ORIGINS OF TENNIS REDISCOVERED IN A MOST UNLIKEY PLACE I’d like to take a minute to thank those idiot bankers, politicians, and ultimately the elite who are responsible for the economic crisis five or six years ago. Thank you, assholes. Thanks to your greed, the public library in Zebulon had to dramatically downsize from three big displays of current popular fiction to less than one, which is spread out over the same area, all because the county can’t afford to supply all of their branches with current best-sellers as they once did. The result of this atrocity is that I if I want to read a good book, I sometimes have to go back and reread books that I’ve read before. If you’re a reader I’m sure you understand. A good book can be read more than once (Nightfall, by Nelson DeMille), some several times (Pale Horse Coming, by Stephen Hunter), and there’s one novel that I’ve read probably 10 of the past 20 Christmas holidays. Yes. It’s that good. (The Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis.) What has all this have to do with tennis, one may ask? Well, just hang on; I’m getting there. On my last trip to the library, there was nothing appealing on the front shelves, so I ventured to the back to find something worth reading for a second time. It was here that I came across Timeline, by Michael Creighton. I read and enjoyed it when it was first released and watched maybe ten minutes of the movie when it was on television because the cinematic version just didn’t measure up to my imagination. I thought it was a great story because I like a little science fiction every now and then, so I decided to give it another go. Now here’s where it gets interesting, at least to me. I know I read the damn book, but I simply just didn’t recall the first third of the story at all! Maybe I’m getting senile or maybe Alzheimer’s is setting in, but for the most part, it’s like I’ve never read it. I remember some things well although a lot of the details are catching me by surprise. Surprise! Perhaps there’s a benefit to losing some memory. I guess one day I’ll just need one book and I can start reading it again as soon as I finish it. I’ll only need one more newspaper and one more magazine. (Don’t even think that of me!) Another plus, I guess, it that I can hide my own Easter eggs… OK. Here’s the point. I was reading well past the midway point in Timeline this morning and the main characters come across some soldiers who are playing a new game called tenez. It was in its infancy, of course, but it was the precursor for tennis. The amazing part is that this was happening in the 1350s! I checked it out on Wikipedia and that’s about when the game of tennis originated. The word ‘tenez’ means check, or receive – as when you are preparing to serve to let your opponent know it’s coming. So, whenever the guys hear me yell “Tenez!” before I serve from now on, they will know what I mean. No they won’t because they don’t read this stuff. And for that reason, I’m not going to tell them why I yell “Tenez!” Having them thinking about what I shouted and not the serve coming at them may give me a slight edge and I need it. I just hope I can remember to say Tenez!
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 13:40:23 +0000
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