Wimbledon, the oldest tennis tournament in the world, was founded in 1877, but by that point the English had been playing the game for centuries. In fact, England’s great bard William Shakespeare wrote about tennis nearly 300 years before the grass court tournament was established. The sport serves as a symbol in Shakespeare’s play Henry V in which the character Dauphin sends recently crowned king Henry V a box of tennis balls, intended as a way to mock the ruler’s youth and inexperience. Henry V then responds to the insult in the greatest way possible: he uses the language of tennis to tell Dauphin he will invade and conquer his native France.
When we have march’d our rackets to these balls,
We will, in France, by God’s grace, play a set
Shall strike his father’s crown into the hazard.
Tell him he hath made a match with such a wrangler
That all the courts of France will be disturb’d
With chases. (Act 1, Scene 2, 10)
If you want the No Fear Shakespeare version (what a lifesaver in high school, right?), Henry V is basically telling Dauphin he’s about to get a 200 mph serve hit at him, saying: “Once I’ve put my rackets to these balls, I’ll play a set in France, God willing, that will knock his father’s crown right out of the court. Tell him he’s got himself such a willing opponent that we’ll be chasing balls all over France.”
Damn, son. Nothing like 15th century trash talk.
Feeling inspired by Will’s words, and in the spirit of England’s finest poet, we paired famous Shakespeare quotes with photos from Wimbledon 2015. The Associated Press does a pretty good job at captioning images, but nothing beats the Bard of Avon.
