utf8_encode(Tennis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Tennis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThis article is about the sport.For other uses, see Tennis (disambiguation).Tennis

A tennis match at Wimbledon, the oldest and the most prestigious tennis tournament.Highestgoverning bodyInternational Tennis FederationFirst playedBetween 1859 and 1865 (Birmingham,England)CharacteristicsContactNoTeam membersSingle or doublesMixed genderYes, separate tours& mixed doublesCategorizationRacquet sportEquipmentTennis ball, tennis racquetVenueIndoor oroutdoor tennis courtOlympicPart of Summer Olympic programme from 1896 to 1924Demonstration sport in the 1968 and 1984 Summer OlympicsPart of Summer Olympic programme since 1988ParalympicPart of Summer Paralympic programmesince 1992Country or regionWorldwideTennis is a sport that people usually play individually against a single opponent (singles) or betweentwo teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a racquet that is strung with cord tostrike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. Theobject of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a goodreturn.

Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages. The sport can beplayed by anyone who can hold a racquet, including wheelchair users. The modern game of tennisoriginated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as "lawn tennis".[1] It had closeconnections both to various field ("lawn") games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the olderraquet sport of real tennis. During most of the 19th-century in fact, the term "tennis" referred to realtennis, not lawn tennis: for example, in Disraeli's novel Sybil (1845), Lord Eugene De Vereannounces that he will "go down to Hampton Court and play tennis."[2]

The rules of tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tie-break in the1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic reviewtechnology coupled with a point challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of apoint.

Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is also a popular worldwide spectator sport.The four Grand Slam tournaments (also referred to as the "Majors") are especially popular: theAustralian Open played on hard courts, the French Open played on red clay courts, Wimbledonplayed on grass courts, and the US Open played also on hard courts.

Contents1 History1.1 Predecessors1.2 Origins of the modern game2 Equipment2.1 Racquets2.2

Balls2.3 Miscellaneous3 Manner of play3.1 Court3.1.1 Lines3.2 Play of a single point3.3 Scoring3.4Rule variations4 Surface5 Officials6 Junior tennis7 Match play7.1 Continuity7.2 Ball Changes7.3 On-Court Coaching8 Shots8.1 Grip8.2 Serve8.3 Forehand8.4 Backhand8.5 Other shots9Tournaments9.1 Grand Slam tournaments9.2 Men's tournament structure9.2.1 Masters 10009.2.2250 and 500 Series9.2.3 Challenger Tour and Futures tournaments9.3 Women's tournamentstructure9.3.1 Premier events9.3.2 International events10 Players10.1 Professional players10.2Grand Slam tournament winners10.3 Greatest male players10.4 Greatest female players11 Inpopular culture12 See also13 References14 Further reading15 External links

History[edit]Main article: History of tennis Augurio Perera's house inEdgbaston, Birmingham, where he and Harry Gem first played the modern game of lawn tennisPredecessors[edit]Historians believe that the game's ancient origin lay in 12th century northern France, where a ballwas struck with the palm of the hand.[3]Louis X of France was a keen player of jeu de paume ("gameof the palm"), which evolved into real tennis, and became notable as the first person to constructindoor tennis courts in the modern style. Louis was unhappy with playing tennis out of doors andaccordingly had indoor, enclosed courts made in Paris "around the end of the 13th century".[4] Indue course this design spread across royal palaces all over Europe.[4] Unfortunately, in June 1316 atVincennes, Val-de-Marne and following a particularly exhausting game, Louis drank a large quantityof cooled wine and subsequently died of either pneumonia or pleurisy, although there was alsosuspicion of poisoning.[5] Because of the contemporary accounts of his death, Louis X is history'sfirst tennis player known by name.[5] Another of the early enthusiasts of the game was King CharlesV of France, who had a court set up at the Louvre Palace.[6]

It wasn't until the 16th century that racquets came into use, and the game began to be called"tennis", from the Old French term tenez, which can be translated as "hold!", "receive!" or "take!",an interjection used as a call from the server to his opponent.[7] It was popular in England andFrance, although the game was only played indoors where the ball could be hit off the wall. HenryVIII of England was a big fan of this game, which is now known as real tennis.[8] During the 18thcentury and early 19th century, as real tennis declined, new racquet sports emerged in England.[9]

Further, the patenting of the first lawn mower in 1830, in Britain, is strongly believed to have beenthe catalyst, world-wide, for the preparation of modern-style grass courts, sporting ovals, playingfields, pitches, greens, etc. This in turn led to the codification of modern rules for many sports,including lawn tennis, most football codes, lawn bowls and others.[10]

Origins of the modern game[edit]Between 1859 and 1865 Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera developed a game that combinedelements of racquets and the Basque ball game pelota, which they played on Perera's croquet lawnin Birmingham, United Kingdom.[11][12] In 1872, along with two local doctors, they founded theworld's first tennis club in Leamington Spa.[13]

Lawn tennis in the U.S., 1887In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed and patented a similar game - whichhe called sphairistike (Greek: """??, from ancient Greek meaning "skill at playing at ball"), and wassoon known simply as "sticky" -- for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate ofNantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales.[14] According to R. D. C. Evans, turfgrass agronomist, "Sportshistorians all agree that [Wingfield] deserves much of the credit for the development of moderntennis."[9][15] According to Honor Godfrey, museum curator at Wimbledon, Wingfield "popularizedthis game enormously. He produced a boxed set which included a net, poles, racquets, balls forplaying the game -- and most importantly you had his rules. He was absolutely terrific at marketingand he sent his game all over the world. He had very good connections with the clergy, the lawprofession, and the aristocracy and he sent thousands of sets out in the first year or so, in 1874."[16]The world's oldest tennis tournament, the Wimbledon Championships, were first played in London in1877.[16][17] The first Championships culminated a significant debate on how to standardize therules.[16]

