THE debate over what is the national game of Wales is usually waged between advocates of football and rugby union.

However tennis on the other hand was invented by a Welshman and, therefore, has strong claims to being the national sport of Wales than the two sports which began their lives in England.

Walter Clopton Wingfield and his role in the history of lawn tennis remained rather ignored for more than a century.

Walter was born in Ruabon on October 16, 1833, the son of a major in the 66th Foot Regiment but both parents died before he was 13 and he was raised to follow the family's military traditions by his great uncle.

In 1858 he served in India and three years later he as part of the British force to capture Peking in China.

During the 1860s he was based at his family estate at Rhysnant in Four Crosses where he began experimenting with a lawn version of tennis having realised a growing number of people had taken an interest in the sport.

While others had also been adapting the sport for outdoors, Walter is said to have given a demonstration as early as 1869 and the following year he was appointed to the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, giving him some employment at the courts of Queen Victoria and her son Edward VII.

He patented a 'New and Improved Court for Playing the Ancient Game of Tennis' and began marketing his game in the spring of 1874 by selling boxed sets of rubber balls imported from Germany as well as a net, poles, court markers, rackets and an instruction manual.

Between July 1874 and June 1875, more than 1,000 tennis sets were sold, mainly to the aristocracy.

In the same year his hourglass court and scoring method were adopted and just three years later the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club launched the Wimbledon Championship.

However it should be pointed out some of the ruled promoted by Walter were dismissed before the first championships. He proposed a higher net and an hourglass-shaped court, with serves intended to land behind and not in front of the base line.

Walter had lost interest in the game by now having been beset with three of his sons tragically passing away.

In 1902 King Edward VII made Walter a member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) for "extraordinary, important and personal services to the Sovereign and the Royal family" over 32 years of faithful service.

He died in London in 1912.

He was finally inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1997 as the founder of modern lawn tennis with a bust at Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.