填空题

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. ______.