Who Invented Tennis. The history of tennis, the development of tennis in Russia

The All-Russian Union of Lawn Tennis Clubs (VSLTK) - the forerunner of the Russian Tennis Federation - is the oldest sports union in Russia. Its charter was registered on June 3, 1908 and entered in the register of St. Petersburg societies under N 265. This date is considered the "birthday" of the flagship of domestic tennis.

The founder and first chairman of the VSLTK was Arthur Davidovich Macpherson (1870 - 1919), a prominent figure in Russian sports.

Scot by blood, McPherson was born in St. Petersburg. He lived there all his life and gave all his strength to the formation and development of national sports. McPherson was the first chairman of three all-Russian unions at once - lawn tennis, football and rowing societies, a member of the first composition of the Russian Olympic Committee. In 1903, McPherson organized the 1st Championship of St. Petersburg on the courts of the Krestovsky Lawn Tennis Club, and in 1907, the All-Russian Lawn Tennis Competition, the first All-Russian Tennis Championship. Until 1917, he headed the All-Russian Union of Lawn Tennis Clubs (VSLTK) created by him. He published the VSLTK Yearbook (1909 -1916) and the Lawn Tennis magazine (1912 - 1914). For merits in the development of Russian sports in 1913 he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav, 3rd degree.

After the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, he was arrested twice. He died in 1919 in a Moscow prison from typhus.

Named after A. D. MacPherson highest award Russian Tennis Federation "Arthur McPherson Commemorative Medal", established on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the RTF.

Since its inception, the FTR has gone through a difficult, thorny path. After the revolution, the authorities were distrustful of the "sport of the white-pants", this "burp of the bourgeois sport", and then kept it in a black body for decades just because it was not an Olympic sport. And yet, domestic tennis survived. Withstood, in spite of all persecution and persecution.

The main milestones of Russian tennis

In Russia, tennis as a sport has been known since the third quarter of the 19th century. One of the first enthusiasts of lawn tennis was the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy - four years after the invention of lawn tennis (1874), he described the game in his novel Anna Karenina. The first lawn tennis courts appeared in St. Petersburg, later in Moscow.

1860 - St. Petersburg cricket club was founded, which by the end of the 80s of the XIX century. began to cultivate and lawn tennis.

1882 - St. Petersburg magazine "Niva" publishes an article "English ball game in the meadow (lawn tennis)", the first significant publication on lawn tennis in Russia.

1888 - Lakhtinsky Lawn Tennis Club was founded, the first lawn tennis club in Russia.

1903 - Russian tennis players took part in an international tournament in Stockholm. It was the first performance of domestic racket masters abroad.

1907 - in St. Petersburg, on the courts of the Krestovsky lawn tennis club, the First All-Russian competitions in lawn tennis took place, in which 65 tennis players participated.

1908 - The All-Russian Union of Lawn Tennis Clubs was founded, the prototype of the current Russian Tennis Federation. The founders were 8 Russian lawn tennis clubs.

1912 - the first open championship of Russia took place, in which the strongest tennis players of Europe and the USA took part for the first time. In the same year, Russian tennis players for the first time participated in Olympic Games in Stockholm.

1913 - The All-Russian Union of Lawn Tennis Clubs became a co-founder of the International Lawn Tennis Union (now the International Tennis Federation).

1918 - held the first Moscow Tennis Championship, in which representatives of 11 clubs met.

1924 - the first championship of the USSR was played. The first Soviet champions were T. Sukhodolskaya (Leningrad) and G. Stolyarov (Moscow).

1928 - tennis competitions were held as part of the All-Union Spartakiad; Muscovites won a team victory. Muscovite S. Maltseva became the champion in singles, Leningrader E. Kudryavtsev became the absolute champion among men.

1929 - the All-Union Tennis Section was created, the governing body in the development of tennis in the USSR.

1936-1937 - the great French tennis player A. Cochet came to the USSR, who opened his own tennis school in Moscow. Her audience included such famous Soviet masters as E. Korbut, N. Ozerov, S. Belits-Geiman, N. Nifontova, V. Filippova.

1942 - the championship of the capital took place in Moscow, in which N. Teplyakova and E. Korbut won.

1944 - 50 participants (26 men and 24 women) came to Moscow for the USSR military championship.

1956 - the USSR Tennis Federation was created; in the same year, the USSR Tennis Federation was admitted to the International Tennis Federation. Since 1956, international tennis tournaments have been regularly held in the USSR - a traditional winter international tournament on indoor courts, and since 1957 - an international summer tournament.

