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
WOMAN REVEALS HORRIFIC INJURIES AFTER JEALOUS EX BASHED HER SKULL WITH A BRICK AFTER FOLLOWING HER HOME- HE WAS CAUGHT ON RING DOORBELL CAM, COVERED IN HER BLOOD
A woman has released pictures of the horrific injuries she suffered when her jealous ex attacked her with a brick .
FRILLED LIZARD SINGS FOR THE CAMERA
A frilled lizard appears to be belting out a tune as it sits in a tree with its mouth open wide .
BACKFLIPPING SHARK SOARS DURING SEAL HUNT
Exploding out of the water, a great white shark performs a backflip during a hunt for seals .
AMAZING THUNDERSTORM LIGHTS UP THE SARDINIAN COAST
POWERFUL bolts of lightning illuminate the night sky in an incredible autumn storm over the Sardinian coastline .
BOSTON BOMBING AFTERMATH - 17TH APRIL
At least three people have been killed and more than 100 injured, some seriously, in two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon .
SHARK SELFIES
NOT YOUR everyday selfie, this plucky diver poses with some of the scariest predators in the ocean .
HUMAN CCTV COP BUSTS 130 CRIMINALS
Meet the human CCTV: a PCSO with a memory for faces so sharp he has apprehended more than 130 suspects in the last year alone with his eagle eyed talents .
A POOL WITH A VIEW
The view from this rooftop pool is sure to make most holidaymakers envious .
NAKED SLACKLINERS TACKLE NEW CHALLENGES
BALANCING 30 metres above ground, these slackliners take the expression of living dangerously one step further, by tightrope walking NAKED .
SCUBA-DUPER DIVER BREAKS RECORD FOR 50 HOURS UNDERWATER
A British diver has set a new world record for the longest warm water scuba dive by spending a mammoth 49 hours and 56 minutes under water .
PENSIONER’S 100K MILK BOTTLE COLLECTION
FOR someone who hates milk, pensioner Steve Wheeler has got an udder-lot of it - nearly 20,000 bottles in fact .