Tennis
Tennis was created in England in the late 1800's. It is a sport played using a stringed racquet and hollow rubber ball. It may be played by two individuals (singles), or by two teams of two (doubles). A tennis court is made of either a hard court surface (cement, or coated asphalt), clay, or grass. The court is 78 feet long by 27 feet wide for singles play, and 78 feet long by 36 feet wide for doubles play.
A tennis game is called a match. Matches consist of an odd number of sets (typically 3 sets, but sometimes 5 sets). A match winner is the player or doubles team that wins more than half the sets (2 in the case of 3 sets, 3 in the case of 5 sets). Service alternates between games from one player or team and the other.
A set consists of a sequence of games. The set winner is the first player or team to win at least 6 games and at least two points more than their opponent. Some tournaments allow for a "twelve-point tie break" which would allow a set to be won 7-6.
Each tennis game is scored in points as follows: "zero" or "love", "fifteen", "thirty", "forty", and "game". If the score is tied at forty it is referred to as "deuce". If one player has one more win point over forty than their opponent it is referred to as "advantage". The game is won by the first player to game as long as they are two or more points ahead of their opponent.
Professional Tennis
The United States Tennis Association administers the National Tennis Rating Program. This program assigns a rating to tennis players - 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, and 7.0 (higher ratings mean more skill). "World class" tennis players are ranked 7.0.
World class tennis players compete in tennis tournaments or in professional team tennis, where available. Many of these events also allow amateur boys and girls to compete in tournaments for their own level of play.
Tennis Tournaments
Professional tennis tournaments are usually organized by gender and include competition for men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles (a man and a woman per side).
The most well known tennis tournaments are the four "Grand Slam" events, which are:
- The Australian Open which takes place in January of every year
- The French Open which takes place between mid-May and early June of every year
- Wimbledon which takes place in late June / early July of every year
- The U.S. Open which takes place in late August / early September of every year
Team Tennis
There is a single professional team tennis league in North America - World Team Tennis.
College Tennis
Tennis is a college sport for all three NCAA levels of competition (Division I, Division II, and Division III). Both men and women compete and championships are determined at all levels as follows:
- Men's Team Champion
- Men's Individual Champion
- Men's Doubles Champions
- Women's Team Champion
- Women's Individual Champion
- Women's Doubles Champions
The NAIA also provides competition similar to the NCAA.
College Tennis Links
Tennis News
| Yahoo! Sports - Tennis News |
| Henin wins opener at Indian Wells (AP)
Justin Henin beat Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday, her first competitive match since a surprising run to the Australian Open final in January. Henin, who is playing in this tournament for the first time since 2006, held the No. 1 ranking when she unexpectedly retired in May, 2008. |
| Nadal to prep for Wimbledon at Queen's (AP) Rafael Nadal will return to Queen's this year after he was unable to defend his title at the grass-court tournament in 2009. In 2008, Nadal was the first man to win at the French Open, Queen's Club and Wimbledon in the same year, but his persistent knee problems prevented him from defending his titles on grass at Queen's and Wimbledon last year. |
| Hingis to take on Serena in WTT (AP) Martina Hingis will face top-ranked Serena Williams and two former No. 1 players in World Team Tennis competition. The WTT announced its 10-team schedule on Thursday. Hingis will play for the New York Buzz and face Serena on July 9 at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Hingis is a five-time Grand Slam singles champion and the youngest woman to be ranked No. |
| Clijsters, Wozniacki to play Eastbourne (AP) U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki will begin their 2010 grass-court seasons at Eastbourne. Clijsters celebrated her return to professional tennis following a two-year layoff with victory at last year's U.S. Open -- where the 26-year-old Belgian beat Wozniacki in the final. She won the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award on Wednesday for her surprise victory in New York. |
| Serena wins second Laureus Award (AP) Usain Bolt won his second Laureus Sportsman of the Year award, and Serena Williams won the woman's prize. Bolt won three gold medals at last year's track world championships and set world records in the 100 and 200-meter races. Williams, who also earned the award for a second time, won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles and regained the No. |
| Serbia tops US in 1st round of Davis Cup (AP)
The Davis Cup run for the United States is over in the first round. Novak Djokovic withstood 24 aces and outlasted John Isner 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-4 on Sunday, giving Serbia a clinching 3-1 lead against an American team looking for its 33rd Davis Cup title. In the last rubber, Sam Querrey beat Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-2 to make the final score 3-2. |
| Pavlyuchenkova wins first WTA title (AP) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia defeated Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 1-6, 6-1, 6-0 for her first WTA title at the Monterrey Open on Sunday The 28-year-old Pavlyuchenkova came back from a set down to overwhelm Hantuchova in the final of the hard-court tournament. Pavlyuchenkova also defeated Hantuchova earlier this season in a hard-court match in Dubai. |
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