Lawn tennis in Canada, ca. 1900In America in 1874 Mary Ewing Outerbridge, a young socialite, returned from Bermuda with asphairistike set. She became fascinated by the game of tennis after watching army officers, whowere British, play.[18] She laid out a tennis court at the Staten Island Cricket Club at CampWashington, Tompkinsville,Staten Island, New York. The first American National championship wasplayed there in September 1880. An Englishman named O.E Woodhouse won the singles title, and asilver cup worth $100, by defeating Canadian I. F. Hellmuth.[19] There was also a doubles matchwhich was won by a local pair. There were different rules at each club. The ball in Boston was largerthan the one normally used in New York. On 21 May 1881, the United States National Lawn TennisAssociation (now the United States Tennis Association) was formed to standardize the rules andorganize competitions.[20] The U.S. National Men's Singles Championship, now the US Open, wasfirst held in 1881 at the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island.[21] The U.S. National Women'sSingles Championships were first held in 1887 in Philadelphia.[22]

Tennis was also popular in France, where the French Championships dates to 1891 although until1925 it was open only to tennis players who were members of French clubs.[23] Thus, Wimbledon,the US Open, the French Open, and the Australian Open (dating to 1905) became and haveremained the most prestigious events in tennis.[17][24] Together these four events are called theMajors or Slams (a term borrowed from bridge rather than baseball).[25]

The comprehensive rules promulgated in 1924 by the International Lawn Tennis Federation, nowknown as the International Tennis Federation (ITF), have remained largely stable in the ensuingeighty years, the one major change being the addition of the tie-break system designed by James VanAlen.[26] That same year, tennis withdrew from the Olympics after the 1924 Games but returned 60years later as a 21-and-under demonstration event in 1984. This reinstatement was credited by the

efforts by the then ITF President Philippe Chatrier, ITF General Secretary David Gray and ITF VicePresident Pablo Llorens, and support from IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. The success ofthe event was overwhelming and the IOC decided to reintroduce tennis as a full medal sport at Seoulin 1988.[27][28]

International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport CasinoThe Davis Cup, an annual competition between men's national teams, dates to 1900.[29] Theanalogous competition for women's national teams, the Fed Cup, was founded as the Federation Cupin 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the ITF.[30]

In 1926, promoter C. C. Pyle established the first professional tennis tour with a group of Americanand French tennis players playing exhibition matches to paying audiences.[24][31] The most notableof these early professionals were the American Vinnie Richards and the Frenchwoman SuzanneLenglen.[24][32] Once a player turned pro he or she could not compete in the major (amateur)tournaments. This resulted in a schism between the amateur and pro tennis ranks that would lastuntil the advent of the Open Era.[24]

In 1968, commercial pressures and rumors of some amateurs taking money under the table led tothe abandonment of this distinction, inaugurating the open era, in which all players could compete inall tournaments, and top players were able to make their living from tennis. With the beginning ofthe open era, the establishment of an international professional tennis circuit, and revenues from thesale of television rights, tennis's popularity has spread worldwide, and the sport has shed itsupper/middle-class English-speaking image[33] (although it is acknowledged that this stereotype stillexists).[33][34]

In 1954, Van Alen founded the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a non-profit museum in Newport,Rhode Island.[35] The building contains a large collection of tennis memorabilia as well as a hall offame honoring prominent members and tennis players from all over the world. Each year, a grass-court tournament and an induction ceremony honoring new Hall of Fame members are hosted on itsgrounds

Equipment[edit]Main article: Tennis technologyPart of the appeal of tennis stems from the simplicity of equipment required for play. Beginners needonly a racquet and balls.

Racquets[edit]Main article: Racquet#TennisThe components of a tennis racquet include a handle, known as the grip, connected to a neck whichjoins a roughly elliptical frame that holds a matrix of tightly pulled strings. For the first 100 years ofthe modern game, racquets were of wood and of standard size, and strings were of animal gut.Laminated wood construction yielded more strength in racquets used through most of the 20thcentury until first metal and then composites of carbon graphite, ceramics, and lighter metals suchas titanium were introduced. These stronger materials enabled the production of over-sized racquetsthat yielded yet more power. Meanwhile technology led to the use of synthetic strings that match the

feel of gut yet with added durability.

Under modern rules of tennis, the racquets must adhere to the following guidelines;[36]The hitting area, composed of the strings, must be flat and generally uniform.The frame of thehitting area may not be more than 29 inches in length and 12.5 inches in width.The entire racquetmust be of a fixed shape, size, weight, and weight distribution. There may not be any energy sourcebuilt into the racquets.The racquets must not provide any kind of communication, instruction oradvice to the player during the match.The rules regarding racquets have changed over time, as material and engineering advances havebeen made. For example, the maximum length of the frame had been 32 inches until 1997, when itwas shortened to 29 inches.[37]

A tennis racquet and balls.Many companies manufacture and distribute tennis racquets. Wilson, Head and Babolat are some ofthe more commonly used brands; however, many more companies exist. The same companiessponsor players to use these racquets in the hopes that the company name will become more wellknown by the public.

Balls[edit]Main article: Tennis ballTennis balls came a long way from being made out of cloth strips, which were stitched together withthread.[38] Tennis balls are made of hollow rubber with a felt coating. Traditionally white, thepredominant color was gradually changed to optic Yellow in the latter part of the 20th century toallow for improved visibility. Tennis balls must conform to certain criteria for size, weight,deformation, and bounce criteria to be approved for regulation play. The International TennisFederation (ITF) defines the official diameter as 65.41-68.58 mm (2.575-2.700 inches). Balls mustweigh between 56.0 g and 59.4 g (1.975-2.095 ounces).[39]

Miscellaneous[edit]Advanced players improve their performance through a number of accoutrements. Vibrationdampers may be interlaced in the proximal part of the string array for improved feel. Racquethandles may be customized with absorbent or rubber-like materials to improve the players' grip.Players often use sweat bands on their wrists to keep their hands dry as well. Finally, although thegame can be played in a variety of shoes, specialized tennis shoes have wide, flat soles for stabilityand a built-up front structure to avoid excess wear.

Manner of play[edit] The dimensions of a tennis court

Two players before a serveFor individual terms see: Glossary oftennisCourt[edit]Main article: Tennis courtTennis is played on a rectangular, flat surface, usually grass, clay, a hardcourt of concrete, andasphalt and occasionally carpet (indoor). The court is 78 feet (23.77 m) long, and 27 feet (8.23 m)wide for singles matches and 36 ft (10.97 m) for doubles matches.[40] Additional clear space aroundthe court is required in order for players to reach overrun balls. A net is stretched across the fullwidth of the court, parallel with the baselines, dividing it into two equal ends. It is held up by eithera metal cable or cord that can be no more than 0.8 cm (1/3 inch).[41] The net is 3 feet 6 inches (1.07m) high at the posts and 3 feet (0.914 m) high in the center.[40] The net posts are 3 feet (0.914 m)outside the doubles court on each side or, for a singles net, 3 feet (0.914 m) outside the singles courton each side.

