Tennis

For other uses, see Tennis (disambiguation).

Tennis is a racket sport. It can be played by one person against one opponent (singles) or by two teams of two players (doubles). Players use a tennis racket with strings to hit a hollow rubber ball covered in felt. They hit it over a net and into the other side's court. The goal is to hit the ball so the opponent cannot hit it back properly. If a player cannot return the ball, the opponent wins a point.

Anyone who can hold a racket can play tennis. This includes wheelchair users and people who are blind or with low vision. People of all ages and from all walks of life play the game. Early forms of tennis started in France during the late Middle Ages. The modern game began in Birmingham, England, in the late 1800s, where it was called lawn tennis. It was closely linked to outdoor games like croquet and bowls, and to an older racket sport called real tennis.

The rules of modern tennis have changed very little since the 1890s. There were two main changes. Before 1961, the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times. In the 1970s, the tiebreak was added. In 2006, professional tennis began using electronic review technology called Hawk-Eye to check calls. Fully automated Electronic Line Calling (ELC Live) systems are now taking its place more and more.

Tennis has millions of recreational players around the world, and many people enjoy watching it. The four Grand Slam tournaments, also called "majors," are the most popular and are seen as the best in competitive tennis. They are the Australian Open, played on hardcourts; the French Open, played on red clay courts; Wimbledon, played on grass courts; and the US Open, which is also played on hardcourts.

Tennis was one of the first Olympic sports. It has been a regular part of the Summer Olympic Games since (/wiki/1988_Summer_Olympics).

History

Main article: History of tennis

Long ago, in the 12th century, people in northern France played a game where they hit a ball with the palm of the hand. Louis X of France loved to play jeu de paume ("game of the palm"), which grew into real tennis. He had indoor courts built in Paris, and this style of court spread to royal palaces across Europe. Charles V of France also enjoyed the game and had a court at the Louvre Palace. The word "tennis" probably comes from the French word tenez, which meant "hold!", "receive!" or "take!" Henry VIII of England was also a big fan of the game, which is now known as real tennis. Over the 18th and early 19th centuries, real tennis became less popular, and new racket sports appeared in England. The first lawn mower in Britain was invented in 1830. It is believed to have helped people prepare grass courts, which led to modern rules for many sports, including lawn tennis.

Between 1859 and 1865, Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera created a game that mixed racquets and the Basque ball game pelota. They played it on Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham, England. In 1872, they helped start the world's first tennis club in Leamington Spa, where the name "lawn tennis" was first used. In 1873, British army officer Walter Clopton Wingfield designed and patented a game that became popular. The first championships of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club were held at Wimbledon in 1877. In the United States, the first national championship was played in 1881. It is now called the US Open. The International Tennis Federation was founded in 1913 as the ILTF. Tennis left the Olympics after the 1924 Games and came back in 1984 as a demonstration event. It became a full medal sport at Seoul in 1988. In 1968, the Open Era began, when all players could compete in all tournaments. After this, tennis spread around the world.

Equipment

Part of the fun of tennis is that the equipment is simple. Beginners need only a racket and balls.

Main article: Racket (sports equipment) § Tennis

Main article: Strings (tennis)

A racket has a handle called the grip, a neck, and a frame shaped like a rough oval. The frame is filled with tightly pulled strings. For the first 100 years of the modern game, rackets were made of wood and strings were animal gut. Later, rackets were made of metal and then stronger materials. These allowed bigger rackets with more power. Synthetic strings were also made. They feel like gut but last longer. Strings can be natural gut or synthetic ones made from materials such as nylon, kevlar, or polyester. Some players use two different types of string in one racket. This is called hybrid stringing.

Tennis balls were first made of cloth strips stitched together and stuffed with feathers. Modern balls are hollow vulcanized rubber with a felt coating. They used to be white, but in the late 20th century they became optic yellow so they were easier to see. Balls must meet rules for size, weight, deformation, and bounce. Most balls are now made in the Far East, where labour costs and materials are cheaper.

Manner of play

For individual terms, see Glossary of tennis terms.

Tennis is played on a flat, rectangular tennis court that is 78 feet (23.77 m) long. For singles games the court is 27 feet (8.2 m) wide, and for doubles it is 36 feet (11 m) wide. A net stretches across the middle. It is higher at the ends than in the centre. Tennis can be played on grass, clay, hard courts, carpet, and artificial turf. The players start on opposite sides of the net. One player serves, and the other receives. The server must hit the ball over the net into the correct box. The players then hit the ball back and forth. This is called a rally. The first player or team to miss a legal return loses the point.

