ABSTRACT
From the finely manicured lawns of Wimbledon, England, to the red clay of Roland Garros, France, to the hardcourts of Flushing Meadows, New York, tennis is indeed an international game. Part of its worldwide appeal may have come from the game's rich and varied history. Tennis is thought to have been derived from a type of handball played by ancient Greeks and Romans who batted a ball back and forth with their hands. Tennis found its way to fourteenth-century England where it became popular among the nobility. In 1881, the United States Lawn Tennis Association was founded and became America's governing body for the standardization of rules, equipment, and tournament play. Because tennis varies considerably in intensity and duration, high levels of all physical and motor fitness components are important.
