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Anyone for Sphairistike?

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In the foyer of the Lawn Tennis Association there is a statue to Welshman Major Walter Clopton Wingfield with the simple statement: “Inventor of Lawn Tennis”. Born at Rhysnant Hall, Montgomeryshire on 16 October 1833, he was the eldest son of Clopton Lewis Wingfield.


He had a successful military career before returning to his mid Wales estate where he was also a Justice of the Peace and a major in the yeomanry cavalry. During the latter half of the 19th century there was a growing demand to develop gentle outdoor activities and games for the middle-classes, and, with this in mind, the entrepreneurial Wingfield set about devising games that met this need. He created “Sphairistiké”, the name being an ancient Greek term, roughly meaning ‘skill in playing at ball.’

The name was never popular, not least because only those few people well versed in ancient Greek knew how to pronounce it. Most converted it into a three-syllable word that roughly rhymed with “pike” or “pikee“. The Sporting Gazette lampooned the name:

“Let us try our hands at Sph- Sph- Sphair… No! I will not undergo the torture of pronouncing it! I content myself with the last syllables: stiké.”

This was soon abbreviated either to ‘sticky‘ or to the mock-French stické. Wingfield’s friend Arthur Balfour, (who would later become prime minister), suggested “lawn tennis” as a better name and Wingfield later added “or lawn tennis” to the title of his eight-page instruction booklet.

Lawn Tennis also distinguished the new game from the original game of Real Tennis, a more complex game played in an enclosed court. The introduction to the instruction book for Sphairistiké bemoaned the decline of the noble game of Real Tennis;

“It has died out owing to the difficulties of the game, and the expense of erecting courts. All these difficulties have now been surmounted by the inventor of Sphairistiké,”

It is said that Wingfield first demonstrated the game at a Christmas party held in 1873 at Nantclwyd, a Denbighshire country house, but this version of the game would be pretty near it’s final form. In 1869 Wingfield had shown the game to his friend Lord Landsdowne, although it was not until 1874 that he actually applied for a patent for the game.

Sets of equipment to play Sphairistiké were manufactured and the game became popular amongst the Gentry. You could buy a Sphairistiké set for the princely sum of Five Guineas. For this you got a net, posts, four bats, rubber balls imported from Germany, a mallet, a line brush and a book of instructions.

Within the first year over 1,000 sets were sold.

This game of “healthy and manly excitement” was a race to 15 points, played on an hourglass-shaped court (the baseline was wider than the net which may have been adopted for patent reasons as it set it apart from the more familiar rectangular courts.). In winter, if played on ice, it would “give an opening for the exhibition of much grace and science,” wrote Wingfield, optimistically.

Sphairistiké was popular with the upper classes; The Prince of Wales, the Crown Prince of Prussia and the Duke of Buccleuch were just three of an extensive list of customers printed in the second edition of the instructions. One newspaper article billed Sphairistiké as “the new rival to croquet” and, in 1877, the All England Croquet Club in Wimbledon decided to stage games of Lawn Tennis for the very first time.

One review praised the game for the ease of setting it up.

“Among the merits of the game is the fact that it can be played not only on turf, but upon any tolerably flat surface. Barrack yards will be admirable places, and the seashore may often be used with great effect.”

The aesthetics of the affair were also deemed relevant;

“Finally, the whole: apparatus, when prettily painted or gilded, has rather an ornamental appearance, and the exercise, whether for gentleman or lady, is as graceful and healthy as croquet is the reverse.”

Many of the reports in the newspapers lauded the game as “..the new rival to croquet.” and sang its praises..

“They declare that it is a clever adaptation of tennis; that it will become a national pastime; that no English home, no public grounds, no barrack square, should be without it !”

While this may have been exaggeration, an advert for a house in 1874 included;

“…a Flower Garden. With a large Croquet and Sphairistike Lawn, and Rustic Arbour.”

Other versions of lawn tennis were played before Wingfield began demonstrating his take on the game. In the 1850s Thomas Henry (‘Harry’) Gem played the game of rackets in Birmingham with his Spanish friend Augurio Perera. Frustrated by the complex and expensive facilities required for playing rackets, however, the two friends developed a simpler game they called ‘lawn rackets’ that could be played on Perera’s lawn in Edgbaston, Birmingham, combining features of the Basque game of pelota with those of rackets. This game may have been played as early as 1859, and it was known as lawn tennis by 1872, thus pre-dating Sphairistiké, whose rules were published in 1873.

The popularity of Wingfield’s game grew and the cost of the sets reduced significantly, which sets being advertised for a mere 15 shillings. Open air courts were available often at Cricket grounds for the amusement of ladies and those less interested in main game.

In March, 1875, the first organised laws for the game were written by the Marylebone Cricket Club. The club’s committee chose the name of ‘lawn tennis‘, and published a new set of rules that were accepted by Major Wingfield and a large majority of those who had taken up the new game. The dimensions of the court changed but preserved the original hour-glass form.


The All-England Croquet Club, opened its lawns at Wimbledon to lawn tennis in 1875 and so popular was the game, that an All-England championship meeting was held in July, 1877. The name of the club was subsequently changed to the All-England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club.


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