I'll be showing my ignorance now, but I don't care. The only thing I understand about tennis is the origin of the special word for zero points: "love" (as far as I can
believe, at any rate). When tennis was played in France a long time ago, spectators used to take hens' eggs to the matches to wave sarcastically at unsuccessful players, because the egg shape is
similar to the zero figure.
The French word for egg is "l'oeuf" (say /löf/), which passed into English as "love". Slovak soccer spectators wave carrots at referees, suggesting they need to
improve their eyesight - but then they shout rather different words. Otherwise, I can't understand the attraction of spending money to run around inside some white lines beating a little ball
across an obstructive net, all in the burning sunshine, and developing a type of arthritis called "tennis elbow" - unless it's all about the beer afterwards.
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