The modern tennis court owes its design to Major Walter Clopton Wingfield who, in 1873, patented acourt much the same as the current one for his stick? tennis (sphairistike). This template wasmodified in 1875 to the court design that exists today, with markings similar to Wingfield's version,but with the hourglass shape of his court changed to a rectangle.[42]

Lines[edit]The lines that delineate the width of the court are called the baseline (farthest back) and the service

line (middle of the court). The short mark in the center of each baseline is referred to as either thehash mark or the center mark. The outermost lines that make up the length are called the doublessidelines. These are the boundaries used when doubles is being played. The lines to the inside of thedoubles sidelines are the singles sidelines and are used as boundaries in singles play. The areabetween a doubles sideline and the nearest singles sideline is called the doubles alley, which isconsidered playable in doubles play. The line that runs across the center of a player's side of thecourt is called the service line because the serve must be delivered into the area between the serviceline and the net on the receiving side. Despite its name, this is not where a player legally standswhen making a serve.[43]

The line dividing the service line in two is called the center line or center service line. The boxes thiscenter line creates are called the service boxes; depending on a player's position, he or she will haveto hit the ball into one of these when serving.[44] A ball is out only if none of it has hit the line or thearea inside the lines upon its first bounce. All the lines are required to be between 1 and 2 inches(51 mm) in width. The baseline can be up to 4 inches (100 mm) wide.[43]

Play of a single point[edit]Main article: Point (tennis)The players (or teams) start on opposite sides of the net. One player is designated the server, andthe opposing player is the receiver. The choice to be server or receiver in the first game and thechoice of ends is decided by a toss before the warm-up starts. Service alternates game by gamebetween the two players (or teams.) For each point, the server starts behind the baseline, betweenthe center mark and the sideline. The receiver may start anywhere on their side of the net. When thereceiver is ready, the server will serve, although the receiver must play to the pace of the server.

In a legal service, the ball travels over the net (without touching it) and into the diagonally oppositeservice box. If the ball hits the net but lands in the service box, this is a let or net service, which isvoid, and the server retakes that serve. The player can serve any number of let services in a pointand they are always treated as voids and not as faults. A fault is a serve that falls long or wide of theservice box, or does not clear the net. There is also a "foot fault", which occurs when a player's foottouches the baseline or an extension of the center mark before the ball is hit. If the second service isalso a fault, the server double faults, and the receiver wins the point. However, if the serve is in, it isconsidered a legal service.

A legal service starts a rally, in which the players alternate hitting the ball across the net. A legalreturn consists of the player or team hitting the ball before it has bounced twice or hit any fixturesexcept the net, provided that it still falls in the server's court. A player or team cannot hit the balltwice in a row. The ball must travel past the net into the other players' court. A ball that hits the netduring a rally is still considered a legal return. The first player or team to fail to make a legal returnloses the point. The server then moves to the other side of the service line at the start of a newpoint.[45]

Scoring[edit]Main article: Tennis score"Break point" redirects here. For software term, seeBreakpoint.Match

The outcome of a tennis match is determined through a best of three or five sets system.Recreational players may agree to play any number of sets, depending upon time availability orstamina. On the professional circuit, men play best-of-five-set matches at all four Grand Slamtournaments, Davis Cup, and the final of the Olympic Games and best-of-three-set matches at allother tournaments, while women play best-of-three-set matches at all tournaments. The first playerto win two sets in a best-of-three, or three sets in a best-of-five, wins the match.[46] A set consists of

games, and games, in turn, consist of points.

In tournament play, the chair umpire announces the end of the match with the well-known phrase"Game, set, match" followed by the winning person's or team's name. The final score in sets isalways read with the winning player's score first, e.g. "6-2, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5".

Set

A set consists of a sequence of games played with service alternating between games, ending whenthe count of games won meets certain criteria. Typically, a player wins a set by winning at least sixgames and at least two games more than the opponent. If one player has won six games and theopponent five, an additional game is played. If the leading player wins that game, the player wins theset 7-5. If the trailing player wins the game, a tie-break is played. A tie-break, played under aseparate set of rules, allows one player to win one more game and thus the set, to give a final setscore of 7-6. Only in the final sets of matches at the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon,the Olympic Games, Davis Cup, and Fed Cup are tie-breaks not played. In these cases, sets areplayed indefinitely until one player has a two-game lead. A "love" set means that the loser of the setwon zero games, colloquially termed a 'jam donut' in the USA.[47] In tournament play, the chairumpire announces the winner of the set and the overall score.

Game

A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving. A game is won by thefirst player to have won at least four points in total and at least two points more than the opponent.The running score of each game is described in a manner peculiar to tennis: scores from zero tothree points are described as "love", "fifteen", "thirty", and "forty" respectively. If at least threepoints have been scored by each player, making the player's scores equal at forty apiece, the score isnot called out as "forty-forty", but rather as "deuce". If at least three points have been scored byeach side and a player has one more point than his opponent, the score of the game is "advantage"for the player in the lead. During informal games, "advantage" can also be called "ad in" or "van in"when the serving player is ahead, and "ad out" or "van out" when the receiving player is ahead.

The scoreboard of a match between Andy Roddick and CyrilSaulnier.The score of a tennis match during play is always read with the serving player's score first. Intournament play, the chair umpire calls the point count (e.g., "fifteen-love") after each point. At theend of a game, the chair umpire also announces the winner of the game and the overall score.

Game point

A game point occurs in tennis whenever the player who is in the lead in the game needs only onemore point to win the game. The terminology is extended to sets (set point), matches (match point),and even championships (championship point). For example, if the player who is serving has a scoreof 40-love, the player has a triple game point (triple set point, etc.) as the player has three

consecutive chances to win the game. Game points, set points, and match points are not part ofofficial scoring and are not announced by the chair umpire in tournament play.