1958 - Soviet masters made their debut in official international tournaments under the auspices of the ITF. A. Dmitrieva and A. Potanin took part in the open championships of Kent County (Beckham tournament), London and the Wimbledon tournament among juniors. Dmitrieva took 2nd place at the Beckham tournament and became the second at Wimbledon. Potanin became the finalist of the Beckham tournament and reached the quarterfinals of the junior tournament at Wimbledon.

1962 - training of tennis specialists began in the USSR. At the State Central Institute of the Order of Lenin physical education opened the tennis department.

1964 - the youth team of the USSR (boys under 20) for the first time became the owner of the Galea Cup.

1967 - the USSR national team for the first time reached the zonal final of the Davis Cup.

1968 - the youth team of the USSR (girls under 20 years old) for the first time became the owner of the Suabo Cup.

1969 - Soviet tennis players won the European Championship among amateurs in the team event for the first time.

1970 - O. Morozova and A. Metreveli - finalists of the Wimbledon tournament in the mixed category.

1972 - A. Metreveli - winner of the open championships of five Australian states and the first racket of the world among amateurs.

1973 - A. Metreveli - finalist of the Wimbledon tournament in singles.

1974 - O. Morozova - Wimbledon finalist in singles and French champion in doubles (with K. Evert).

1987 - A. Chesnokov won the professional tournament in Florence and became the first Soviet tennis player to win the Grand Prix tournament.

1989 - N. Zvereva and L. Savchenko won the Roland Garros doubles tournament.

1990 - the first professional men's tennis tournament "Kremlin Cup" was held in Moscow; A. Cherkasov became its first winner.

1991 - N. Zvereva and L. Savchenko - the first Soviet tennis players to become Wimbledon champions (in doubles).

1996 - E. Kafelnikov won the French Open in singles and doubles. Kafelnikov is the first Russian tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament in singles (and score a "winning double").

1999 - E. Kafelnikov was the first Russian tennis player to take 1st place in the world singles ranking.

2000 - for the first time a Russian tennis player became the Olympic champion in tennis - E. Kafelnikov won the Olympic tournament in Sydney.

Marat Safin won the US Open.

2002 - the Russian team won the Davis Cup for the first time. In the final, held in the Parisian Bercy, the team led by Sh. Tarpishchev defeated the French team.

2004 - Anastasia Myskina won the Roland Garros final against compatriot Elena Dementieva - for the first time two representatives of Russia played in the Grand Slam final.

Maria Sharapova was the first Russian tennis player to win the Wimbledon singles tournament.

Svetlana Kuznetsova became the winner of the US Open in singles.

The Russian women's team for the first time won the Federation Cup. In Moscow, the Tarpishchev team won against the French team.

For the first time, the International Tennis Federation named a Russian woman the world champion among professional tennis players - Anastasia Myskina (world champion in 2004) became her.

2005 - Maria Sharapova was the first Russian woman to rise to the 1st step of the world ranking in singles.

2005 - the Russian team won the Federation Cup again. On the courts of Roland Garros, the Russians defeated the French team for the second time in a row.

2006 - the Russian men's team in the Moscow final of the Davis Cup won against Argentina and won the unofficial world team championship for the second time

2007 - 100 years after the first championship of Russia in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, Vsevolozhsk, the anniversary championship of Russia was held. The champions were: among men - Mikhail Elgin (St. Petersburg), among women - Anastasia Pivovarova (Moscow).

The Russian women's team won the Federation Cup for the third time in the last four years (Moscow, ISA Luzhniki).

Tennis (tennis)- a sport in which two players or two teams of two people compete with each other. The goal of each of the players / teams is to throw the ball to the opponent's side with a racket in such a way that the opponent cannot reflect it. In this case, the ball must touch the opponent's half of the field at least once.

The history of the emergence and development of tennis

The predecessor of tennis is considered to be the French game "jeu de paume" (French jeu de paume, literally playing with the palm of the hand). Unlike modern tennis, jeu de paume was played indoors and with the palm of the hand. Later, the palm was replaced by gloves, gloves were replaced by special bits, and only then did rackets appear.

One of the most famous references to tennis in medieval literature is the episode in Shakespeare's historical chronicle "Henry V", where the French dauphin sends a keg of tennis balls to the young English king in mockery.

Almost all French kings played tennis, Charles IX called tennis "one of the most noble, worthy and healthy exercises that princes, peers and other noble persons can do."

