The Australian Open, which is the first of four Grand Slams, is set to kick off in January 2020. We can only count down towards this long awaited showdown.
Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka are the current defending Australian Open champions, can they successfully defend their thrones or will the might be taken down?
There may not be a Grand Slam at the moment but the tennis action continues.
Register an account and claim up to R1,000 in Free Bets on your first deposit. Visit our
promotions page to learn how you can get up to 100% increase in your winnings with
Win Boost and how you can get up to
20x your bet back with
Money Back Boost.
Tennis is like that strange person you admire from a distance, once you get to meet them, then the weird and wonderful is further revealed to you. Let’s take a look at some really cool tennis facts, you probably didn’t know.
Death By Tennis Balls
The King of Scotland, King James was inadvertently killed by tennis balls after shutting a drainage system at the corner of the court after a countless number of balls were getting lost in it.
A few days later, assassins came to murder him and in his attempt to flee using the sewer that he had shut down, the assassins found him in the sewer and eventually killed him.
I know what you’re thinking, this was not the reason why ball boys were introduced.
A Pineapple at the top of the Wimbledon Trophy
For those of you who have noticed a pineapple at the top of the Wimbledon trophy have probably asked yourself “what’s it doing there?”
Apparently, they represent the sailors who put pineapples on the gateposts when they returned from a long voyage. The relation is still not apparent, however there you go!
White Tennis Balls
Originally, tennis balls were white and Wimbledon were the first tournament to introduce and play with yellow tennis balls.
Why is “0” Called Love in Tennis?
This is also another one of those unconfirmed facts, but it’s believed that Love derives from a French expression “L’oeuf”, which means egg. The 0 on a scorecard resembles an egg, so we can put two and two on this one.
Look, No Hands
Initially, tennis was played with your hands, this was called jeu de paume” which means game of palms. Rackets were only introduced in the 16
th century.
For all the latest sports news, betting tips and promotions follow
Betway on
Facebook,
Twitter,
Instagram and
YouTube.
Download the Betway App.