Sphairistike was the original name of modern tennis, invented way back in 1873. A retired British Army officer, Major Walter Wingfield, while naming the game he had moulded to shape, stuck to history and named it Sphairistike. He later went on to introduce the sport to the English elite.

       Sphairistike in Greek means `ball', and tennis is believed to have evolved from a game similar to handball, which was played in the streets of ancient Greece, Arabia, Egypt, Rome and Persia.

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        Full kudos to the French, who developed it further into the real sport. It is believed that a wandering French came across the game and on his return to France introduced it to the French Court.

        The game was played both indoors and outdoors. While a rope in the middle -something akin to the present day net - that divided the court in an indoor match while the outdoor matches had a mound of dirt dividing the court.

        Tenez, in French, meant `take it' or `play'. Initially, the sport involved the players hitting a hair-filled cloth bag to and fro with open hands. As a result, the game came to be known as jeu de paume, or sport of the hands.

         Outside France, Tenez came to be known as real, the royal tennis. Though in the 14th century, Tenez crossed over to Scotland and gained the name caitchspeel, it was the French who dominated its emergence.

          Fifty years later, a wood racket -something like the present day table-tennis racket - entered the scene. By 1500, this had evolved further with sheep gut strung at the end of the handle so that the cloth bag could be give more kick. In 1858, two men from Birmingham, England drew a tennis court on grass and went on to play the first grass court match.

         Major Wingfield made his entry again with a game restricted to 15 points. Only the server was allowed to score during the course of the match.

         By the mid 1870s, the game had drifted to the United States as well and by the end of the 1870s, it had made its presence felt in Australia, too. Twenty years hence, in 1896, it became one of the original sports of the modern Olympic Games.

          Tennis remained in the Olympic Games until 1924, but various issues like the running of the competition and debate over professionalism made sure that it did not come back for 64 years. One of the other major factor that influenced this decision was its conflict with the timing of Wimbledon tournament.

          Eventually, in the year 1988 it returned as a medal sport, and professionals were invited with open arms. Steffi Graf of Germany, the number one that year, won the women's Gold.