Break point

A break point occurs if the receiver, not the server, has a chance to win the game with the nextpoint. Break points are of particular importance because serving is generally consideredadvantageous, with the server being expected to win games in which they are serving. A receiverwho has one (score of 30-40), two (score of 15-40) or three (score of love-40) consecutive chances towin the game has break point, double break point or triple break point, respectively. If the receiverdoes, in fact, win their break point, the game is awarded to the receiver, and the receiver is said tohave converted their break point. If the receiver fails to win their break point it is called a failure toconvert. Winning break points, and thus the game, is also referred to as breaking serve, as thereceiver has disrupted, or broken the natural advantage of the server. If in the following game theprevious server also wins a break point it is referred to as breaking back. At least one break of serveis required to win a set.

Rule variations[edit]See also: Types of tennis matchNo adFrom 'No advantage'. Scoring methodcreated by Jimmy Van Alen. The first player or doubles team to win four points wins the game,regardless of whether the player or team is ahead by two points. When the game score reaches threepoints each, the receiver chooses which side of the court (advantage court or deuce court) theservice is to be delivered on the seventh and game-deciding point. Utilized by World Team Tennisprofessional competition and ITF Junior Doubles.[48][49]Pro setInstead of playing multiple sets,players may play one "pro set". A pro set is first to 8 (or 10) games by a margin of two games,instead of first to 6 games. A 12-point tie-break is usually played when the score is 8-8 (or 10-10).These are often played with no-ad scoring.Match tie-breakThis is sometimes played instead of a thirdset. A match tie-break is played like a regular tie-break, but the winner must win ten points insteadof seven. Match tie-breaks are used in the Hopman Cup and the 2012 Olympic Games for mixeddoubles, on the ATP and WTA tours for doubles and as a player's choice in USTA league play.Another, however informal, tennis format is called Canadian doubles. This involves three players,with one person playing a doubles team. The single player gets to utilize the alleys normallyreserved only for a doubles team. Conversely, the doubles team does not use the alleys whenexecuting a shot. The scoring is the same as a regular game. This format is not sanctioned by anyofficial body.

"Australian doubles", another informal and unsanctioned form of tennis, is played with similar rulesto the Canadian doubles style, only in this version, players rotate court position after each game. Assuch, each player plays doubles and singles over the course of a match, with the singles playeralways serving. Scoring styles vary, but one popular method is to assign a value of 2 points to eachgame, with the server taking both points if he or she holds serve and the doubles team each takingone if they break serve.

Wheelchair tennis can be played by able-bodied players as well as people who require a wheelchairfor mobility. An extra bounce is permitted. This rule makes it possible to have mixed wheelchair andable-bodied matches. It is possible for a doubles team to consist of a wheelchair player and an able-bodied player (referred to as "one-up, one-down"), or for a wheelchair player to play against an able-bodied player. In such cases, the extra bounce is permitted for the wheelchair users only.

Surface[edit]Main article: Tennis court#Types of tennis courtsThere are five types of court surface used in professional play. Each surface is different in the speedand height of the bounce of the ball. The same surface plays faster indoors than outdoors.

ClayExamples are red clay, used at the French Open, and green clay (an example of which is Har-Tru and used mainly in the U.S.). Almost all red clay courts are made not of natural clay but ofcrushed brick that is packed to make the court. The crushed brick is then covered with a topping ofother crushed particles. This type of surface does not absorb water easily and is the most common inEurope and Latin America.[citation needed] Clay courts normally have a slower paced ball and afairly true bounce with more spin.HardExamples of hardcourts are acrylic (e.g. Plexicushion used atthe Australian Open, DecoTurf used at the US Open, GreenSet used at the ATP World Tour Finals),asphalt, and concrete. Hardcourts typically have a faster-paced ball with a very true bounce and it isthe predominant surface type used on the professional tour.GrassGrass courts usually have a faster-paced ball, and a more erratic bounce. Grass is used at Wimbledon and until 1974 three of the fourGrand Slams (Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open) were played on grass. In 2001 Wimbledonchanged the type of grass to make the courts more durable and thus better able to withstand thewear of the modern game. The new grass causes the ball to bounce higher and slows it downcompared to the previous grass type.[50][51]CarpetAny form of removable court covering, includingcarpeting and artificial turf. The bounce can be higher or lower than a hard court. Carpet surfacehas not been used on the ATP and WTA tour since 2009.WoodPopular from the 1880s through thefirst half of the 20th century, wooden surface provides a very low bounce and plays very fast. Thereare no longer any professional tournaments held on a wooden surface although some tournaments(e.g. Rotterdam Open and Open Sud de France), are played on a wood-based court with an acryliclayer on top.

Officials[edit] An umpire informing two players of the rulesMainarticle: Official (tennis)In most professional play and some amateur competition, there is an officiating head judge or chairumpire (usually referred to as the umpire), who sits in a raised chair to one side of the court. Theumpire has absolute authority to make factual determinations. The umpire may be assisted by linejudges, who determine whether the ball has landed within the required part of the court and whoalso call foot faults. There also may be a net judge who determines whether the ball has touched thenet during service. The umpire has the right to overrule a line judge or a net judge if the umpire issure that a clear mistake has been made.[52]

In some tournaments, line judges who would be calling the serve, were assisted by electronicsensors that beeped to indicate the serve was out. This system was called "Cyclops".[53] Cyclops hassince largely been replaced by the Hawk-Eye system.[54][55] In professional tournaments using thissystem, players are allowed three unsuccessful appeals per set, plus one additional appeal in the tie-break to challenge close line calls by means of an electronic review. The US Open, Miami Masters,US Open Series, and World Team Tennis started using this challenge system in 2006 and theAustralian Open and Wimbledon introduced the system in 2007.[56] In clay-court matches, such asat the French Open, a call may be questioned by reference to the mark left by the ball's impact onthe court surface.

The referee, who is usually located off the court, is the final authority about tennis rules. Whencalled to the court by a player or team captain, the referee may overrule the umpire's decision if thetennis rules were violated (question of law) but may not change the umpire's decision on a question

of fact. If, however, the referee is on the court during play, the referee may overrule the umpire'sdecision (This would only happen in Davis Cup or Fed Cup matches, not at the World Group level,when a chair umpire from a non-neutral country is in the chair).[52]

Ball boys and girls may be employed to retrieve balls, pass them to the players, and hand playerstheir towels. They have no adjudicative role. In rare events (e.g., if they are hurt or if they havecaused a hindrance), the umpire may ask them for a statement of what actually happened. Theumpire may consider their statements when making a decision. In some leagues, especially juniorleagues, players make their own calls, trusting each other to be honest. This is the case for manyschool and university level matches. The referee or referee's assistant, however, can be called oncourt at a player's request, and the referee or assistant may change a player's call. In unofficiatedmatches, a ball is out only if the player entitled to make the call is sure that the ball is out.

