The game of tennis dates back to the Stone Age, when man first used clubs to hit rocks, but the French gave the sport isn't modern look and name.
Derived from the French word "tenez," meaning "take it" or "play," the country's influence goes back as far as the 10th century. The game originally was played with mounds of dirt separating both sides of the court and a rope chord served as the net or out of bounds.
The tennis racket started its evolution in the 1500s, going from all-wood to a newer version with a wooden handle and sheep gut serving as a head. The sport became the national pastime in France as Paris already had over 1,000 courts.
The next major landmark for the sport wouldn't come until the 1850s, when a court was mapped for the outdoors on grass. Major Walter Wingfield developed new rules for the sport fifteen years later, where only the server could score and a seven-foot net divided the court.
Tennis gained popularity in the U.S. in 1874 and the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association was formed seven years later.
Tennis was one of the original sports of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 and remained in the Games until 1924. An ongoing conflict between what defined amateur and professional play kept the sport out of the Olympics until the 1988 games when pros were eligible to participate.