Tennis is a sport which was first played in Birmingham, England, around 1859. As many other english sports, it requires a lot of practice in order to acquire a good technique, and it is quite difficult to learn to play it.
Every player uses a racket to strike a rubber ball covered with felt, that needs to end in the opponent’s court. The objective of the game is to get such a good shot that the opponent cannot return it, or find difficulties at the time of doing it.
The ancient version of the game is thought to have started in 12th century in France, where a ball was struck bay the palm of the hand. Louis X of France liked to play jeu de paume, which later would evolve in what today we know for tennis. This happened between 1859 and 1865, when Harry Gern and Augurio Perera developed a game combining elements of rackets and the Basque ball game named pelota.
The very first tournament to take place was Wimbledon, in 1877, and which now conforms one of the Grand Slam tournaments. US open was held in 1881, the Australian open in 1905, and the Davis Cup, confronting nations, in 1900. The surfaces in which tennis is played change with the tournament, geographic situation, and tradition of the club or the place. Each of them provides a different bounce, and in consequence a different speed of game. Among the most used tennis surfaces can be found clay and grass surfaces and hard courts. The game in grass is really fast, which means shorter points and a high intensity. Strikes like the service can really mean a great advantage over the opponent in these kind of surfaces. Hard-courts provide a medium speed bounce, and the bounce in clay surfaces is slow and high. The game in clay surfaces is slower and much longer.
One of the many advantages of tennis is the little equipment it involves. Just a pair of good trainers, a racket and some balls and anyone can start this wonderful sport. Other advantage is the wide range of ages at which one can practice it. Kids, young people, adults and even the eldest can play tennis perfectly, because the intensity of the game can be adapted to anyone’s needs. But the intensity of playing tennis at a high level must not be underestimated: once that one has some control over the ball and plays with a relative speed, being in very good shape is a must.
Tennis has so many health benefits that it is difficult to enumerate them all. Doctor Ralph Paffenbarger studied 10.000 people over 20, and the effects that playing tennis had over them. All of the participants played tennis 3 hours a week at a medium intensity. Results showed that the risk of dying from any cause was the half, as well as the risk of suffering mental disorders such as depression or anxiety. Playing tennis requires tactic thinking, so this sport could also generate new neuronal connections and stimulate the continous development of the brain.
The video below shows some good points, with different surfaces and game types.
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