1.
Belgium
–
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
2.
Ostend
–
Ostend is a Belgian coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, in earlier times, Ostend was a small village built on the east-end of an island between the North Sea and a beach lake. Although small, the rose to the status of town around 1265 when the inhabitants were allowed to hold a market. The major source of income for the inhabitants was fishing, the North Sea coastline has always been rather unstable and in 1395 the inhabitants decided to build a new Ostend behind large dikes and further away from the always-threatening sea. The strategic position on the North Sea coast had major advantages for Ostend as a harbour, the town was frequently taken, ravaged, ransacked and destroyed by conquering armies. The Dutch rebels, the Gueuzen, took control of the town and this shocking event set in motion negotiations that led to a truce several years later. When the truce broke down, it became a Dunkirker base, after this era, Ostend was turned into a harbour of some importance. In 1722, the Dutch again closed off the entrance to the worlds biggest harbour of Antwerp, therefore, Ostend rose in importance because the town provided an alternative exit to the sea. The Belgium Austriacum had become part of the Austrian Empire, the Austrian Emperor Charles VI granted the town the trade monopoly with Africa and the Far-East. The Oostendse Compagnie was allowed to found colonies overseas, however, in 1727 the Oostendse Compagnie was forced to stop its activities because of Dutch and British pressure. The Netherlands and Britain would not allow competitors on the trade level. Both nations regarded international trade as their privilege, on 19 September 1826 the local artillery magazine exploded. At least 20 people were killed and a further 200 injured, the affluent quarter of dHargras was levelled and scarcely a building in the city escaped damage. Disease followed the leading to further deaths. The harbour of Ostend continued to expand because the harbour dock, in 1838, a railway connection with Brussels was constructed. Ostend became a harbour to England in 1846 when the first ferry sailed to Dover. Very important for the image of the town was the attention it started to receive from the Belgian kings Leopold I, both liked to spend their holidays in Ostend. Important monuments and villas were built to please the Royal Family, including the Hippodrome Wellington horse racing track, the rest of aristocratic Belgium followed and soon Ostend became known as The Queen of the Belgian sea-side resorts
3.
The Championships, Wimbledon
–
The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and is widely considered the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. Since the Australian Open shifted to hardcourt in 1988, Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass. The tournament takes place two weeks in late June and early July, culminating with the Ladies and Gentlemens Singles Final. Five major, junior, and invitational events are each year. Wimbledon traditions include a dress code for competitors and Royal patronage. The tournament is notable for the absence of sponsor advertising around the courts. In 2009, Wimbledons Centre Court was fitted with a roof to lessen the loss of playing time due to rain. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is a club founded on 23 July 1868. Its first ground was off Worple Road, Wimbledon, in 1876, lawn tennis, a game devised by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so earlier and originally given the name Sphairistikè, was added to the activities of the club. In spring 1877, the club was renamed The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, a new code of laws, replacing the code administered by the Marylebone Cricket Club, was drawn up for the event. Todays rules are similar except for such as the height of the net and posts. The inaugural 1877 Wimbledon Championship started on 9 July 1877 and the Gentlemens Singles was the event held. It was won by Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player, about 200 spectators paid one shilling each to watch the final. The lawns at the ground were arranged so that the court was in the middle with the others arranged around it. The name was retained when the Club moved in 1922 to the present site in Church Road, however, in 1980 four new courts were brought into commission on the north side of the ground, which meant the Centre Court was once more correctly defined. The opening of the new No.1 Court in 1997 emphasised the description, by 1882, activity at the club was almost exclusively confined to lawn tennis and that year the word croquet was dropped from the title. However, for reasons it was restored in 1899
4.
International Tennis Federation
–
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national associations, the ITF partners with the Womens Tennis Association and the Association of Tennis Professionals to govern professional tennis. The ITF sanctions the Grand Slam tennis tournaments as well as circuits which span age ranges as well as disciplines, in addition to these circuits, the ITF also maintains rankings for juniors, seniors, wheelchair, and beach tennis. Duane Williams, an American who lived in Switzerland, is recognized as the initiator. Three other countries could not attend but had requested to become a member, voting rights were divided based on the perceived importance of the individual countries with Great Britains Lawn Tennis Association receiving the maximum six votes. France received permission to stage the World Hard Court Championships until 1916, the USLTA joined in 1923 on the basis of two compromises, the title World Championships would be abolished and wording would be for ever in the English language. In 1924, the ILTF became the officially recognised organisation with authority to control lawn tennis throughout the world, in 1939 the ILTF had 59 member nations. Its funds were moved to London, England during World War II and it was based at Wimbledon until 1987, when it moved to Barons Court, next door to Queens Club. It then moved again in 1998 to the Bank of England Sports Ground, Roehampton, in 1977 the word Lawn was dropped from the name of the organization, in recognition of the fact that most tennis events were no longer played on grass. Its official annual is The ITF Year, describing the activities of the ITF over last 12 months and this replaced World of Tennis, which was the ITF official annual from 1981 through 2001. In addition it publishes an official magazine ITFWorld three times a year, as of 2016, there are 211 national associations affiliated with the ITF, of which 148 are voting members and 63 are associate members. For example, France garners 12 votes, Canada has 9, Egypt has 5, Pakistan has 3, regional associations were created in July 1975 as six supra-national associations with the aim to decrease the gap between the ILTF and the national associations. Candidates are nominated by the associations, and may serve up to twelve years. The ITF is the governing body for the sport of tennis. By its own constitution, the ITF guarantees that the official Rules of Tennis shall be for ever in the English language, a committee within the ITF periodically makes rule amendment recommendations to the Board of Directors. The Rules of Tennis encompass the manner of play and scoring, in-game coaching, the Rules cover tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. Through the Tennis Anti-Doping Program, the ITF implements the World Anti-Doping Code for tennis, National associations must implement the code within its national jurisdiction, report violations up to the ITF and WADA, and report annually about all testing conducted. The Tennis Anti-Doping Program began in 1993, and applies to all players who play in ITF-sanctioned competitions, as well as tournaments on the ATP Tour and WTA Tour
5.
