The evolution of the game of tennis; Part 2
Wimbledon and U.S. Open were the major tournament of tennis until 20th century. British players remained into the limelight in early Wimbledon Championships. Arthur Gore was very popular for his exceptional performance on the field. Dorothea Douglass Lambert was the center of attention in women’s section. She has seven Wimbledon victories to her name. In 1915, Norwegian Molla Mallory joined the group of winners. She won eight such Grand titles.
In the twentieth century world saw British, American, and French players climbing up the stairs of success. The American player Bill Tilden was three times Wimbledon champion. French players also marked their presence in the game and won many championships from 1924 to 1929. Jean Borotra, Rene Lacoste and Henri Cochet were among the titles winner of that time.
With the evolution of game, the tennis equipment also went through a lot modifications and improvements. Up until the year 1970, only the wooden rackets were used. For players’ convenience, a leather grip was used at the handles and natural gut thread was in use. The wooden racket was heavy in weight, so aluminium and steel rackets were invented. These rackets were lightweight and very easy to play with. With the passage of time, more light-weight materials were found to use in the making of rackets. Starting in the early 80s, different types of material such as titanium, Kevlar, graphite composites and fiber glass were used by the racket manufacturing companies. These new material were very cost effective. They offer more flexibility and durability.
Clothing is a medium for personal expression of player’s style and it has lot of importance. Over the last hundred years tennis clothes have had a lot changes in style, fabric and color. In England, players put on formal outfits during the early lawn tennis matches. Women were supposed to wear full-length clothes. Men had the freedom to wear long pants and proper, long sleeve shirts. White color dresses were used by both men and women players. There is great contrast between the formal style of that age and the modern dressing of tennis players. Modern players prefer to wear synthetic fabrics which are more suitable for an athletic play. Today the tennis warehouses have much more variety of clothing and equipment for the players to choose from. In the old times, dresses were very simple and plain because the sponsors were least involved. Now-a-days a huge number of sponsors is engaged in the game of tennis. Players are chosen as brand-ambassadors by various companies such as Nike, Addidas, and Yahoo etc.
By the mid 80s, there was change in the style of game. Most of the players adopted new styles of hitting two-handed backhands and the open stance forehands. As a result it was easy to hit the high-bouncing ball with topspin and speed. Another routine was common among the players that they started making contact with the ball closer to the shoulder height which took the serve on a different role.
In the late 20th century, the tennis equipment and court surfaces had various adjustments. Off-the-hook technology was brought into the game and it revolutionized the game. The set of rules is almost same but Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Change were among the best player. They continued their success in majors, and were joined by the outstanding crew of players such as Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, and Rafael.
The bottom line is that tennis has changed drastically with time and it will bring more changes in the coming years, simply because the evolution is always on a run. Tennis has become even more exciting in its current form. Now the world has to wait and see what difference it will make in the next years.
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