Jul 7, 200602:19 PMThe Life

Big weekend in tennis

...finals at Wimbledon: Ladies' Singles on Saturday, Men's Singles on Sunday.

The name of the game comes from the French habit of calling out "Tenez!" ("Take this!") before serving. One possible explanation for the 15/30/40 scoring system is based on the presence of a clock face at each end of the court. A quarter move of the appropriate hand was made after each point, with the score being called as 15, 30, or 45 as the case might be. As the hand was moved to 60, making the complete circuit, the game ended. "Forty-five" was eventually shortened by one syllable, to "forty." The term "deuce" was derived from the French "à deux" (meaning two consecutive successes were needed to win). "Love" is generally taken to be a corruption of "l'oeuf," French for "the egg," symbolizing a score of zero.

So why not play a set or two at your local tennis court between spectator sessions?

And oh, by the way - I hear there's something happening this weekend in soccer, too...