The modern game of tennis dates from 1874, when the rules were defined by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield. Published in association with the All England Lawn Tennis Club (Wimbledon), this book examines the history of the rules of tennis from their first codification to the present day.

The modern game of tennis was first invented as late as the 1870s. Tennis had been known for hundreds of years but was played on an indoor court and was thus only really available to the rich. In 1873 Walter Winglefield introduced the world to the game that was to become lawn tennis and decided to call it sphairistike. Here is a facsimile reprint of the Rules of 1874, featuring press comments, a list of players and a price list for all the equipment.

Excerpt from Methods and Players of Modern Lawn Tennis I Have no patience with the players who say: "I do not read books on lawn tennis, and have no use for fine-spun theories." Mediocrity is almost always their portion. Their enjoyment of the game suffers because they neither theorise themselves nor study the theories evolved by others. When, about fifteen years ago, I began to play lawn tennis with some seriousness, my first thought was to secure instruction from the leading writers on the game. To a close study of the rules for rudimentary play laid down by, singularly enough, J. Parmly Paret in the Spalding Guide of that day, I owe, in considerable measure, what small portion of skill I have managed to accumulate. In particular, my possession of a backhand that is passable is due directly to Parct's admonitions on this subject. An understanding of my own needs has taught me what other players need. Furthermore, as publisher of "American Lawn Tennis" I have sold thousands of books on the game, which has made it possible for me to learn what the average player wants in a book. Out of this knowledge grew the determination to produce such a book, and the present volume is the result of that determination. Its title, "Methods and Players of Modem Lawn Tennis," designates it exactly. It deals with methods and players exclusively, and is designed to be a textbook for players desirous of improving their play. That it will accomplish this purpose, if closely and intelligently studied, I am absolutely convinced. I have been profoundly impressed with the success of the efforts the author has made to produce a book that would make a three-fold appeal to the beginner, to the average player and to the expert. The beginner will find in these pages a work that will start him right on the path to proficiency and ground him in the elements of the game. The average player will have before him a textbook that deals exhaustively with the production of strokes and their uses and the employment of proper tactics and generalship on the court. The expert, finally, will discover here much food for thought, no matter how thoroughly he may know the game. The book contains the most wonderful compilation of expert opinions that has ever been made. In laying the structure of the work, a series of over forty questions was drawn up, each dealing with some disputed point of play. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.