1.3 Scoring a game

A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving, and is won by the first player to have won at least four points and at least two points more than their opponent. (Note: the term "game" is not to be confused with "match". An entire competetive encounter between two players or teams is referred to as a "match". A game is a small part of a match.) Although the server remains the same for the entire game, the half of the court used for service alternates between courts, beginning with the right half for the first point.

The score of an incomplete game is described in a manner peculiar to tennis: scores of zero to three points are described as "love", "fifteen", "thirty", and "forty". These are usually represented textually as "0", "15", "30", "40". When stating the score, the server's score is stated first. Thus, for example, the phrase "thirty-love" or text "30/0" means that the server has won two points in the game and the receiver none. Verbally, the word "all" is used when the scores are tied, so "fifteen-all" (written "15/15") means that each player has won one point.

If each player has won three points, the score is described as "deuce" rather than "forty-all". It may be written either as "40/40" or "deuce". From this point on, the exact number of points won is not counted, because it is no longer significant: each player now has sufficiently many points that they need only get two points ahead of their opponent in order to win the game. Whenever the score is tied, it is described as "deuce", and may still be written "40/40" regardless of how many points have been won. When a player is one point ahead, the score is "advantage" to that player, for example "advantage Smith" if Mr Smith is one point ahead of Mr Jones. This score may be written in that form, or as "40/A" or "A/40" as appropriate. If the player with advantage loses the next point then the score returns to "deuce".

Thus, using the tennis terminology for scores, a player wins the game when they win a point while their score is "forty" and their opponent's score is "thirty" or less, or when they win a point while they have "advantage".

The system of "deuce" and "advantage" describes identically scores that are not actually identical in terms of numbers of points won but are equivalent in terms of their effect on future scoring. There are further such equivalences: a score of "thirty-all" is equivalent to "deuce", and "forty-thirty" is equivalent to "advantage". These equivalences are never used in describing the score; "thirty-all" always means that the players have won exactly two points each, and "deuce" always means that the players have won at least three points each.

The current point score is announced verbally before each point by the umpire, or by the server if there is no umpire. The score of a complete game is never described using the standard terminology.

1.4 Scoring a set

A set consists of a sequence of games played with service alternating between games, ending when the count of games won meets certain criteria. The score of games within a set is counted in the ordinary manner, except that a score of zero games is read as "love". The score is written using digits separated by a dash. The score is announced, by the umpire or server, at the start of each game, in the form "Mr Smith leads two games to one" (which would be written "2-1") or "two games all" (which would be written "2-2").

The serving player/team alternates between games, to even out the large advantage that serving carries within a game. The players also swap ends after the first game and every two games thereafter, to even out any advantage to be gained from differences between the ends. All four combinations of serving player/team and ends are rotated through. In doubles, service also alternate within each team, in a more complicated manner, and reception alternates within the receiving team between points.

Traditionally, the set is won by the first player to have won at least six games and at least two games more than their opponent. More commonly, when the score is tied at 6-6 (each player having won six games), a special tie-breaker game is played and the set is won 7-6. Where the tie-breaker system is employed, often a deciding final set will nevertheless be played in the traditional manner, to avoid the match being decided solely by a tie-breaker game.

In a tie-breaker game, points are counted using ordinary numbering, with zero read as "zero", and the game is won by the first player to have won at least seven points and at least two points more than their opponent. In the tie-breaker game, service alternates between points as it does between normal games within a set, and ends are changed every six points.

1.5 Multi-set matches

The minimum match length is one set. Longer matches consist of an odd number of sets, the match winner being the player that wins more than half of the sets. The match ends as soon as this winning condition is met; sets that cannot influence the outcome are not played. Most commonly, men's singles matches are five sets (the winner being the first to three sets), and all other forms are three sets (the winner being the first to two sets).

The sequence of service and end alternation between games applies throughout the match without regard to sets. A tie-breaker game is treated as a single game for the purposes of this alternation, despite its similar internal alternation.

The score of a complete match is stated first overall in sets, and then the scores of each complete set is given separately, in each case the match winner's score being stated first. For example, a five-set match with tie-breakers might yield the score "7-5 6-7 6-4 7-6": the match was won three sets to one, with the match loser winning the second set on a tie-breaker.