Davis Cup
–
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in mens tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format and it is described by the organisers as the World Cup of Tennis, and the winners are referred to as the World Champion team. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Great Britain and the United States, by 2016,135 nations entered teams into the competition. The most successful countries over the history of the tournament are the United States, the present champions are Argentina who beat Croatia to win the title for the first time in 2016. The womens equivalent of the Davis Cup is the Fed Cup, Australia, the Czech Republic, and the United States are the only countries to have held both Davis Cup and Fed Cup titles in the same year. The Hopman Cup, a competition for mixed teams, carries less prestige. The tournament was conceived in 1899 by four members of the Harvard University tennis team who wished to challenge the British to a tennis competition and they in turn commissioned a classically styled design from William B. Durgins of Concord, New Hampshire, crafted by the Englishman Rowland Rhodes, Davis went on to become a prominent politician in the United States in the 1920s, serving as US Secretary of War from 1925 to 1929 and as Governor-General of the Philippines from 1929 to 1932. The first match, between the United States and Britain, was held at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, the American team, of which Dwight Davis was a part, surprised the British by winning the first three matches. The following year the two countries did not compete, but the US won the match in 1902 and Britain won the four matches. By 1905 the tournament expanded to include Belgium, Austria, France, and Australasia, the tournament was initially titled the International Lawn Tennis Challenge although it soon became known as the Davis Cup, after Dwight Davis trophy. The Davis Cup competition was played as a challenge cup. All teams competed against one another for the right to face the previous champion in the final round. Beginning in 1923, the teams were split into two zones, the America Zone and the Europe Zone. The winners of the two met in the Inter-Zonal Zone to decide which national team would challenge the defending champion for the cup. In 1955 a third zone, the Eastern Zone, was added, because there were three zones, the winner of one of the three zones received a bye in the first round of the INZ challenger rounds. In 1966, the Europe Zone was split into two zones, Europe Zone A and Europe Zone B, so the winners of the four competed in the INZ challenger rounds. From 1950 to 1967, Australia dominated the competition, winning the Cup 15 times in 18 years
6.
Brussels
–
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
7.
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
–
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode or Sint-Joost-ten-Node is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It is bordered by the City of Brussels and Schaerbeek, on 1 January 2007 the municipality had a total population of 23,785. The total area is 1.14 km² which gives a density of 20,664 inhabitants per km². From a total of 589 municipalities in Belgium, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode is both the smallest in size and the highest in population density. Named after Judoc, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode was originally a village on the outskirts of Brussels. The area surrounding that castle was planted with wine groves which explains the presence of the bushel of grapes in the coat of arms of the commune, after the demolition of the ramparts, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode was one of the first areas outside Brussels to urbanise. The rich built houses around the new boulevards and higher parts of the commune, while industries, according to an inventory of architecture commissioned by the region of Brussels, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode has on average the oldest buildings of all 19 Brussels communes. From, Histoire de Saint Josse Ten Noode et de Schaerbeek – Van Bemmel –1869 and other sources available at the local public library
8.
World Hard Court Championships
–
World Hard Court Championships was an annual major tennis tournament held from 1912 to 1923, principally in Paris, France. The venue was the courts of the Stade Français in Saint-Cloud, Paris, with one exception. The French Championships were also held at a different venue at the time and this would change in 1925 when the current four Majors began to be designated as such. The WHCC was not played in 1924, when Paris hosted the Olympic Games and its tennis tournament, also held on clay courts, from 1928, the French Championships moved to Stade Roland Garros. Anthony Wilding was the only multiple champion in the singles event, winning the title in 1913 and 1914. World Covered Court Championships Detailed history of World Hard Court Championships Detailed results of World Hard Court Championships
9.
Major Ritchie
–
Major Josiah George Ritchie was a male tennis player from Great Britain. He was born in Westminster and died in Ashford, Middlesex and he was a three-time medalist at the 1908 London Olympics. At the Games he won a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal and he remained the last British player to win an Olympic medal in singles until Andy Murray won Gold in the 2012 games, also in London. In 1908 and 1910 he and Anthony Wilding won the doubles in Wimbledon, in 1909 he reached the Wimbledon singles Challenge Round, losing to Arthur Gore. He also reached the All-Comers final in 1902,1903 and 1904, in March 1907 Ritchie caused an upset by defeating Lawrence Doherty in the Monte Carlo singles final. In June 1907 he won the Irish championships, Ritchie was a five times winner of the Championships of Germany, played in Hamburg, from 1903 to 1906 and in 1908. He was also a winner of the singles title at the Austrian Championship. In 1908 he was member of the British Davis Cup team and he won three consecutive titles at the Surrey Championships from 1908–1910. In 1911 Ritchie won the Queens Club Covered Courts Championship, defeating Wilding in five sets, in 1920, at age 50, he reached the semifinal of the World Covered Court Championships at the Queens Club in London. He was ranked World No.8 for 1905,1908 and 1909 by Karoly Mazak, Ritchie was also active in other sports. In 1903 he competed in a regatta in Laleham and won the single sculls, in addition he competed in table tennis and was the secretary of the Table Tennis Association, founded in 1902. That year he co-authored a book on table tennis titled Table tennis and how to play it, in 1909 he authored The Text Book of Lawn Tennis. Major Ritchie at the International Tennis Federation Major Ritchie at the Davis Cup Josiah Ritchie at Sports Reference Olympics Profile
Belgium