An englishman in Paris

mardi, janvier 18, 2011

Why ...

...do we count points in tennis 15, 30 & 40 ?



The way of counting points in tennis dates back to the 'Jeu de Paume' where players hit the ball with their palm or paume

This french game, much played during the 16th and 17th centuries, is the ancester of 'english tennis' created in the 19th century (Tennis being a corruption of the french word tenez, pronounced by the serving payer)

In the Jeu de paume, the player marking the point would have the right to advance by fifteen paces towards the net (15, 30, 45, 60 paces starting from the baseline), the winner being the first to reach the net

'40' supplanted '45' as it was deemed easier to pronounce

'Advantage' was called when both players were at 40 paces each from the baseline and the advatage consisted of 5 extra paces

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