1.6 Officials

In serious play there is an officiating chair umpire (usually simply referred to as the umpire), who sits in a raised chair to one side of the court to have a good view of the action. The umpire has absolute authority to determine matters of fact, and for a player to dispute a ruling is extremely poor form. The chair umpire may be assisted by line umpires, who determine whether the ball has landed within the required part of the court and also call foot faults. There may also be a net umpire who determines whether the ball has touched the net during service. Ball boys (who are usually children) may be employed to retrieve balls and pass them to the players, and have no adjudicative role. The referee, who is usually located off the court, is the final authority on the rules.

1.7 Miscellaneous

A tennis match is intended to be continuous. Stamina is a relevant factor, so arbitrary delays during play are not permitted. In most cases, service is required to occur no more than 20s after the end of the previous point. This is increased to 90 s when the players change ends (every two games), and a 120 s break is permitted between sets. Other than this, breaks are permitted only when forced by events beyond the players' control, such as rain, damaged footwear, or the need to chase an errant ball.

Balls wear out quickly in serious play, and so are changed after every nine games. However, the first ball change occurs after only seven games, because the first set of balls is also used for the pre-match warm-up. Continuity of the balls' condition is considered part of the game, so if a re-warm-up is required after an extended break in play (usually due to rain) then the re-warm-up is done using a separate set of balls, and use of the match balls is resumed only when play resumes.

Wheelchair tennis can be played by able-bodied players as well as people who require a wheelchair for mobility. The use of legs or feet is then prohibited, and the player is required to remain seated in the wheelchair. There is an exception for those who are able to propel themselves only using a foot.

The rule allowing wheelchair users an extra bounce of the ball before returning it is so well balanced that it is possible to have mixed wheelchair/legs matches. It is possible for a doubles team to consist of a wheelchair user and a legs user, or even for a wheelchair user to play against a legs user. In such cases, the extra bounce is permitted for the wheelchair users only.

2 Shots

A competent tennis player has seven basic shots in his or her repertoire: the forehand, backhand, volley, half-volley, overhead smash, drop shot, and lob. When a player serves the ball to the opponent at the beginning of each point, he or she will use different kinds of serving motions to generate one of four different services: a flat, a top-spin, an American twist (or kick), or a slice serve. A severely sliced serve is sometimes called a sidespin.

The forehand is generally considered the easiest of the tennis shots to master, perhaps because it is considered to be the most natural stroke. It is made by swinging the racquet across one's body in the direction of the net. There are various grips for holding the racquet for executing the forehand. The popularity of these grips has changed over the years. In the early part of the 20th century the western grip was nearly as popular as the eastern grip. In the 20s and 30s the continental grip was popularized by Fred Perry and the so-called "Four Musketeers" from France. Throughout the 40s and 50s the eastern was used by most American players, while many of the great Australian players used a continental or semi-continental grip. Most forehands are executed with one hand holding the racquet, but there have been fine players with two-handed forehands. In the 1940s and 50s the Ecuadorian/American player Pancho Segura used a two-handed forehand to devastating effect against larger, more powerful players. Jack Kramer called Segura's forehand the single best shot in the history of tennis. In the latter part of the 20th century, as shot-making techniques and equipment changed radically, the western forehand made a strong comeback and is now used by (and is being taught to) most modern players.

