VICTORIAN TENNIS RULE BOOK REVEALS GAME PLAYED BY THREE

TENNIS was a game made for three according to the first Victorian rule book. Our ancestors started playing the game outdoors for the first time thanks to a Birmingham lawyer who experimented with the sport. Instead of the Wimbledon as we know it with strict singles and doubles teams with no mixing of the sexes the early Victorians were MORE liberal. In a version called the Unicorn one player could play against two opponents. And while ladies were discouraged from playing - they were permitted to battle against the men. This means if Wimbledon was played the Victorian way we could be looking at a big female name like Serena Williams playing the likes of Murray AND Djokovic. History buffs of the sport insist the 1874 'Lawn tennis or Pelota rules of the game' by Thomas Henry Gem was the first of its kind. Former PE teachers Sue Elks, 69, and Christopher Elks, 68, from Wythall in the West Midlands explained the difference the modern game has with the tennis of yesteryear.

Other great stories
MUM SPENDS £17K ON HER REBORN BABIES

When mum-of-three Becky Tully was told she couldn’t have any more children due to health reasons, she refused to give up on having the little girl she had always wanted .

INTIMATE PORTRAITS OF AFRICAN TRIBES

A German photographer travelled around Africa where he met and photographed members of tribes in a series of intimate portraits .

NOT FIT FOR DOGS - RSPCA RESCUERS FIND ANIMALS IN SHOCKING FILTH

It's incredible to think anyone could live in such horrendous squalor - yet two men have been prosecuted for keeping their homes in such revolting conditions that it was no longer fit for their animals .

BABY WHALE AND MOTHER LAP UP TOURIST ATTENTION

A grey whale and her calf greet an audience of awestruck admirers on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico .

HUNGRY HIPPO MISSES OUT ON LUNCH

A hungry hippo is seconds away from catching a bird in its gigantic jaws .

WOMAN LOSES 13ST AFTER BEATING HALF-TON POTATO ADDICTION

A woman has lost over 13st after beating her addiction to POTATOES .

SNEAKY OTTER

A young otter wades through a lake with his eyes set on an older rival’s fish .

ADORABLE BEAR CUBS SHARE A HUG

ROLLING around in the snow, these young brown bears take a break from their play fight to share a tender hug with one another .

WOMAN LOSES 8ST AFTER DITCHING CURRY ADDICTION

A woman who was addicted to eating curries has shed an impressive 8st after giving up her favourite food .

ABANDONED FARM HOUSE LEFT TO ROT

With a dust covered coat hung from a wardrobe door and a pair of glasses left on a shelf, a remote farmhouse lies abandoned in the Welsh countryside .

36 YEAR AGE GAP COUPLE MISTAKEN FOR DAD AND DAUGHTER

A couple from Bristol have told that they are often mistaken for father and daughter because of their huge 36 year age gap .

BROTHER SEXUALLY ABUSED ME AGED 6 AND TOLD ME HE'D GET CANCER IF I DIDN'T LET HIM

Sophie Carr, 23, from Swindon, was just six when her older brother Alex, then 12, abused her during a game of mummies and daddies .