Archive Tennis and Racquet Sports

This section relates to all racket sports, Real Tennis, Lawn Tennis, Racquets, Badminton and Table Tennis. You should find collectors items such as an early tilt head Henry Malings racket, also called lop sided or teardrop tennis racket or a decorative Dunlop Maxply. Along with the usual equipment used for tennis such as the balls, tennis rackets and tennis posts with nets there are other items for the enthusiast. Rackets made by well known makers such as Slazenger, Dunlop, Jeffreys, F.H Ayres, Feltham, Grey's of Cambridge and the well known Hazel factory. Wonderful statues of tennis players made of bronze or a white alloy called spelter, ceramics and artwork, oil paintings, watercolours and prints for the home or office. 'Sphairistiké' was patented in 1874 by a Major Walter Wingfield, a game for two or four players, with rackets and balls, played on an hourglass shaped court and used elements from badminton, fives and racquets. The name was not taken to, so Wingfield later added 'lawn tennis' to the title. It was referred to as 'Lawn Tennis' so as to distinguish it from the much older indoor game simply called 'tennis' (known today as Real or Royal Tennis).

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