Jessica Miller, age 14, of Chattanooga, Tenn., for her question:
WHO PLAYED THE FIRST GAME OF TENNIS?
We don't know who played in the world's first tennis game. But historians tell us that this match most likely took place 700 or 800 years ago in France sometime during the 1100s or 1200s.
The French called tennis "jeu de paume." This means "game of the palm." In the first tennis game, the players used the palms of their hands to bat the ball back and forth over a net.
The father of modern tennis is an Englishman named Major Walter Clopton Wingfield. In 1873, he introduced a version of the game that very closely resembles the modern sport.
In 1874, Wingfield patented tennis equipment and rules for playing on grass courts. He called the game "Sphairstrike." The name came from the Greek word meaning "playing ball."
It wasn't long, however, until the game was called lawn tennis.
Some historians say that part of the credit for tennis should go to another major in the English army, an officer named Harry Gem. Gem was playing a form of tennis in the 1860s.
Croquet had long been England's favorite outdoor sport, but the popularity was soon transferred to tennis. In 1877, the All England Croquet Club changed its name to the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club.
And the same year, the club sponsored its first major tennis tournament in its headquarters in a London suburb called Wimbledon. This tournament has since become the unofficial world championship for men's and women's singles and doubles.
In 1874, an American sportswoman named Mary Ewing Ousterbridge introduced tennis into the United States. She purchased equipment from British army officers in Bermuda and set up the nation's first court on the grounds of the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club in New York City.
The United States National Lawn Tennis Association, now called the United States Tennis Association, was established 109 years ago in 1881. In the years since, tennis has become one of the country's most popular sports.
In 1900 American tennis player Dwight Davis donated the Davis Cup, awarded to the country that wins the world men's championship. This trophy has become recognized as the top prize in international team tennis.
Most of the world's tennis players are amateurs who take part in the sport simply for the enjoyment and exercise they receive. In the late 1960s, however, tennis became a widely accepted professional sport. And today many people play tennis for money.
Since 1968 both professionals and amateurs have been able to compete against each other in the same tournaments.
Until the 1950s, most of the world's major tennis players came from France, Great Britain and the United States. Then Australia dominated the sport for many years. Today tennis stars come from all countries including Germany and Czechoslovakia.