A game is won by the first player to win at least four points and at least two more than the opponent. Game scores are called "love", "15", "30", and "40". A tied score at 40 is called "deuce." A set is usually won by six games with a two-game lead. If the score reaches 6–6, a tiebreak is played. A match is decided by winning two out of three sets, or three out of five sets in some matches. The umpire announces the end of the match with "Game, set, match." The full tennis scoring system has more details.

For the software term, see Breakpoint.

See also: Types of tennis match

Match play

Continuity

A tennis match should keep going without long breaks, because players need energy. Usually, a player must serve within 20 seconds after the last point ends. This time is longer, 90 seconds, when players change ends. A 2-minute break is allowed between sets. Other breaks are only allowed when something outside the players' control happens, such as rain, damaged shoes or a broken racket, or when a ball has to be picked up. If a player keeps taking too long, the chair umpire may first give a warning. After that, penalties can be given, up to losing the whole match.

If rain, darkness or other conditions stop play, the match continues later from the same score. Each player stays at the same end of the court as when play stopped.

Ball changes

Balls wear out quickly in serious play. In ATP and WTA tournaments, the balls are changed after every nine games. The first change happens after seven games, because the first set of balls is also used for warming up before the match. In ITF tournaments like Billie Jean King Cup, the balls are changed after every eleven games, with the first change after nine games. A ball change may not happen at the start of a tiebreaker. In that case, it is delayed until the second game of the next set. The server often signals to the receiver before the first serve with new balls.

On-court coaching

A recent rule change allows limited coaching on court during a match. This was introduced in women's tennis for WTA Tour events in 2009. It lets a player ask for her coach once per set.

Stance

A stance is how a player gets their body ready to hit a ball back, so they can move quickly to play a certain stroke. Modern tennis has four main stances: open, semi-open, closed, and neutral. All four involve crouching, which helps players hit the ball more efficiently. Crouching also lets players isometrically preload their muscles, so they can hit the ball with more energy. The stance a player chooses depends mostly on the shot they want to play, and they can change it quickly. Their stance also changes during the shot as they move and shift their weight.

The open stance is the most common. The feet are parallel to the net. This lets the player twist their upper body, which adds power, a bit like a spring coiling and then uncoiling. It is often used for forehands and can also work for two-handed backhands. However, it does not always help with balance on powerful shots. The semi-open stance has the feet angled toward the net. It is very flexible and is popular with top players on the forehand. The closed stance has one foot nearer the net. It is the least common of the main stances and is mostly used for backhands. The neutral stance, also called the square stance, has the feet at a right angle to the net. It is often taught to beginners because it helps them learn how to shift their weight and turn their body.

Shots

Tennis players have eight basic shots: the serve, forehand, backhand, volley, half-volley, overhead smash, drop shot, and lob. A grip is the way a player holds the racket to hit a shot. The grip changes the angle of the racket face and affects how fast, how spinny, and where the ball goes. Most players change grips during a match. A serve starts a point. The server tosses the ball into the air and hits it into the box on the opposite diagonal, without touching the net. Players often practice the overhand serve to get more power and better aim. A winning serve that the opponent does not touch is called an "ace".

For a right-handed player, the forehand starts on the right side of the body and ends on the left. The 1920s player Bill Johnston was considered by many to have had the best forehand of all time. He hit it with a western grip. Some players, such as Pancho Segura, Monica Seles, Fabrice Santoro, and Marion Bartoli, have used a two-handed forehand.

For a right-handed player, the backhand starts on the left side of the body and ends on the right. It is usually considered harder to learn than the forehand. For most of the 20th century, players hit it with one hand. The two-handed backhand became popular in the 1970s. Players such as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams use it today.

A volley is hit before the ball bounces, usually near the net. A half volley is hit just after the ball bounces, close to the ground. A lob hits the ball high over the opponent, while an overhead smash is a hard shot that looks like a serve. A drop shot softly taps the ball just over the net, so the opponent cannot run in fast enough to reach it.

