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For original tennis designs on t-shirts, mugs, and gifts, visit Slightly Skewed Tees and Gifts

 

Each month we explore at a different topic in a  'not quite normal'  way. A Google search for "tennis" returns approximately 397,000,000 results. From those I have attempted to share some of the most interesting. Here now is the Pickles and Peanut Butter salute to

 Tennis

For those who don't know, a brief history of tennis. I was able to find various different histories, so if you've heard it differently - sorry.

Although some believe that tennis was practiced all the way back in the times of Homer and Ovid, there are also accounts of a similar game played in Mexico, Egypt, Spain, and Renaissance Italy. In addition, several books in the 16th century were written about games akin to tennis. But of all the educated guesses, one of the more popular beliefs is that tennis has its origins in the late 19th century in Great Britain.

Present day tennis  likely has its origins in the "Jeu de Paume", which was practiced at the King's Court in the 13th century.  At the foot of the Windsor Castle ramparts, and in the majority of royal British residences, a "tennys courte" could always be found. This trend was credited to Henry VII, who had four courts built on the land surrounding Whitehall Palace. The word "tenetz", which was cried out by the player upon serving the ball to his opponent, eventually gained acceptance throughout Europe and became the deciding factor in the unification of the "Jeu de Paume".

In 1883, the dimension of the tennis court were established and have not changed since then. The first international match at Wimbledon took place in July 1883 when the Clark brothers, representing the U.S., competed against the Renshaw twins, representing Great Britain.

The Origins of the Scoring System
Jean Gosselin, a grammarian, wrote in 1579 that the winning score of 60 came from a sexageismal system widlely used in the 14th and 15th centuries for the weight and values of coins. Sixty was a reference number, just as 100 is in the metric system.  In order to win the game, the player used the dial of a clock as a reference: 15, 30 and 45 (45 was soon simplified to 40 for linguistic reasons).

A tie score upon attaining the third point was expressed as a "a deux", signifying that the winner would have to win the set by two points. In English, "a duex" became "deuce". As for the word "love", which represents a score of zero, there exist several explanations. Some believe it comes from the French word "l'oeuf", which has more or less the same shape as a zero. Another popular belief is that this expression came from the transformation of the word "love", synonymous with "nothing"; hence the popular expressions, "for the love of the game".

One of the most famous tennis matches of all time was the "Battle of the Sexes" between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973. 

Check out some funny cartoons at THE WACKY WORLD OF TENNIS

See the dog that set the record for tennis balls in his mouth (5).

What dog wouldn't love chasing balls flung from a Tennis Ball Slingshot . Or perhaps chocolate, vanilla and peanut butter flavored tennis balls. Maybe you would prefer peppermint?

Anyone who has played tennis in the usual way would be hard-pressed to imagine playing tennis in a wheelchair.
 

Something for which I have no use, but perhaps you do - a pair of Puma tennis shoes with a built-in computerized pedometer.

Perhaps you have a use for magnetic tennis balls.

Too much tennis? Perhaps you have a case of lateral epicondylitis (Tennis Elbow )

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Pop Quiz Time (scroll down for answers)

1. How high is the tennis net at the ends and the middle?
2. In a doubles match, if on a return a player's ball hits the opposing player unintentionally, who gets the point., or is the point replayed?
3. Is it legal to volley a return of serve without letting the ball bounce?
4. How many lets are allowed on a second serve?
5.Is it legal to hit some balls left handed and others right handed (during a single point)?
6.What's the tennis ball fuzz made of?
7.If the net person extends his/her racquet over the net (breaks the net plane) while returning a shot, whose point is this? Is this legal?
8.If I am playing doubles and my opponent hits the ball on a double bounce and I call it our point, is it their call or mine?
9.You hit a very short drop shot that lands on your opponent's side, then bounces back over the net onto your side without your opponent touching it. Who gets the point?
10.In the middle of a point, just as your opponent is about to hit a ball, you yell, "Don't miss!" Your opponent misses and says you distracted him. Who gets the point?

Fastest Tennis Serve
The fastest tennis service by a man (measured with modern equipment) is 246.2 km/h (153 mph) by Andy Roddick (USA)  on June 11, 2004.

The fastest server in the women’s game is Venus Williams (USA), who recorded a serve of 205 km/h (127.4 mph)  on October 16, 1998.

Highest Earnings In Tennis
Pete Sampras earned over $43 million in his career

Longest Game
     The longest known singles game was one of 37 deuces (80 points) between Anthony Fawcett (Rhodesia) and Keith Glass (Great Britain) in the first round of the  Great Britain Championships  on May 26, 1975. It lasted 31 min. Noelle van Lottum and Sandra Begijn played a game lasting 52 min in the semifinals of the Dutch Indoor Championships  on  February 12,  1984. The longest tiebreak was 26-24 for the fourth and decisive set of a first round men's doubles at the Wimbledon Championships on  July 1, 1985. January Gunnarsson  (Sweden) and Michael Mortensen (Denmark) defeated John Frawley (Australia) and Victor Pecci (Paraguay) 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6. The longest rally in tournament play was one of 643 times over the net  between Vicky Nelson and Jean Hepner at Richmond, VA in October 1984. The 6 hr 22 min match was  won by Nelson 6-4, 7-6. It concluded with a 1 hr 47 min tiebreak, 13-11, for which one point took 29 minutes. Will Duggan and Ron Kapp (both USA) performed a rally of 6,202 strokes, which took 3 hr 33 minutes, at Santa Barbara Municipal Stadium, CA on  March 12, 1988.

Top 10 Other Uses For Tennis Balls (besides dog toys)

1. Make a two-inch slit along one seam of a Tennis Ball, then place coins or valuables inside.
2. Throw in a handful of Tennis Balls to fluff the down of a  jacket or pillow  in the dryer.
3. Hang a Tennis Ball on a string from the garage ceiling so it will hit the windshield at the spot where you should stop your car.
4. Slit a Tennis Ball and put it over the trailer hitch as a protective cover.
5. Cut a hole in two Tennis Balls and fit them on the back feet of the walker.
6. Give yourself a foot massage. Roll your foot over a Tennis Ball.
7. Prevent a deck chair from slipping through the cracks of a dock or a student's chair from scraping along a non-carpeted floor.
8. Keep your car door open without wasting the battery. Wedge a Tennis Ball into the door jamb to depress the interior light switch.
9. Cover over outside padlocks to protect them from the elements.
10. Prevent snoring. Sew a tennis ball inside a pocket on the back of your pajama top to prevent you from sleeping on your back.

How to Juggle tennis balls

Answers to the Pop Quiz

1.36" at the center, 42" at the ends.
2.The team who hit the ball gets the point.
3.No. 
4.As many as you need. No limit.
5.Yes, as long as it hits the racquet it doesn't matter which hand.
6.The fuzz, or felt, is usually made of wool treated  to make it last longer and resist staining.
7.The person loses the point if he/she strikes the ball before it reaches the net plane. If he strikes the ball on his side of the net and his follow through goes over the net, then this is OK. It is only illegal if part of him (clothes, racquet, ...) touches the net or contacts the ball before it has passed the net plane.
8.The person/team attempting to hit the ball gets to make the call (just like an in/out call on their side of the court).
9.You do.
10. He does.

So, how'd you do?

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Finally, a little tennis humor.

You should never marry a tennis player, because, to them, love means nothing.

Q. How many tennis players does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. “What do you mean it was out, it was in!!!”

Q. What is the definition of endless love?
A. Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder playing tennis.

Q: Where do ghosts play tennis?
A: On a tennis corpse!