by From its unexplained scoring, to its murky origins, to the ‘Tennis Court Oath’: here are the mysteries of tennis.
Tennis is one of the world’s most popular sports. In 2024, the International Tennis Federation estimated it was played in 199 countries, by more than 100 million people.
Its popularity is also increasing: player numbers had jumped by 25% in five years.
Part of tennis’s appeal is its ubiquity. At the highest level it is played by elite, professional athletes who earn multi-million dollar incomes; at the local park it can be played for fun by almost anyone.
Despite its widespread reach and growing appeal, tennis’s history is surprisingly mysterious. It’s origins and development are full of gaps, its scoring and terminology match no other sport; even the roots of the word ‘tennis’ are shrouded in mystery.
Jeu De Paume
While the mysteries of tennis are many, what is certain is that the game we know today was first played under a different name, from where its rules were derived. This a French game called ‘Jeu De Paume’ (‘Game of the Palm’).
Jeau De Paume dates from the twelfth century, where it started as a pastime for French monks. Later it would become popular among the aristocracy.
The game was played on a small indoor court between two people, who hit a ball back and forth using the palm of their hand. As it became more widely played, gloves were added, then rackets, a net was eventually strung across the court, and the dimensions enlarged.
By the 16th century, Jeu De Paume had spread throughout western Europe. There were more than 1 000 courts in Paris alone, Henry VIII was an enthusiastic player.
Scoring From the Clock
Jeu De Paume distinguished itself with an unusual scoring system, unlike that of any other sport.
Players take turns serving, the ball must be hit over the net and within the boundaries of the court. If a player fails to do so, their opponent wins a point.
But not one point.
Scores advance in increments of fifteen, and then ten. An imaginary game, where the players took turns winning points, would look like:
0 – 0
15 – 0
15 – 15
30 – 15
30 – 30
40 – 30
40 – 40
How was such an unusual system arrived at?
There are written accounts of Jeu De Paume dating back almost to its creation, this confirms the scoring system was used from the outset. One difference, highlighted in the records, is that the scoring used to go 15 – 30 – 45.
It is not known why 45 was changed to 40. A common guess is that as 40 is slightly faster to say, it may have started as a kind of slang term, before being officially adopted.
To some, the 15 – 30 – 45 structure suggests the minutes on a clock face.
‘One of the most common suggestions is that the progression is related to minutes on a clock. The monks looked at the clock, the 4 points of it, and somehow felt that was a good way of scoring.’
– ‘Love Game: A History of Tennis’, Elizabeth Wilson
You will often see or hear this idea stated as a fact.
But the mysteries of tennis have a few explanations like this. Theories that sound perfectly logical, for which there is no supporting evidence.
And this is the case here. Nowhere in the historic records is there any confirmation that the scoring system was based on a clock, or that clocks were used in the scoring itself (as is also sometimes proposed).
In fact, as far back as the 1600s, there are records indicating that the unusual scoring system was a puzzle, even then.
The clock face theory has another major shortcoming. Minute hands were not introduced until the 16th century, and clocks did not become widely utilised until even later than that.
The Love Zero
Within the mysterious scoring system, a sub-mystery. In tennis, a zero is referred to by the term ‘love’; how this developed is not known either.
One repeated suggestion traces the etymology to the French ‘l’oeuf’, meaning egg, an object the same shape as the number 0. But French language experts have dismissed this: there is no evidence to indicate that l’oeuf was ever used as a synonym for zero.
It’s translation into English is problematic as well, as the pronunciation is more similar to ‘leaf’ than love.
A different idea links the term to the common phrase, ‘neither for love nor money’, which is known as far back as the 10th century. This phrase places love and money as opposites, which could be interpreted as indicating that someone with love, would therefore have nothing of tangible value, i.e. zero.
While plausible, this does seem highly convoluted.
Anyone for Teneys?
Jeu De Paume left its mark on French history.
In June 1789, members of the ‘Estates General’, a kind of proto-Parliament appointed by the King, found themselves locked out of their meeting hall at Versailles. The group had been demanding greater autonomy and some curbs on the King’s power, Louis XVI responded by trying to disband the assembly.
Outraged members instead moved to a nearby Jeu De Paume court, and swore an oath not to separate until France had a new constitution. History would come to know this as, ‘The Tennis Court Oath’: it was the beginning of the French Revolution.
Here you can also see, Jeu De Paume morphing into ‘tennis’.
Tennis is one of those words that English is littered with, that seemingly arrived from nowhere. No one has been able to determine exactly when the word was first used, or conclusively what its roots are.
‘Suggestions on the origin of tennis go back to the beginning of English lexicography, and one could teach a semester-long course using only the attempts to discover who, where, when, and why called the game this. The game of tennis is not called tennis in any other language, unless a borrowing from English is used.’
– Anatoly Liberman, Oxford University
Of course, there are many theories.
If the game’s origins are French, perhaps the word was originally French as well: some have tried to link it to ‘tenir’ or ‘tenez’, which both mean, ‘to hold’. Proponents of this theory suggest that French players of Jeu De Paume would yell ‘Tenir!’, when they were about to serve.
This explanation appears in an English dictionary in the 17th century.
Reasonable though this sounds, there is a problem. In Jeu De Paume’s extensively documented history, there is no record of players actually yelling ‘Tenir!’ or ‘Tenez!’ during play.
Perhaps then, the word is a wholly English creation?
In England, the initial spelling was ‘tenetz’ or ‘teneys’, and some have proposed it evolved from ‘tense’; originally a kind of heavy sieve, used for making flour. The back and forth motion of the sieving, may have reminded some of the sport.
An even more farfetched theory suggests a connection between the game and St Dennis, a 3rd century Christian martyr who was beheaded. Dennis was usually depicted holding his head in his hands, which may have reminded people of the ball; Dennis, begat tennis.
There is no evidence to support either of these theories.
There are other theories as well, even more tenuous. It is likely we will never know.
The Modern Sport
As well as the name, the English are responsible for the modern version of the sport.
Jeu De Paume / Tennis arrived in England in the 15th century, and quickly established itself. With its unusual scoring, rules and terminology, it was played for 400 years, largely as a pastime for the upper classes.
In the 1860s and 70s, several British amateurs began playing an outdoor version of the sport, using rules they created themselves. These would eventually lead to the creation of ‘Lawn Tennis’, which is essentially the sport we know today.
While not exactly mysterious, this part of the story is not straightforward. As it grew popular, different people would claim to be the inventor of Lawn Tennis; some even tried to patent or copyright the rules, and enforce their version of them.
One of these involved a court in the shape of a figure 8.
Perhaps the most accurate summation is that different people came up with different parts of the modern game, often developed on English country estates and at garden parties. These slowly coalesced over time.
The first championship was played at Wimbledon in 1877, and most consider this the beginning of modern tennis.
The original version of the sport would be given a name change to ‘Real Tennis’, but really this was a demotion. Its popularity sank as fast as Lawn Tennis’ increased.
There are 50 historic courts in the UK and France today, where a few people still play. Jeu De Paume featured in the London summer Olympics in 1908, its only appearance at the event.
