Whether you play tennis professionally, as an amateur, or just watch it on TV, it doesn’t matter when it comes to interesting facts.
Everyone seems to enjoy this topic. Today, we have prepared the top 5 most interesting facts about tennis for you.
If you are a true fan, you should know that a game starts from zero. You probably also know that English-speaking tennis players say “love” instead of “zero.” Have you ever wondered why? There are two options, two correct answers: the term appeared in 1792 and meant “to play for love,” which can be understood as “to play selflessly.” The second option is a translation from French “L’Oeuf,” which means “egg.” It looks like zero, doesn’t it?
If you’ve always wanted to play tennis but were held back by the fact that you’re left-handed, you gave up on your dream for no reason. It’s no secret that there are many left-handed tennis players, such as Feliciano López, Michaël Llodra, Greg Rusedski, Robert Renner, and others. But that’s not the interesting part! Spain’s Rafael Nadal chose this path himself: although he is right-handed, he plays with his left hand.
Following his uncle’s advice, Rafael learned to use a racket with his left hand from the age of 12, which allows him to hit his opponent’s weak side and make more maneuverable serves.
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Yellow-green felt and rubber balls, of which about 300 million are produced each year, are difficult to dispose of. This is understandable, since the rubber from which the ball is made is difficult to recycle.
The British have approached this problem with particular creativity – after big matches, the balls are collected so that they can later be used as homes for field mice. Isn’t that ingenious?
Why is tennis called that?
Modern dictionaries describe the origin of the word “tennis” quite briefly. The word comes from the French imperative verb tenez, which means “hold.” There is also an alternative version. ‘Tennis’ comes from the French word tamis, which translates as “net.” However, the second hypothesis is not credible, since nets appeared in the game much later.
Why tennis is called that Italian manuscripts from the 12th-13th centuries describe a game very similar to tennis, but the ancient author calls it “gidoco.” One of the most incredible hypotheses belongs to Malcolm Whitman. In his book Tennis: Origins and Mysteries, he considers many possible origins of the word, but comes to a rather controversial conclusion.
Whitman points out that the first mentions of a game similar to tennis are found in sources relating to ancient Egyptian civilization. In an Egyptian city that the French called de Tennis, they made the best fabric for stuffing balls.
