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HISTORY OF TENNIS
Tennis as the modern sport was created in the UK in 1860-1873.
In the year 1859 Hary Geem and his friend Augurio Perera developed a game
that was a combination of sports called 'rackets' and Basque games' pelota'.
In 1872 the first tennis club was founded, and in 1874 the first tennis tournament was held.
In 1873 Walter Clopton Wingfield came up with a similar game.
The first tennis tournament at Wimbledon was held in 1877.
In 1881. the United States National lawn Tennis Association was founded
with the aim of standardizing the rules and organizing competitions in tennis.
The U.S. National Men's Singles Championship, now the U.S. Open, held for the first time in 1881.
Wimbledon, French Open (Roland Garros), U.S. Open and Australian Open (first in 1905.)
remained the most prestigious events in tennis, a common name is the Grand Slam.
Davis Cup, team competition of national teams in tennis began in 1900., and the same in women's tennis in 1963.
CC Pyle's in 1926 composed the first group of professional tennis players,
who were not allowed to compete in amateur tournaments. It lasted until 1968. and today even
the smallest tennis tournaments have cash prizes.
Players with most wins in Grand Slam tennis tournaments are: Roger Federer (15),
Pete Sampras (14), Roger Federer (14), Roy Emerson (12), Rod Laver (11), Björn Borg (11),
Ken Rosewall ( 8), Jimmy Connors (8), Ivan Lendl (8), Andre Agassi (8), John Newcombe (7),
John McEnroe (7), Mats Wilander (7), Boris Becker (6), Stefan Edberg (6) , Rafael Nadal (6).
The greatest tennis players are considered to be Roger Federer, Rod Laver, Pete Sampras and Björn Borg.
Rod Laver as a professional,for a part of his career, couldnt perform on the Grand Slam tournaments ,
is well known by winning all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year (two times).
Björn Borg has won Wimbledon five times in a row, and the French Open 6 times.
Women who have won the most Grand Slam tournaments are: Margaret Court (24), Steffi Graf (22),
Chris Evert (18), Martin Navrátil (18), Billie Jean King (12), Serena Williams (10), Monica Seleš (9 )
Justine Henin (7), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (7), Venus Williams (7).
TENNIS IN CROATIA
Tennis is a very popular sport in Croatia.
The first known player is Nikola Pilić' who won three tournaments in a single game in
the time of Rod Lavera and 6 tournaments in doubles. The best 'ranking' of his career was 12th in the world.
He played in the final of the French Open in 1973, and won the U.S. Open doubles in 1973.
After his tennis career, he founded a tennis academy, and won 4 Davis cups (3 with Germany
and 1 with the Croatian team).
Somewhat earlier Boro Jovanovic, a bit later Željko Franulović, achieved worldwide success.
Both were ranked as second in Europe. Jovanović' was one of the top-10 tennis players in the sixties,
6 times beat Roy Emerson, who won 12 Grand Slam titles. Franulović' won 9 tournaments and 6 in doubles,
played in the French Open finals in 1970.
The most famous in the world is Goran Ivanišević' who for ten years remained at the top of
the tennis world, and won Wimbledon at the end of his career with the organizer's invitation.
Before that, he lost three times in the finals.
Croatia in 2005. with Ivan Ljubičić' and Mario Ancic won the Davis Cup.
In 1997. Iva Majoli won the French Open.
Today, the best known tennis players are Marin Cilic and Ivo Karlović.
The best tennis tournament played in Croatia is in Umag. Tournament is also played in Zagreb,
as well as smaller tournaments, which are used for younger players.
In women tennis a series of small tournaments is played (Bol, Makarska, Dubrovnik, Zagreb, etc.).
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