Junior tennis[edit]Main article: Junior tennisIn tennis, a junior is a player 18 and under who is still legally protected by a parent or guardian.Players on the main adult tour who are under 18 must have documents signed by a parent orguardian. These players, however, are still eligible to play in junior tournaments.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) conducts a junior tour that allows juniors to establish aworld ranking and an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) or Women's Tennis Association(WTA) ranking. Most juniors who enter the international circuit do so by progressing through ITF,Satellite, Future, and Challenger tournaments before entering the main circuit. The latter threecircuits also have adults competing in them. Some juniors, however, such as Australian LleytonHewitt and Frenchman Ga?l Monfils, have catapulted directly from the junior tour to the ATP tour bydominating the junior scene or by taking advantage of opportunities given to them to participate inprofessional tournaments.

In 2004, the ITF implemented a new rankings scheme to encourage greater participation in doubles,by combining two rankings (singles and doubles) into one combined tally.[57] Junior tournaments donot offer prize money except for the Grand Slam tournaments, which are the most prestigious juniorevents. Juniors may earn income from tennis by participating in the Future, Satellite, or Challengertours. Tournaments are broken up into different tiers offering different amounts of ranking points,culminating with Grade A.

Leading juniors are allowed to participate for their nation in the Junior Fed Cup and Davis Cupcompetitions. To succeed in tennis often means having to begin playing at a young age. To facilitateand nurture a junior's growth in tennis, almost all tennis playing nations have developed a juniordevelopment system. Juniors develop their play through a range of tournaments on all surfaces,accommodating all different standards of play. Talented juniors may also receive sponsorships fromgoverning bodies or private institutions.

Match play[edit] Convention dictates that two players shake handsat the end of a matchContinuity[edit]

A tennis match is intended to be continuous.[58] Because stamina is a relevant factor, arbitrarydelays are not permitted. In most cases, service is required to occur no more than 20 seconds afterthe end of the previous point.[58] This is increased to 90 seconds when the players change ends(after every odd-numbered game), and a 2-minute break is permitted between sets.[58] Other thanthis, breaks are permitted only when forced by events beyond the players' control, such as rain,damaged footwear, damaged racquet, or the need to retrieve an errant ball. Should a player bedetermined to be stalling repeatedly, the chair umpire may initially give a warning followed bysubsequent penalties of "point", "game", and default of the match for the player who is consistentlytaking longer than the allowed time limit.[59]

In the event of a rain delay, darkness or other external conditions halting play, the match is resumedat a later time, with the same score as at the time of the delay, and the players at the same end ofthe court when rain halted play, or at the same position (north or south) if play is resumed on adifferent court.

Ball Changes[edit]Balls wear out quickly in serious play and, therefore, in ATP and WTA tournaments, they arechanged after every nine games with the first change occurring after only seven games, because thefirst set of balls is also used for the pre-match warm-up.[39] As a courtesy to the receiver, the serverwill often signal to the receiver before the first serve of the game in which new balls are used as areminder that they are using new balls. However, in ITF tournaments like Fed Cup, the balls arechanged in a 9-11 style. 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 isdone using a separate set of balls, and use of the match balls is resumed only when play resumes.

On-Court Coaching[edit]A recent rule change is to allow coaching on court on a limited basis during a match.[60][61][62][63]This has been introduced in women's tennis for WTA Tour events in 2009 and allows the player torequest her coach once per set.[64]

Shots[edit]Main article: Tennis shotsA competent tennis player has eight basic shots in his or her repertoire: the serve, forehand,backhand, volley, half-volley, overhead smash, drop shot, and lob.

Grip[edit]Main article: Grip (Tennis)A grip is a way of holding the racquet in order to hit shots during a match. The grip affects the angleof the racquet face when it hits the ball and influences the pace, spin, and placement of the shot.Players use various grips during play, including the Continental (The "Handshake Grip"), Eastern(Can be either semi-eastern or full eastern. Usually used for backhands.), and Western (semi-western or full western, usually for forehand grips) grips. Most players change grips during a matchdepending on what shot they are hitting; for example, slice shots and serves call for a Continentalgrip.[65]

Serve[edit]Main article: Serve (tennis)A serve (or, more formally, a "service") in tennis is a shot to start a point. The serve is initiated bytossing the ball into the air and hitting it (usually near the apex of its trajectory) into the diagonallyopposite service box without touching the net. The serve may be hit under- or overhand althoughunderhand serving remains a rarity.[66] If the ball hits the net on the first serve and bounces overinto the correct diagonal box then it is called a "let" and the server gets two more additional servesto get it in. There can also be a let if the server serves the ball and the receiver isn't prepared.[67] Ifthe server misses his or her first serve and gets a let on the second serve, then they get one more try

to get the serve in the box.

Experienced players strive to master the conventional overhand serve to maximize its power andplacement. The server may employ different types of serve including flat serve, topspin serve, sliceserve, and kick (American twist) serve. A reverse type of spin serve is hit in a manner that spins theball opposite the natural spin of the server, the spin direction depending upon right- or left-handedness. If the ball is spinning counterclockwise, it will curve right from the hitter's point of viewand curve left if spinning clockwise.[68]

Some servers are content to use the serve simply to initiate the point; however, advanced playersoften try to hit a winning shot with their serve. A winning serve that is not touched by the opponentis called an "ace".

