At the mention of sports in Ghana it's only football and of late basketball that you find popular and promoted. Yet there are other sports that are equally interesting and could be of economical advantage to the country as well. Lawn tennis is an interesting and entertaining racket sport that is played worldwide across the globe.
It is an Olympic sport and is at all levels of society and at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late nineteenth century as lawn tennis. It has close connections both to various field("lawn") games such as a croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport of real tennis. During most of the nineteenth century in fact, the term "tennis" was referred to as real tennis, not lawn tennis. But in the eleventh century a game that looked like tennis called "jeu de paume"(game of the hand) was found. It was played by the king of France Louis X, he played it indoors.
The term tennis is thought to have been derived from the old french word "tenez" which means to take or to hold or receive. It later became an interjection used as a call from the server to his opponent before the ball is served. From time immemorial this game was a game of the royals and high in the society i.e first-class citizens.In the late 1872 major Harry gem and Mr J.B. Pereira organized the worlds first lawn tennis club in England. Later Major Walter Clapton Wingfield improved upon the court size and the rules of the game and called the new game "sphairistike" meaning "play ball" or "ball game". Since this improvement on the rules especially, the rules of lawn tennis have changed little. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tie-break in the 1970's. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of point.
This beautiful since its inception in France and re branding in England is played by millions of recreational players and is also a popular worldwide spectator sport. Now because of its dynamism and growth over the centuries the name of the game lawn tennis is now referred simply as "tennis" because its no longer played on the lawn only. Other surfaces of the court now include cement, asphalt, synthetics, clay which comes in various colors among others. There are four Grand Slam Tournament known worldwide( also referred to as the 'Majors') and very popular. They include the Australian Open mostly played on hard courts, the French Open played on the red clay courts, Wimbledon played on grass courts, and the Us Open played also on hard courts.
In Ghana however, tennis was introduce by the foreign colonial masters who actually settled here for commerce and religion. In the mid twentieth century, tennis courts could be found in almost all the mining and commercial white-settlement areas like Kumasi, Obuasi, Awaso, Tarkwa, Oda, Konongo, Accra, and Tema, Takoradi. Children whose parents were servants to the colonial masters were able to learn by being "ball boys", picking up the balls whenever it went out of the court. While the white men were here the oldest tennis club in the country, Accra Lawn Tennis Club( ALTC) was founded in the early 1900's. It was first started as a 'whites-only' club at the current site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with fourteen properly catered courts. ALTC was later relocated to it's present location after Ghana regained independence. As tennis gained grounds in the country 7 courts were added and since then various patrons of the club have made generous contributions towards infrastructural development to the club.
Over the course of the introduction and growth of tennis in Ghana, players have represented the nation in both local and international games. Also at the mention of Tennis names like Odartey Annan, Tony Dove,| GEORGE GAMEL one of Ghana's greatest tennis player. |
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