Major Walter Clopton Wingfield was a Welsh inventor and a British Army officer who was one of the pioneers of lawn tennis. Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1997 as the founder of modern lawn tennis, an example of the original equipment for the sport and a bust of Wingfield can be seen at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.
Wingfield from Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News 1881
Cover of the first edition of the book about Lawn Tennis by Walter Clopton Wingfield, published in February 1874.
Lawn Tennis Court as designed by W. C. W.
Blue plaque with the inscription; 'Major Walter Clopton Wingfield' (1833-1912) Father of lawn tennis lived here, 33 St George's Square, Pimlico, London
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball validly will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.
French singles player Guillaume Rufin serves to Czech player Tomáš Berdych in a tennis match at the 2013 Australian Open
Painting from Cremona; end of the 16th century
Jeu de paume in the 17th century
Augurio Perera's house in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, where he and Harry Gem first played the modern game of lawn tennis