Forehand[edit]Main article: ForehandFor a right-handed player, the forehand is a stroke that begins on the right side of the body,continues across the body as contact is made with the ball, and ends on the left side of the body.There are various grips for executing the forehand, and their popularity has fluctuated over theyears. The most important ones are the continental, the eastern, the semi-western, and the western.For a number of years, the small, frail 1920s player Bill Johnston was considered by many to havehad the best forehand of all time, a stroke that he hit shoulder-high using a western grip. Few topplayers used the western grip after the 1920s, but in the latter part of the 20th century, as shot-making techniques and equipment changed radically, the western forehand made a strong comebackand is now used by many modern players. No matter which grip is used, most forehands aregenerally 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 atwo-handed forehand to achieve a devastating effect against larger, more powerful players. Playerssuch as Monica Seles or France's Fabrice Santoro and Marion Bartoli are also notable players knownfor their two-handed forehands.[69]

Backhand[edit]Main article: BackhandFor right-handed players, the backhand is a stroke that begins on the left side of their body,continues across their body as contact is made with the ball, and ends on the right side of their body.It can be executed with either one hand or with both and is generally considered more difficult tomaster than the forehand. For most of the 20th century, the backhand was performed with onehand, using either an eastern or a continental grip. The first notable players to use two hands werethe 1930s Australians Vivian McGrath and John Bromwich, but they were lonely exceptions. The two-handed grip gained popularity in the 1970s as Bj?rn Borg, Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, and laterMats Wilander and Marat Safin used it to great effect, and it is now used by a large number of theworld's best players, including Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams.[70]

Two hands give the player more control, while one hand can generate a slice shot, applying backspinon the ball to produce a low trajectory bounce. Reach is also limited with the two-handed shot. Theplayer long considered to have had the best backhand of all time, Don Budge, had a powerful one-handed stroke in the 1930s and 1940s that imparted topspin onto the ball. Ken Rosewall, anotherplayer noted for his one-handed backhand, used a very accurate slice backhand through the 1950sand 1960s. A small number of players, notably Monica Seles, use two hands on both the backhandand forehand sides.

Other shots[edit]A volley is a shot returned to the opponent in mid-air before the ball bounces, generally performednear the net, and is usually made with a stiff-wristed punching motion to hit the ball into an open

area of the opponent's court. The half volley is made by hitting the ball on the rise just after it hasbounced, also generally in the vicinity of the net, and played with the racquet close to theground.[71] The swinging volley is hit out of the air as the player approaches the net. It is anoffensive shot used to take preparation time away from the opponent, as it returns the ball into theopponent's court much faster than a standard volley.

From a poor defensive position on the baseline, the lob can be used as either an offensive ordefensive weapon, hitting the ball high and deep into the opponent's court to either enable thelobber to get into better defensive position or to win the point outright by hitting it over theopponent's head. If the lob is not hit deeply enough into the other court, however, an opponent nearthe net may then hit an overhead smash, a hard, serve-like shot, to try to end the point.

If an opponent is deep in his court, a player may suddenly employ an unexpected drop shot, by softlytapping the ball just over the net so that the opponent is unable to run in fast enough to retrieve it.Advanced players will often apply back spin to a drop shot, causing the ball to "skid" upon landingand bounce sideways, with less forward momentum toward their opponent, or even backwardstowards the net, thus making it even more difficult to return.

Tournaments[edit]See also: List of tennis tournamentsTournaments are often organized by gender and number of players. Common tournamentconfigurations include men's singles, women's singles, and doubles, where two players play on eachside of the net. Tournaments may be organized for specific age groups, with upper age limits foryouth and lower age limits for senior players. Example of this include the Orange Bowl and LesPetits As junior tournaments. There are also tournaments for players with disabilities, such aswheelchair tennis and deaf tennis.[72] In the four Grand Slam tournaments, the singles draws arelimited to 128 players for each gender.

Most large tournaments seed players, but players may also be matched by their skill level. Accordingto how well a person does in sanctioned play, a player is given a rating that is adjusted periodicallyto maintain competitive matches. For example, the United States Tennis Association administers theNational Tennis Rating Program (NTRP), which rates players between 1.0 and 7.0 in 1/2 pointincrements. Average club players under this system would rate 3.0-4.5 while world class playerswould be 7.0 on this scale.

Grand Slam tournaments[edit]The four Grand Slam tournaments are considered to be the most prestigious tennis events in theworld. They are held annually and comprise, in chronological order, the Australian Open, the FrenchOpen, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Apart from the Olympic Games, Davis Cup, Fed Cup, andHopman Cup, they are the only tournaments regulated by the International Tennis Federation(ITF).[73] The ITF's national associations, Tennis Australia (Australian Open), the F?d?rationFran?aise de Tennis (French Open), the Lawn Tennis Association (Wimbledon) and the United StatesTennis Association (US Open) are delegated the responsibility to organize these events.[73]

Aside from the historical significance of these events, they also carry larger prize funds than anyother tour event and are worth double the number of ranking points to the champion than in thenext echelon of tournaments, the Masters 1000 (men) and Premier events (women).[74][75] Anotherdistinguishing feature is the number of players in the singles draw. There are 128, more than anyother professional tennis tournament. This draw is composed of 32 seeded players, other playersranked in the world's top 100, qualifiers, and players who receive invitations through wild cards.Grand Slam men's tournaments have best-of-five set matches while the women play best-of-three.Grand Slam tournaments are among the small number of events that last two weeks, the others

being the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Masters.

Currently, the Grand Slam tournaments are the only tour events that have mixed doubles contests.Grand Slam tournaments are held in conjunction with wheelchair tennis tournaments and juniortennis competitions. These tournaments also contain their own idiosyncrasies. For example, playersat Wimbledon are required to wear predominantly white. Andre Agassi chose to skip Wimbledonfrom 1988 through 1990 citing the event's traditionalism, particularly its "predominantly white"dress code.[76] Wimbledon has its own particular methods for disseminating tickets, often leadingtennis fans to follow complex procedures to obtain tickets.[77]Grand Slam TournamentsDateTournamentLocationSurfacePrize MoneyFirst HeldJanuaryAustralianOpenMelbourneHard (Plexicushion)A$26,000,0001905May-JuneFrenchOpenParisClayEUR18,718,0001925*June-JulyWimbledonLondonGrass?14,600,0001877August-SeptemberUS OpenNew York CityHard(DecoTurf)US$21,016,0001881* non-international tournament began in 1891

Men's tournament structure[edit]Masters 1000[edit]The ATP World Tour Masters 1000 is a group of nine tournaments that form the second-highestechelon in men's tennis. Each event is held annually, and a win at one of these events is worth 1000ranking points. When the ATP, led by Hamilton Jordan, began running the men's tour in 1990, thedirectors designated the top nine tournaments, outside of the Grand Slam events, as "Super 9"events.[78] In 2000 this became the Tennis Masters Series and in 2004 the ATP Masters Series. InNovember at the end of the tennis year, the world's top eight players compete in the ATP World TourFinals, a tournament with a rotating locale. It is currently held in London, England.[79]

