ABSTRACT
Sport, according to the upper-middle classes, should be played according to the ethos of a 'gentleman amateur'. In lawn tennis, the amateur ethos defined appropriate behaviour toward opponents and teammates and what types of shot were acceptable on court. Dialogue in the leading lawn tennis magazines of the late nineteenth century focused predominantly on the men's singles game. Up until the early 1880s, the only approach permitted by the court conditions resembled badminton in its interminable 'pat-ball' style, with weak, looping shots over the net imparted with spin. In 1885, the AELTC rejected a proposal to introduce a ladies doubles championship on the grounds that 'it would not represent serious competitive tennis', and most women agreed it would be 'no more than a boring and interminable form of pat-ball'. As lawn tennis spread over time beyond its "fashionable" clientele to more serious players, dominant themes related to playing style, behavioural etiquette and fashion were challenged and replaced.