Tournaments

See also: List of tennis tournaments

Tournaments are often grouped by gender and number of players. Some examples are men's singles, women's singles, and doubles, where two players play on each side of the net. Some tournaments are for certain age groups, such as the Orange Bowl and Les Petits As junior tournaments. There are also events for players with disabilities, like wheelchair tennis and deaf tennis. Most big tournaments seed players, which means ranking them so the best players are kept apart. Players may also be matched by skill level. The United States Tennis Association runs the NTRP rating system. It rates players from 1.0 to 7.0, and it is changed over time to keep matches fair. The four Grand Slam tournaments allow 128 players in singles for each gender.

The four Grand Slam tournaments are the most important tennis events in the world. They are held every year: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. The Olympic Games, Davis Cup, Fed Cup, and Hopman Cup are also important events. The International Tennis Federation sets the rules for the Grand Slams and these other events. Groups in each country also help organize the Grand Slams. These include Tennis Australia, the Fédération Française de Tennis, the Lawn Tennis Association, and the United States Tennis Association. The Grand Slams offer bigger prize money than other tour events. The winner also gets double the ranking points of the ATP Masters 1000 and Premier events. The singles draw includes 32 seeded players, other top-100 players, qualifiers, and players given wild cards. Men play matches of best-of-five sets, and women play best-of-three. Only the Grand Slams currently hold mixed doubles contests. They are held alongside junior tennis and wheelchair tournaments. At Wimbledon, players must wear mostly white. Andre Agassi skipped it from 1988 through 1990 because of its traditions. The French Open became an international tournament in 1925.

The men's tour has different levels. The ATP Masters 1000 has nine tournaments. When the ATP, led by Hamilton Jordan, began running the men's tour in 1990, these were called "Super 9" events. The top eight players compete in the ATP Finals each November, which is now held in Turin. In 2009 the series was renamed "ATP Masters 1000." The Monte-Carlo Masters stayed part of it. The Hamburg Masters was made a 500-point event. The Madrid Masters moved to May and is played on clay. A new event in Shanghai took Madrid's October spot. Below these are the ATP 500 series, with 11 tournaments, and the ATP 250 series, with 40. The Dubai Tennis Championships offer the largest prize money. The Challenger Tour is the lowest ATP level, and many players start there. Futures tournaments on the ITF Men's Circuit also give ATP rankings points. For women, the WTA 1000 Tournaments are the second tier. The WTA 500 Series and WTA 250 Series are the third and fourth tiers. The WTA 125 Series is the lowest tier.

Players

See also: Lists of tennis records and statistics

Further information: World number 1 women tennis players and List of WTA number 1 ranked players

Professional tennis players earn money from clothing, equipment, and endorsements, like other top sports stars. Like golf players, they do not get a salary. They must play well in tournaments to win prize money. Players have been teased for the grunting noise they sometimes make. Some groups, including the Grand Slam Committee, the International Tennis Association, and the Women's Tennis Association, have taught players ways to avoid it.

Singles players usually become less competitive in their late 20s and early 30s. However, they can still play doubles. Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe won doubles titles in their 40s. Many women, including Martina Navratilova, Margaret Court, Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams, have been strong in both singles and doubles. Singles champions get much more attention and money than doubles players.

Famous doubles pairs include The Woodies, who were Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde. Another famous pair is the Bryan brothers, identical twins Robert Charles "Bob" Bryan and Michael Carl "Mike" Bryan. At the Olympics, both players in a doubles pair must come from the same country. Singles stars such as Boris Becker, Michael Stich, Roger Federer, and Stan Wawrinka have sometimes teamed up there. An Olympic medal is equally prestigious in singles and doubles.

At the 2000 Olympics, Lisa Raymond was not picked for Team USA. The team chose Serena Williams instead, even though Raymond was the world's top-ranked doubles player at the time. In tournaments such as Wimbledon and the US Open, singles earns the most prize money. Doubles comes next, and then mixed doubles.

Many people discuss who was the greatest male singles player ever. Bill Tilden was named the greatest player of the first half of the 20th century in a 1950 Associated Press poll. In 1938, Donald Budge became the first person to win all four major singles titles in one calendar year. This is called the Grand Slam. Rod Laver is the only male player to have won the calendar year Grand Slam twice, in 1962 and 1969. Jimmy Connors, Björn Borg, and John McEnroe had a fierce rivalry in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were the best players of the 1990s, and both are seen as among the greatest of all time. In the early 21st century, the "Big Three" of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic dominated men's singles tennis.

