<P> The Davis Cup, an annual competition between men's national teams, dates to 1900 . The analogous competition for women's national teams, the Fed Cup, was founded as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Tennis Federation, also known as the ITF . </P> <P> In 1926, promoter C.C. Pyle created the first professional tennis tour with a group of American and French tennis players playing exhibition matches to paying audiences . The most notable of these early professionals were the American Vinnie Richards and the Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen . Once a player turned pro he or she could not compete in the major (amateur) tournaments . </P> <P> In 1968, commercial pressures and rumors of some amateurs taking money under the table led to the abandonment of this distinction, inaugurating the open era, in which all players could compete in all tournaments, and top players were able to make their living from tennis . With the beginning of the open era, the establishment of an international professional tennis circuit, and revenues from the sale of television rights, tennis's popularity has spread worldwide, and the sport has shed its upper / middle - class English - speaking image (although it is acknowledged that this stereotype still exists). </P> <P> Some people believe that the word "Tennis" came into use in English in the mid-13th century from Old French, via the Anglo - Norman term Tenez, which can be translated as "hold!", "receive!" or "take!", but there is no reference to this in contemporary literature and so there is no evidence of this derivation . A call from the server to his opponent indicating that he is about to serve . The first known appearance of the word in English literature is by poet John Gower in his poem titled' In Praise of Peace' dedicated to King Henry IV and composed in 1400; "Of the tenetz to winne or lese a chase, Mai no lif wite er that the bal be ronne". (Whether a chase is won or lost at tennis, Nobody can know until the ball is run). </P>

When did the open era in tennis begin