In August 2007 the ATP announced major changes to the tour that were introduced in 2009. TheMasters Series was renamed to the "Masters 1000", the addition of the number 1000 referring to thenumber of ranking points earned by the winner of each tournament. Contrary to earlier plans, thenumber of tournaments was not reduced from nine to eight and the Monte Carlo Masters remainspart of the series although, unlike the other events, it does not have a mandatory playercommitment. The Hamburg Masters has been downgraded to a 500 point event. The Madrid Mastersmoved to May and onto clay courts, and a new tournament in Shanghai took over Madrid's formerindoor October slot. As of 2011 six of the nine "1000" level tournaments are combined ATP and WTAevents.[80]

250 and 500 Series[edit] ATP World Tour 500 and 250 logosThe third and fourth tier of men's tennis tournaments are formed by the ATP World Tour 500 series,consisting of 11 tournaments, and the ATP World Tour 250 series with 40 tournaments.[81] Like theATP World Tour Masters 1000, these events offer various amounts of prize money and the numbersrefer to the amount of ranking points earned by the winner of a tournament.[74] The Dubai TennisChampionships offer the largest financial incentive to players, with total prize money ofUS$2,313,975 (2012).[82] These series have various draws of 28, 32, 48 and 56 for singles and 16and 24 for doubles. It is mandatory for leading players to enter at least four 500 events, including atleast one after the US Open.

Challenger Tour and Futures tournaments[edit]The Challenger Tour for men is the lowest level of tournament administered by the ATP. It iscomposed of about 150 events and, as a result, features a more diverse range of countries hostingevents.[83] The majority of players use the Challenger Series at the beginning of their career towork their way up the rankings. Andre Agassi, between winning Grand Slam tournaments,plummeted to World No. 141 and used Challenger Series events for match experience and toprogress back up the rankings.[84] The Challenger Series offers prize funds of between US$25,000and US$150,000.

Below the Challenger Tour are the Futures tournaments, events on the ITF Men's Circuit. Thesetournaments also contribute towards a player's ATP rankings points. Futures Tournaments offerprize funds of between US$10,000 and US$15,000.[85] Approximately 530 Futures Tournaments areplayed each year.

Women's tournament structure[edit]Premier events[edit]Premier events for women form the most prestigious level of events on the Women's TennisAssociation Tour after the Grand Slam tournaments. These events offer the largest rewards in termsof points and prize money. Within the Premier category are Premier Mandatory, Premier 5, andPremier tournaments. The Premier events were introduced in 2009 replacing the previous Tier I andII tournament categories. Currently four tournaments are Premier Mandatory, five tournaments arePremier 5, and twelve tournaments are Premier. The first tiering system in women's tennis wasintroduced in 1988. At the time of its creation, only two tournaments, the Lipton InternationalPlayers Championships in Florida and the German Open in Berlin, comprised the Tier I category.

International events[edit]International tournaments are the second main tier of the WTA tour and consist of 31 tournaments,with a prize money for every event at U.S.$220,000, except for the year-ending Commonwealth BankTournament of Champions in Bali, which has prize money of U.S.$600,000.

Players[edit]Professional players[edit]Professional tennis players enjoy the same relative perks as most top sports personalities: clothing,equipment and endorsements. Like players of other individual sports such as golf, they are notsalaried, but must play and finish highly in tournaments to obtain money. As of 2012[update] the"Big Four" men's tennis players includes Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and AndyMurray.[86] These four players being able to dominate most of the grand slams.

In recent years, some controversy has surrounded the involuntary or deliberate noise caused byplayers' grunting.

Grand Slam tournament winners[edit]See also: Tennis statistics

Margaret Court (1942-). Roger Federer (1981-). Manycommentators and players regard the Swiss sportsman as the greatest tennis player of all time.The following players have won at least five singles titles at Grand Slam tournaments:MaleRoger Federer (17)Pete Sampras (14)Rafael Nadal (13)Roy Emerson (12)Rod Laver (11)Bj?rnBorg (11)Bill Tilden (10)Fred Perry (8)Ken Rosewall (8)Jimmy Connors (8)Ivan Lendl (8)Andre Agassi(8)William Renshaw (7)Richard Sears (7)William Larned (7)Henri Cochet (7)Rene Lacoste (7)JohnNewcombe (7)John McEnroe (7)Mats Wilander (7)Novak Djokovic (6)Lawrence Doherty (6)AnthonyWilding (6)Donald Budge (6)Jack Crawford (6)Boris Becker (6)Stefan Edberg (6)Frank Sedgman(5)Tony Trabert (5)

FemaleMargaret Court (24)Steffi Graf (22)Helen Wills Moody (19)Chris Evert (18)MartinaNavratilova (18)Serena Williams (17)Billie Jean King (12)Maureen Connolly Brinker (9)Monica Seles(9)Suzanne Lenglen (8)Molla Bjurstedt Mallory (8)Dorothea Lambert Chambers (7)Maria Bueno

(7)Evonne Goolagong Cawley (7)Venus Williams (7)Justine Henin (7)Doris Hart (6)Blanche BingleyHillyard (6)Margaret Osborne duPont (6)Nancye Wynne Bolton (6)Louise Brough Clapp (6)LottieDod (5)Charlotte Cooper Sterry (5)Daphne Akhurst Cozens (5)Helen Jacobs (5)Alice Marble(5)Pauline Betz Addie (5)Althea Gibson (5)Martina Hingis (5)Greatest male players[edit]Further information: Tennis male players statistics, World number onemale tennis player rankingsA frequent topic of discussion among tennis fans and commentators is who was the greatest malesingles player of all time. By a large margin, an Associated Press poll in 1950 named Bill Tilden asthe greatest player of the first half of the 20th century.[87] From 1920 to 1930, Tilden won singlestitles at Wimbledon three times and the U.S. Championships seven times. In 1938, however, DonaldBudge became the first person to win all four major singles titles during the same calendar year, theGrand Slam, and won six consecutive major titles in 1937 and 1938. Tilden called Budge "the finestplayer 365 days a year that ever lived."[88] And in his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer said that,based on consistent play, Budge was the greatest player ever.[89] Some observers, however, alsofelt that Kramer deserved consideration for the title. Kramer was among the few who dominatedamateur and professional tennis during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Tony Trabert has said that ofthe players he saw before the start of the open era, Kramer was the best male champion.[90]