Many people also discuss the greatest female singles player. Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Serena Williams are the three most often named. In 2012, the Tennis Channel ranked Graf as the greatest female player. In 2018, a Tennis.com panel chose Serena Williams as the greatest female tennis player in the Open Era. Bud Collins called Martina Navratilova "arguably, the greatest player of all time."

Officials

Main article: Official (tennis)

In most professional matches, and some amateur ones, a head judge called the umpire sits in a tall chair at the side of the court. The umpire has the final say on facts. Line judges help by deciding whether the ball landed inside the lines, and by calling foot faults. A net judge may check whether the ball touched the net during a serve. The umpire can overrule a line judge or net judge if a clear mistake has been made.

In the past, line judges were sometimes helped by electronic sensors that beeped when a serve landed out of bounds. One such system was called "Cyclops", but it has mostly been replaced by the Hawk-Eye system. Players in professional events that use this system can challenge close line calls through an electronic review. The Miami Masters, US Open Series, World Team Tennis, and others began using this challenge system in 2006 or 2007. On clay courts, such as at the French Open, a call can be checked by the mark the ball left on the surface. The referee, usually off the court, is the final authority on the rules.

Junior tennis

Main article: Junior tennis

In tennis, a junior is a player under 18 who still has a parent or guardian looking after them. Players under 18 on the main adult tour need documents signed by a parent or guardian, but they can still play in junior tournaments. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) runs a junior tour where young players can earn a world ranking and an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) or Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking. Most juniors move up through ITF, Satellite, Future, and Challenger tournaments before joining the main circuit. Adults also play in those three lower circuits. Some juniors, such as Australian Lleyton Hewitt and Frenchman Gaël Monfils, went straight from the junior tour to the ATP tour. They did this by doing very well in junior tournaments or by taking chances in professional ones.

In 2004, the ITF started a new rankings system. It combined singles and doubles rankings into one total, to encourage more people to play doubles. Junior tournaments do not offer prize money, except at the Grand Slam tournaments, which are the most important junior events. Juniors can earn money from tennis by playing on the Future, Satellite, or Challenger tours. The best juniors can represent their country in the Junior Fed Cup and Davis Cup. Since success often starts young, almost all tennis-playing countries have built junior development programmes. Talented juniors may receive sponsorship from governing bodies or private organisations.

Injuries

Muscle strain is one of the most common injuries in tennis. It can happen when a sudden burst of energy is used while a muscle tightens, and body weight puts a lot of pressure on a stretched muscle. When a muscle strain happens, the area can become red, painful, and swollen.

Overuse injuries are also common in tennis players of all levels. Muscle, cartilage, nerves, bursae, ligaments and tendons can be damaged from overuse. The most common cause is using the same muscles again and again without enough time to rest and heal.

In popular culture

Tennis appears in books, films, and video games. William Shakespeare mentions "tennis balls" in his play Henry V (1599). David Foster Wallace played tennis as a teenager at Urbana High School in Illinois. He wrote about tennis in many of his works, such as "Tennis Player Michael Joyce's Professional Artistry as a Paradigm of Certain Stuff about Choice, Freedom, Discipline, Joy, Grotesquerie, and Human Completeness", "Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley", and Infinite Jest. Part of Infinite Jest is set at a made-up tennis school in Massachusetts. The Japanese manga series The Prince of Tennis follows the tennis star Echizen Ryoma. Imogen, a 1978 romance novel by Jilly Cooper, has a professional tennis player at its centre.

Many films also use tennis. In The Royal Tenenbaums, Luke Wilson plays Richie Tenenbaum, a tennis player who feels very sad and has a breakdown on the court. In Wimbledon, Paul Bettany plays a discouraged player. Kirsten Dunst helps him find the drive to try to win Wimbledon. In The Squid and the Whale, Laura Linney plays Joan, and William Baldwin appears as a tennis coach. Jeff Daniels plays her ex-husband. Woody Allen's Match Point stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johansson. The film compares Andre Agassi and Tim Henman. The mockumentary Confetti features Meredith MacNeill and Stephen Mangan as rival tennis players. Challengers, a 2024 film by Luca Guadagnino, was nominated four times at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, where it won Best Original Score. Video games about tennis include the Mario Tennis and TopSpin series, as well as Virtua Tennis, Sega Superstars Tennis, Grand Slam Tennis, and Wii Sports.