A study on the formational process of the rules in the early lawn tennis : from Wingfield(1873) to LTA(1883)

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to clarify the formational process of the early lawn tennis considering the items of the 9 rules which were enacted in that time. The 9 rules are as the following. I. The Rules of "Sphairistike or Lawn Tennis" planned by Wingfield in 1873. II. The Rules of "Germains Lawn Tennis" contributed to the "Field" by Hale in 1874. III. The Rules of the game which was played in Leamington Club contributed to the "Field" by Gem and Perera in 1874. IV. The Rules planned by Cavendish contributed to the "Field" in 1874. V. The Rules adopted by the MCC in 1875. VI. The Rules adopted by the AEC&LTC to hold the first Lawn Tennis Championship at Wimbledon in 1877. VII. The Rules adopted by the MCC and the AEC&LTC in 1878. VIII. The Rules first revised by the MCC and AEC&LTC in 1880. IX. The Rules secondly revised by the MCC and AEC&LTC in 1882. The development of the rules in the early lawn tennis has three stages. In the first stage(the rules of I, II and III are eqivalent to this stage), there were many clubs which have their own rules. It is obvious that the differences of the items of the rules exist among each club. In the second stage(the rules of IV, V and VI), it began to unify the rules by the MCC and the AEC&LTC. The rules today are based on those of this stage. The rules of the early lawn tennis were completed in the third stage(the rules of VII, VIII and IX) by the MCC and the AEC&LTC.