The backhand, which is struck by swinging the racquet away from one's body in the direction of the net, is generally considered more difficult to master than the forehand. It can be executed with either one hand or two. For most of the 20th Century it was performed with one hand, using either an eastern or a continental grip. The most notable players to use two hands were the 1930s Australians Vivian McGrath and John Bromwich . The two-handed grip gained popularity in the 1970s as Chris Evert and Jimmy ConnorsJimmy Connors ( September 2, 1952 ) is a famous American tennis player. James Scott Connors was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and grew up in the adjacent town of Belleville, Illinois. Early in his career, he earned a reputation as the brat of tennis b used it to great effect, and it is now used by a large number of the world's best players, including Andre AgassiAndre Kirk Agassi (born April 29, 1970, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA) is a American professional tennis player ( 1986-). As of 2004, he has won over $25 million in prize money and achieved a number 1 ranking on the ATP tour. Agassi, an ethnic Armenian, was born and the Williams sistersThe Williams sisters are two famous tennis players who are sisters: Serena Williams Venus Williams.. Two hands give the player more power, while one hand can generate a slice shot, applying backspin on the tennis ball to produce a low trajectory bounce on the opponent's side of the court. The player long considered to have had the best backhand of all time, Don BudgeJohn Donald Budge ( June 13, 1915 January 26, 2000) was a champion tennis player who became famous as the first man to win in a single year the four tournaments that comprise the Grand Slam of tennis. He was considered to have the best backhand in the his, used one hand with a very powerful stroke and imparted topspin onto the ball. Ken RosewallKen Robert Rosewall born November 2, 1934 in Sydney, Australia, was a champion tennis player. He was born into a family that played tennis and owned tennis courts. A natural left-hander, Rosewall's father taught him to play right-handed. Perhaps as a resu, another player noted for his one-handed backhand, used a deadly accurate slice backhand with underspin. A small number of players, most notably Monica SelesMonica Seles (born December 2, 1973), originally Monika Sele is an accomplished female tennis player winner of many competitions including nine Grand Slam titles. Seles was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (now Vojvodina, Serbia and Montenegro). She is an eth, use two hands on both the backhand and forehand sides.

3 Courts

There are significant differences between the different types of courts:

• Clay court
• Grass court
• Hardcourt

Clay courts are generally the slowest, and hardcourts are generally the fastest, though there is some variability within each type of court. Grass courts are perhaps best characterized by the variability that is produced by how healthy the grass is and how recently it has been mowed. Of the major Grand SlamGrand Slam is a general sports term applied when achieving something special. Most common uses: In tennis, winning the Grand Slam is holding the following titles at the same time: Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, US Open. Those tournaments are t tournaments, the Australian OpenThe Australian Open tennis tournament, held annually in mid- January, is the first of the world's four Grand Slam tournaments. Originally based at the grass courts at Kooyong in the city of Melbourne's inner south-east, the tournament was in danger of fad and U.S. Open use hardcourts - though both originally used grass courts - the French Open uses clay courts and Wimbledon uses grass courts.

Other types of courts have been used as well, and there is no consistent definition of what qualifies as a "hardcourt". Non-traditional surfaces are rarely used in competitive tennis.

4 Tournaments

Tournaments are often organized by gender and number of players. Common tournament configurations include men's singles, women's singles, doubles (where two players of the same sex play on each side), and mixed doubles (with a member of each sex per side). There are also tournaments for specific age groups, with upper age limits for youth and lower age limits for senior players. There are also tournaments for handicapped players.

5 History

Tennis has a short history, and its invention can be dated. In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield devised the game for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate at Nantclywd, Wales. He based the game on the older sport of indoor tennis or real tennis ("royal tennis"), which had been invented in 12th century France and played by French aristocrats down to the time of the French Revolution.

Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of royal tennis and applied them to his new game.

• tennis comes from the French tenez, the imperative form of the verb tenir, to hold: it thus means "Hold!" This was a cry used by the player serving in royal tennis, meaning "I am about to serve!" (rather like the cry "Fore!" in golf).
• Racquet comes from the French raquette, although it ultimately derives from the Arabic rakhat, meaning the palm of the hand.
• Deuce comes from the French expression à deux le jeu, meaning "to both is the game" (that is, the two players have equal scores).
• love comes from the French l'oeuf, the egg, a reference to the egg-shaped zero symbol
• The convention of numbering scores "15," "30" and "40" comes from the French quinze, trente and quarante, which to French ears makes a euphonious sequence.

Seeing the commercial potential of the game, Wingfield patented it in 1874, but never succeeded in enforcing his patent. Tennis spread rapidly among the leisured classes in Britain and the United States. It was first played in the U.S. at the home of Mary Ewing Outerbridge on Staten Island, New York in 1874.

In 1881 the desire to play tennis competitively led to the establishment of tennis clubs. The first championships at Wimbledon, in London were played in 1877. In 1881 the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (now the United States Tennis Association) was formed to standardise the rules and organise competitions. The U.S. National Men's Singles Championship, now the U.S. Open, was first held in 1881 at Newport, Rhode Island. the U.S. National Women's Singles Championships were first held in 1887. The Davis Cup, an annual competition between national teams, dates to 1900.

