Gillmeister offers an authoritative second edition of her best-selling history of tennis study, using extensive linguistic and documentary research as well as rare color photographs and medieval/renaissance drawings to document its evolution from its humble monastic origins into one of Europe’s favorite pastimes. Her text features rare color photos as well as lavishly illustrated texts including medieval/renaissance drawings that further illuminate this lavishly illustrated text.
The Origins of Tennis
Tennis’ roots can be traced back to an 11th-13th century French handball game called Jeu de Paume or “Game of the Palm,” which served as its inspiration. Modern tennis requires players or teams to return the ball across the net and into an opponent’s court without losing points, an action known as serving.
There are various theories as to the origins and development of tennis over time. Most likely, however, its creation was pioneered by monks during the 12th century who played it with their hands against courtyard walls while shouting out “tenez,” possibly giving rise to its name.
Early monks used wooden balls, but as the game evolved they gradually switched to leather gloves for greater control. Over time these were supplemented with wooden frame rackets laced with sheep intestines (similar to natural-gut strings in modern day games) used with cork or cloth balls as play equipment.
By the 16th century, tennis had become immensely popular among wealthy members of society and modern rules of the game were set forth. Marylebone Cricket Club, an esteemed real tennis organization at that time, revised existing regulations of tennis into what remains today’s form of the sport.
After World War I, tennis became even more widespread and notable players emerged. By the 1930s and 1940s, however, tennis had developed into a game of power and strategy and several notable figures like Don Budge and Ellsworth Vines had come to dominate it.
The Origins of Music for Tennis
Tennis has long been a beloved sport, as well as being an inspiring subject in literature and music. Romanticized depictions such as Blowup or more recently Michael Steinberger’s NYT Magazine piece examining Roger Federer’s late years have all drawn inspiration from this sport, providing plenty of material for literary work inspired by it.
William Blake’s poetry offers many parallels with tennis music; many of the same themes abound: conflict between good and evil, searching for identity and an inability to truly know another individual – all themes found within tennis itself.
Studies of tennis players using music as an aid have yielded promising findings. One such study indicated that listening to music before matches affected performance on the court and was associated with their emotional state and behavior on court during competitions.
One of the most fascinating studies analyzing music’s effect on sports was published by Oxford University professors in 2021 in Frontiers in Psychology journal. Researchers looked into how listening to certain types of music affected tennis player performances while analyzing how emotional responses to certain songs affected players’ state of mind. Researchers discovered that in addition to traditional effects like elevating mood or altering concentration during matches, emotional reactions may actually impact decision-making processes during tennis matches as well.
Tennis, a Denver-based band consisting of husband and wife pair Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, formed after writing songs documenting a sailing voyage they took together. Their debut album Cape Dory proved popular and tour dates began immediately following. Since then, their second effort, Young and Old (produced by Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney) has returned to surf-pop sound of Cape Dory but with more refined production values; NPR praised this couple’s creativity in “reinventing lively pop from the distant past”. Young and Old also features this song featuring haunting guitar chords along with soulful vocals from Moore (NPR review of Young and Old).
The Influence of Tennis on Literature
Through the centuries, writers have used tennis to both explore their anxieties and illustrate its nature. From childhood squalor to adult narcissism and back again – from Shakespeare including six scenes featuring tennis in six of his plays, to Chaucer, Rabelais Edmund Spenser Gower Pepys Montaigne Montaigne among many other writers making mention of it – writers such as these have used tennis as a metaphor to capture it all in writing.
There have been a variety of writers who have dedicated significant amounts of their writing skills and energy to describing tennis matches in their works. This group includes some of the true masters of sports writing – scholars with unparalleled dedication who can describe matches with verbal brilliance.
One of the key figures in this group was David Foster Wallace, who published five essays about tennis in his collection ‘String Theory’. One such essay was entitled ‘Derivative Sport at Tornado Alley’ which recounts Wallace’s personal struggles with tennis before explaining how he eventually turned away from playing and toward mathematics and creative writing as his fields of focus.
This essay, entitled ‘Michael Joyce and the Paradigm of Certain Stuff About Choice, Freedom, Limitation, Joy, Grotesquerie and Human Completeness’ by Michael Joyce himself is one of the longest and most philosophical pieces in this collection.
Another of Wallace’s essays, ‘Federer Both Flesh and Not’ is an insightful look into Roger Federer, written as an enthusiastic fan account but elevated to art form through Wallace’s penmanship – creating something worth reading and appreciating for years.
Finally, there is the essay on Billie Jean King who worked hard in tennis to ensure women got equal pay and treatment as competitors. This serves as the final essay in this collection of pieces and makes a fitting endpoint.
All these essays serve as testament to the enormous influence tennis has had on culture in literature and beyond. From romantic atmosphere of Wimbledon and Roland Garros to its dark undercurrents in spin, tennis has touched millions and will continue to shape our world for generations to come.
The Influence of Tennis on Music
Music can have an enormous effect on our emotions, and its distinct sounds have an even deeper effect on those who play tennis. From the subtle sound of racket hitting ball against racket to loud pop of an ace serve, tennis’ soundscape is instantly identifiable to those who know its tune. Research suggests that hearing sports’ sounds may even enhance athletic experience by relieving anxiety; for example, listening to soothing hi-hat cymbal noise during game may actually calm an athlete down during their match!
Musical artists cannot fail to be inspired by the rhythmic excitement of a tennis match when creating music. James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem credits tennis as one of his sources of inspiration when creating his electronic style; composer Mauricio Kagel used tennis with great dramatic effect in his piece Match.
Kagel hired two cellists to “play tennis,” as well as an umpire percussionist, for his piece which requires extreme athleticism from all performers in order to depict the physical strain and dramatic tension of an actual match. Although Kagel wasn’t an avid tennis player himself, he sought to create new kinds of musical theater that would evoke all the visual and emotional experiences associated with attending live tennis matches.
Wallace and Nabokov recognized tennis’ power to inspire their writing, yet one significant development that propelled it forward was its evolution from an exclusive club for wealthy landowners into an accessible international event that could be watched live and shared widely across social media channels by people from various walks of life in late 19th-century Britain.
Writers soon realized they could capture the thrill of a match with words, giving rise to literary works with mythic qualities. While most biographies or book-length profiles of tennis players tend towards superficial hero worship, sports writer Frank Deford’s piece about Roger Federer stands out; rather than simply providing fan worship but exploring his genius through thoughtful analysis.