皇冠足球改单

　　网球运动的历史要追溯到古埃及和波斯。那里的一些图片显示，当时人们玩一隔着网来回击球的游戏。到了19世纪，现代网球运动正式在英国诞生，一位名叫梅杰·瓦尔特·温菲尔德的男子开启了这一历史。　　百家乐

　　The history of tennis goes all the way back to ancient Egypt and Persia where pictures indicate a type of game in which a ball was stroked1) over a net was played. The history of modern tennis officially began in 19th century Britain with a man named Major Walter Wingfield.易胜博怎么样

　　名字不俗

　　“嗨，玩玩‘司法瑞斯泰克’怎么样？”

　　所幸的是，这项运动延续了下来，但这个名称却没有。1874年，温菲尔德要这项运动申请专利，当时他选定的名字为 “sphairistike”。这个词来自希腊语，意思是 “球类游戏”。温菲尔德的“发明”灵感主要来源于13世纪法国的一种游戏，名叫“jeu de paume”，字面意思为“手掌游戏”。这一游戏在室内进行，游戏时，人们徒手将球击打过网。这项休闲运动颇受修道院的僧侣们的喜爱。

　　后来，“jeu de paume”逐渐演变为室内网球或皇家网球运动，得到了法国皇室的青睐。16世纪初期，法国国王弗朗西斯一世甚至在他的个人战舰上建造了一个皇家网球场。

　　What a Name for a Game

　　“Hey, how about a game of sphairistike?”

　　Fortunately the game survived but the name did not. Major Wingfield chose sphairistike, a Greek word meaning “ball game,” for the game he sought to patent in 1874. Much of Wingfield’s “invention” was based on a game played in 13th Century France called jeu de paume—literally “game of the palm.” This game was played indoors by hitting a ball over a net with a bare hand. The game was a popular recreation among monks in their monasteries.

　　Jeu de Paume evolved into a game called real tennis or royal tennis that became popular among French royalty. In the early 1500s, the French monarch, Francis I even had a royal tennis court built on his personal battleship.

　　网球之父

　　当梅杰·温菲尔德在圣诞宴会上向他的朋友们介绍‘司法瑞斯泰克’时，有证据表明，当时的英国已经有类似的娱乐运动。早在1858年，来自英国的梅杰·T·H·杰姆和来自西班牙的J·B·佩雷拉就在草地上规划出了网球场。但是，对于自己的所作所为，他们当时既未记录在案，也没申请专利，所以时至今日，人们仍然认为温菲尔德才是网球运动之父。

　　“网球”这个名称显然也与“jeu de paume”颇有渊源。法国人在击球前会喊“Tenetz!”(编者注：该词与网球的英文写法“tennis”十分相近)，意思是“小心！”

　　Tennis Anyone?

　　By the time Major Wingfield introduced his friends to sphairistike at a Christmas party, there is evidence that similar games were already being played in England. Major T.H. Gem of Britain and J.B. Perera of Spain had marked out a tennis court on a lawn as early as 1858. But they were not the one’s who wrote down what they had done and sought a patent, so today it is Wingfield who is considered the father of the game.

　　The name “tennis” apparently also goes back to jeu de paume. The French would yell, “Tenetz!” before they hit the ball. The word means, “Take heed.”

　　一看便知

　　梅杰·温菲尔德发明的运动看起来很像我们今天的网球运动。运动时，两名或四名运动员手执球拍，在一块特定的场地上打球。场地呈沙漏状，中部有球网的地带较窄，底线地带较宽。根据历史学家的记录，在温菲尔德发明的网球运动中，球网有5～7英尺高。而如今，场地中心地带的球网最高点距离地面的高度是三英尺。目前的球场呈长方形，长78英尺，单打场地宽27英尺，双打场地宽36英尺。

　　不久以后，人们开始把网球运动称作“草地网球”(虽然“司法瑞斯泰克”这一名字后来简略为“斯蒂克”，但仍然很快被弃而不用) 。草地网球在英国的中上阶层中迅速普及开来。这是一项在聚会上很受欢迎的运动。英国的陆军军官们开始将草地网球带到世界其他地方。玛丽·奥特布里奇就是从百慕大群岛的一位英国军官那里得知网球的。1874年，玛丽将这项运动及其设备带回了纽约。她的哥哥在纽约斯塔滕岛板球棒球俱乐部建了一个网球场。网球就这样来到了美国。

　　You’d Recognize It If You Saw It

　　Major Wingfield’s game looked much like the tennis we know today. Two or four players with rackets played on a court that was shaped like an hourglass2)—narrower in the middle at the net and wider along the baselines3). Historians report the height of the net as being from five to seven feet in Wingfield’s version of the game. Today, the top of the net is three feet high in the center of the court. Courts now are rectangular and measure 78 feet long and 27 feet wide for singles play and 36 feet wide for doubles.

　　Lawn tennis, as it soon came to be called (the name sphairistike was quickly ditched4) even after it was shortened to “sticky”) spread quickly through the upper and middle class of Britain. It was a popular party game. British army officers began to take the game to other parts of the world. Mary Outerbridge learned tennis from a British officer in Bermuda5). In 1874, she brought the game, including the equipment, back to the New York where her brother set up a court at the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club. Tennis had come to America.