In 1926 a group of American tennis players established a professional tennis circuit, playing exhibition matches to paying audiences. For 40 years professional and amateur tennis remained strictly separate. Once a player turned pro he or she could not compete in the major (amateur) tournaments. In 1968 however, commercial pressures led to the abandonment of this distinction, inaugurating the Open era, in which all players could compete in all tournaments, and top players made their living from tennis.

Tennis was for many years predominantly a sport of the English-speaking world, dominated by the United States, Britain and Australia. It was also popular in France, where the French Open dates to 1891. Thus Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the French Open and the Australian Open (dating to 1905) became and have remained the most prestigious events in tennis. Together these four events are called the Grand Slam (a term borrowed from bridge). Winning the Grand Slam, by capturing these four titles in one calendar year, is the highest ambition of most tennis players.

In 1954 James Van Alen founded the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a not-for-profit museum in Newport, Rhode Island which contains a large collection of tennis memorabilia as well as a hall of fame honoring prominent members and tennis players from all over the world.

With the beginning of the Open era, the establishment of an international professional tennis circuit, and revenues from the sale of television rights, tennis has spread all over the world and has lost its upper-class English-speaking image. Since the 1970s great champions have emerged from Germany ( Boris Becker, Steffi Graf), the former Czechoslovakia ( Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova), Sweden ( Björn Borg), Brazil ( Gustavo Kuerten), Russia ( Yevgeni Kafelnikov), and many other countries. Recently African American players such as Venus and Serena Williams have become a force in the game.

Among the greatest male players of the Open era are Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, John Newcombe, Stan Smith, Björn Borg, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, Mats Wilander, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer. Among the women are Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, the Williams sisters, and Belgian stars Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Many great players played in the days before Open tennis. Most of them are unknown by modern sports fans. Among them are Bill Tilden, Ellsworth Vines, Fred Perry, Don Budge, Bobby Riggs, Jack Kramer, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, Pancho Gonzales, Ken Rosewall, and Lew Hoad. For many years observers considered Tilden to be the greatest player who ever lived. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was general agreement that Gonzales had replaced Tilden as the best ever. Any one of these eleven would be competitive in today's game.

Other great players of the pre-Open era include Maurice McLoughlin , "Little Bill" Johnston, the "Four Musketeers" ( Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste), Vinnie Richards, Jack Crawford, Vic Seixas , and Tony Trabert.

Who is the greatest male player of all time? It is impossible to give a clear answer, as new techniques and improved equipment have changed the game greatly in the last thirty years. There is no reason to believe, however, that a 1920s Bill Tilden, for instance, who was noted for his intelligence, adaptability, and tennis athleticism, would not be able to change his game and strokes to emulate those of the modern players. As we see in the frequent upsets of top seeds in the major tournaments by much lower ranked players, there is relatively little difference in the quality of play among the top hundred players. If one believes that the stars of past decades would rank at least in the top hundred today, they would arguably be just as able to defeat the top players some of the time. Just as many believe that baseball stars of the past could excel in today's major leagues, there is no reason to believe that the best past tennis players would not be able to hold their own against today's stars.

A feasible listing of the six greatest players of all time is, in chronological order: Bill Tilden, Don Budge, Pancho Gonzales, Rod Laver, John McEnroe, and Pete Sampras. A study of their records against other players could support an argument for any one of these six as the best player of all time. A similar case could perhaps be made for Jack Kramer or Björn Borg. Kramer himself, who became a top player in the early 1940s, believes that Ellsworth Vines was the greatest of all time ... and so it goes -- a fascinating topic for never-ending speculation.

6 See also

• tennis
• List of female tennis players
• List of male tennis players
• Grand Slam in tennis
  • Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon championships, U.S. Open
• Professional Tennis Championships (1927-1999)
• Satellite tournaments
• International Tennis Federation
• Davis Cup
• Fed Cup (formerly known as Federation Cup)
• Wightman Cup

7 External links

• ESPN Tennis
• Tennis news
• International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Chinese Tennis news and resource
• United States Tennis Association

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