In 1900, students at Harvard University decided to organize a tournament for national teams. One of the students, Dwayne Davis, bought a silver cup for the winner at his own expense, and most importantly, drew up the rules for the tournament. Davis and two of his friends played for the US team, which won this tournament, and then the next in 1902. The Cup was held every year and was subsequently called the "Davis Cup", which is still a popular event in the world of tennis.

Beginning in the 1920s, professional tennis players began to earn money playing exhibition matches. The first professional tennis match in history took place on October 9, 1926 in New York at the Madison Square Garden indoor arena, in the presence of 13,000 spectators.

Tennis Rules

Players or teams must be different sides grids. One of the players is the server, the second, respectively, the receiver. The serving player must send the ball in such a way that it hits the court area in the opponent's half. The receiving player must have time to redirect (beat) the ball to the opponent's side before it hits the court or before it touches the court a second time. If one of the tennis players missed the ball, then his opponent gets a point.

A tennis match consists of “sets”, and these in turn are “games”, for which you need to score goals (minimum 4 goals: 15-30-40-game, but with a difference of at least two goals). When serving, the player has two attempts in which he alternately serves the ball into the left and right squares. After the game is played, the serve goes to the opponent. After playing an odd number of games, the players are given a one-minute break and the side is changed. The player who wins 6 games first (provided that his opponent won no more than 4 games) is considered to have won the set. To win a match, you must win 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 5 sets. Dialer required amount sets won, wins the match.

The rules for doubles in tennis are slightly different from singles, namely:

• the match takes place on a larger court;
• the ball is beaten off by the one who is in the best position;
• players of each team serve in turn;
• Players accept serves only from their side throughout the entire set.

At official matches there is a referee, he is on the tower. In addition to the referee on the tower in the match, there may be referees on the line who record the ball hitting the court area. Since 2006, tennis has been in the era of electronic refereeing systems (Eye of the hawk), which determine the place where the ball falls with high accuracy.

Tennis court

Standard size The tennis court is 23.77 meters long and 8.23 ​​meters wide (10.97 meters for doubles). The area of ​​the tennis court is about 196 m2. For the arrangement of tennis courts intended for competitions, an area equal to 668 m2 is required. The court has a rectangular shape with a flat surface with markings applied to it:

• The lines along the short sides of the court are called the back lines, and those along the long sides are called the lineouts.
• The service zones are marked on the court with service lines parallel to the back lines and the net, at a distance of 6.40 m from the net and drawn only between the side lines for single player, as well as the central supply line drawn in the middle of the court parallel to the side lines and between the supply lines. The center service line is also displayed on the net with a vertical white stripe stretched from the surface of the court to top edge grids.
• A short mark is applied to the back lines, indicating their middle.

In the middle of the court, a net is stretched, which runs along the entire width and divides it into two equal parts. Standard mesh size for tennis is 1.07 meters by 12.8 meters, and has square cells with a side of 4 centimeters.

Types of coatings for tennis courts:

• herbal (grass),
• ground (clay),
• solid (hard),
• synthetic carpets (artificial grass, acrylic coatings).

There are other types of tennis court surfaces, such as asphalt, wood or rubber surfaces, but they are not used in official matches. Tennis courts are open and covered.

Tennis equipment

Tennis equipment: tennis racket and ball. The racket consists of a handle and a rounded rim with stretched strings. Racket rim is made of complex composite materials (ceramics, carbon fiber, metal). Tennis racket strings can be either natural or synthetic. Previously it was believed that natural strings have the best performance, but today artificial strings have caught up with natural ones in terms of characteristics. Interestingly, the tension force of horizontal and vertical strings is usually different. Typically, a tennis racket is selected individually for each player.

There are special requirements for rackets from International Federation Tennis (ITF):

• The length of the racket must not exceed 73.66 cm.
• The width of the racket must not exceed 31.75 cm.
• The size of the stringed surface of the racket, that is, the internal dimension (to the rim) is 29.21 cm wide and 39.37 cm long.

The game is played with a yellow-white rubber ball. Outside, the ball is covered with fluffy felt to give certain aerodynamic properties.

tennis tournaments

1. In modern tennis, the 4 Grand Slam tournaments are considered the largest competitions:

• Australian Open - Australian Open
• Rolland Garos - French Open
• Wimbledon Championships - the most prestigious Grand Slam championship, takes place on the outskirts of London - Wimbledon
• US Open is the US Open.

1. The Davis Cup is the unofficial tennis world championship.
2. The Kremlin Cup is the largest championship in Russia.

tennis structures

• International Tennis Federation (ITF) - International Tennis Federation.
• Russian Tennis Federation.
• Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
• Children's International Organization.
• Junior International Tennis Organization.