Paragraph on “Who invented the game of tennis?” complete paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 11 and Class 12

Who invented the game of tennis?

A Welshman, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield devised the game of tennis in 1873. However he based his ideas on a much earlier form of court tennis whose origins date from ancient Egyptian-Arabian fertility rites. 

The game was played intermittently up until the thirteenth century, from which time  it is known that it became a popular pastime in  the parks and chateaux of France. It was played first using the hand, then wearing a glove, then with thong bindings and later with abattoir or paddle and finally, in the sixteenth century, with a racquet.

The game became extremely popular with ecclesiastics in the middle of the thirteenth century, in fact it became such a rage among them that the Archbishop of Rouen prohibited priests from playing it in 1245. The indoor courts were constructed in various types of buildings – cathedrals, monasteries, cloisters, cowsheds, castles and chateaux.

The sport also caught the fancy of royalty, and many of the monarchs of France and England became its patrons. Charles V of France (1500-1558) had two courts built, one in the Palace of the Louvre. It was recorded that there were 1,800 courts in Paris alone in 1600. Henry VIII (1491-1547) of England built courts at Whitehall, St James’s Palace and at Hampton Court Palace — this one being the oldest remaining court in England, and is still in use today.