Print story Email story by Betty Moffett Heiner Gillmeister's 450-plus page volume bulges with information, illustrations, and documentation. The author's weighty intent is to trace the evolution of the game from its beginnings in 12th century monasteries to the first Davis Cup matches in the early 1900s.
Readers discover that tennis was originally played bare-handed.
Using prints and paintings, Gillmeister proves that the all-important net didn't appear until the 1500s. First, a slack rope divided the court. The net as we know it followed thereafter. Readers also learn that the first recorded case of tennis elbow belonged to William Renshaw in 1881. The lavishly handsome illustrations, frequent references to poems and plays, and determinedly buoyant style help to lighten this dense history.