Tennis During the first 50 years of its history, tennis was largely a pastime of (1) ______ 1. ______. people. Its widespread popularity began with the growth of (2)______. This happened 2. ______. immediately after the major national championships became (3) ______ events. 3. ______. They began to accept professionals as well as amateurs. Soon industrial firms began to (4)______ tournaments and offer large cash 4. ______. prizes. The turning point came in 1968, when the British, with the final permission of the International Lawn Tennis Federation, transformed their Wimbledon championships to an open event. In the same year, they went a step further by erasing the (5)______ 5. ______. between amateurs and professionals. Women players’ demand for (6) ______ prize money 6. ______. gained its first success in the United States Open in (7) ______. With the introduction 7. ______. of (8) ______ rackets, equipment for playing 8. ______. tennis needs not to be (9) ______. Other 9. ______. reasons for tennis’ rising popularity include greater media coverage and people’s increasing interest in physical (10) ______. 10. ______.