This circa 1880 photo was taken just as lawn tennis, a new variation on the ancient game of court tennis, was gaining in popularity in the U.S., and a tennis court quickly became a status symbol at country clubs and private homes. “It’s the proper thing,” a newspaper wrote in 1887. “It is the only game that can be indulged in without the possibility of injury and is a favorite one with those who cannot excel in any game requiring physical strength.”
Origin of the term “love,” which means a score of zero: from the French l’oeuf, or egg, as in goose egg.
Number of sheep required to supply enough intestine to string one tennis racket: 11.
Last time a wooden racket was used at Wimbledon: 1987.
Finalists in the first Intergalactic Wimbledon tournament, as televised in 1969 on “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”: a Scotsman named Angus Podgorny and a giant blancmange.
