The Society for Tennis Medicine and Science (STMS) started as an integration of several initiatives that had been developing in tennis sports medicine. In the 1980s, Dr Robert Nirschl organised some of the first meetings directed towards understanding and effectively treating injuries seen in tennis players. People who attended these meetings, held at Hilton Head Island SC, realised that a more systematic approach to diagnosis and treatment of injuries seen in tennis could be beneficial. The rest is history.