships. The American was called Bill Tilden who also won in 1921. 1934 was the first time a Brit had won the Championships since before the great war. 1936 was to be the last time a Brit won the Championship's men's singles event. Fred Perry beat a German player called Cramm who reached the final 3 years on a row with out winning twice losing to Perry. In 1940 the 2nd world war began and the championships did not start again until 1946.
After the war
In 1961 Rod Laver a man many people call the greatest player of all time won the first of 4 Wimbledon titles. In his 4 title wins 3 of them where against Aussies. In 1976 another man who some say is the greatest one the first of 5 consecutive tittles he also had the chance to win 6 but he lost to the legendary John (you cannot be serious) McEnroe. McEnroe got 3 titles himself but when McEnroe was going for his 4th title the youngest men's singles winner of all time Boris Becker was about to win his first ever final. The German won the championships 3 times but also reached 2 more finals. In 1993 Sampras won the first of 7 Wimbledon titles the only time between 93 and 2000 he didn't win was 96 when Michael Krajicek won. In 2001 Sampras lost to Federer and many believed this was the changing of the guard at the championships. In 2003 Federer won his first Wimbledon Championships and has not lost since. In 2007 he won his 5th straight win equalling Borg's great record of 5 tournaments on a row.