By the latter half of the 1950s and 1960s, Budge and others had added Pancho Gonzales and LewHoad to the list of contenders. Budge reportedly believed that Gonzales was the greatest playerever.[91] Gonzales said about Hoad, "When Lew's game was at its peak nobody could touch him. ... Ithink his game was the best game ever. Better than mine. He was capable of making more shotsthan anybody. His two volleys were great. His overhead was enormous. He had the most naturaltennis mind with the most natural tennis physique."[92]

During the open era, first Rod Laver and then more recently Bj?rn Borg and Pete Sampras wereregarded by many of their contemporaries as among the greatest ever. Andre Agassi, the first of twomale players in history to have achieved a Career Golden Slam in singles tennis (followed by RafaelNadal), has been called the best service returner in the history of the game.[93][94][95][96] He isthe first man to win slams on all modern surfaces (previous holders of all slams played in an era ofgrass and clay only), and is regarded by a number of critics and fellow players to be among thegreatest players of all time.[93][97][98]

Roger Federer is now considered by many observers to have the most "complete" game in moderntennis. He has won 17 grand slam titles, the most for any male player. Many experts of tennis,former tennis players and his own tennis peers believe Federer is the greatest player in the historyof the game.[99][100][101][102][103][104][105] Federer's biggest rival Rafael Nadal is regarded asthe greatest competitor in tennis history by some former players and is regarded to have thepotential to be the greatest of all time.[106][107] He's already regarded as the greatest clay courtplayer of all time.[108]

Greatest female players[edit]Further information: World number one women tennis players, List ofWTA number 1 ranked playersAs with the men there are frequent discussions about who is the greatest female singles player of alltime with Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova being the two players most often nominated.

In March 2012 the TennisChannel published a combined list of the 100 greatest men and womentennis players of all time.[109] It ranked Steffi Graf as the greatest female player (in 3rd placeoverall), followed by Martina Navratilova (4th place) and Margaret Court (8th place). The rankingswere determined by an international panel.

Sportwriter John Wertheim of Sports Illustrated stated in an article in July 2010 that SerenaWilliams is the greatest female tennis player ever with the argument that "Head-to-head, on aneutral surface (i.e. hard courts), everyone at their best, I can't help feeling that she crushes theother legends.".[110] In a reaction to this article Yahoo sports blog Busted Racket published a list ofthe top-10 women's tennis players of all time placing Martina Navratilova in first spot.[111] This top-10 list was similar to the one published in June 2008 by the Bleacher Report who also rankedMartina Navratilova as the top female player of all time.[112]

Steffi Graf is considered by some to be the greatest female player. Billie Jean King said in 1999,"Steffi is definitely the greatest women's tennis player of all time."[113]Martina Navratilova hasincluded Graf on her list of great players.[113] In December 1999, Graf was named the greatestfemale tennis player of the 20th century by a panel of experts assembled by the AssociatedPress.[114] Tennis writer Steve Flink, in his book The Greatest Tennis Matches of the TwentiethCentury, named her as the best female player of the 20th century, directly followed by MartinaNavratilova.[115]

Tennis magazine selected Martina Navratilova as the greatest female tennis player for the years1965 through 2005.[116][117] Tennis historian and journalist Bud Collins has called Navratilova"arguably, the greatest player of all time."[118]Billie Jean King said about Navratilova in 2006,"She's the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived."[119]

In popular culture[edit]David Foster Wallace, an amateur tennis player himself at Urbana HighSchool in Illinois,[120] included tennis in many of his works of nonfiction and fiction including"Tennis Player Michael Joyce's Professional Artistry as a Paradigm of Certain Stuff about Choice,Freedom, Discipline, Joy, Grotesquerie, and Human Completeness," the autobiographical piece"Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley," and Infinite Jest, which is partially set at the fictional "EnfieldTennis Academy" in Massachusetts.The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) features Richie Tenenbaum (LukeWilson), a tennis pro who suffers from depression and has a breakdown on court in front ofthousands of fans.[121]Wimbledon (2004) is a film about a discouraged pro tennis player (PaulBettany) who meets a young woman on the women's tennis circuit (Kirsten Dunst) who helps himfind his drive to go and win Wimbledon.[122]In The Squid and the Whale (2005), Joan (Laura Linney)has an affair with her kids' tennis coach, Ivan (William Baldwin). In a symbolic scene, Joan's ex-husband, Bernard (Jeff Daniels), loses a tennis match against Ivan in front of the kids.[123]WoodyAllen's Match Point (2005) features a love affair between a former tennis pro (Jonathan RhysMeyers) and his best friend's fiance (Scarlett Johansson).[124]Confetti (2006) is a mockumentarywhich sees three couples competing to win the title of "Most Original Wedding of the Year". Onecompeting couple (Meredith MacNeill and Stephen Mangan) are a pair of hyper-competitiveprofessional tennis players holding a tennis-themed wedding.[125]There are several tennis videogames including Mario Tennis, the TopSpin series, Wii Sports, and Grand Slam Tennis.[126][127]Inthe Japanese anime and manga series known as Prince of Tennis, the main character is RyomaEchizen, a tennis prodigy who recently moves to Japan and attends Seishun Academy. He joins thetennis club and has defeated many of his upperclassmen, gaining a spot in the team's regulars. Theteam's ultimate goal is to compete in the National Middle School Tennis Championship but theymust play against other teams along the way to reach their goal.[citation needed]

See also[edit] Tennis portalGlossary of tennisTennis gamesTennis strategyTennistechnologyOther formsBeach tennisFrontenisPaddle tennisPadel tennisReal tennisSoft tennisSquashtennisTurbo tennisStatisticsATP World Tour recordsList of ATP number 1 ranked players (1973-present)List of WTA number 1 ranked players (1975-present)Major professional tennis tournamentsbefore the Open Era (1927-1967)Tennis statisticsTennis male players statisticsTennis performancetimeline comparison (men)Tennis performance timeline comparison (women)World number one male

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