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 |
| Top seed Schiavone loses at Istanbul Cup (AP) Britain's Elena Baltacha upset top-seeded Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-2 in the second round at the Istanbul Cup. Schiavone, the French Open champion, struggled with her serve and quickly fell behind in the second set. The Italian had eight double faults to none by Baltacha, and her first serve percentage was 42, far below the Briton's 59. |
| Youzhny reaches Swiss Open quarterfinals (AP) Top seeded Mikhail Youzhny advanced to the Swiss Open quarterfinals on Thursday, beating wild card Alexander Sadecky of Switzerland in straight sets. The 14th-ranked Russian won the second-round match 7-5, 6-4, ending No. 437-ranked Sadecky's first tour event. Youzhny next faces No. 147-ranked Yuri Schukin from Kazakhstan, a qualifier who has reached his first quarterfinals match on tour at age... |
| Kirilenko tops 6th seed Peer in Stanford (AP) Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka made it to the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic on Thursday. Shahar Peer, another seeded player, wasn't as fortunate. Former world No. 1 Sharapova, the fifth seed, beat Belarus' Olga Govortsova, 6-3, 6-3 and the eighth-seeded Azarenka topped American Melanie Oudin, 6-3, 6-1 in second round action while Maria Kirilenko knocked off the... |
| No. 5 seed Gulbis upset in Los Angeles (AP) Fourth-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain has defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (7), 6-4 in second-round play at the Farmers Classic. No. 5 seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia wasn't so lucky. He lost to Alejandro Falla of Colombia 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10) on Thursday. Top-seeded Andy Murray was set to make his Los Angeles debut in a night match against American qualifier Tim Smyczek. |
| 2nd round of Croatia Open postponed (AP) The second round of the Croatia Open tournament has been postponed for a day due to torrential rain. Four second-round matches scheduled for Thursday will now be played on Friday, along with the quarterfinals. Among those who still have to play in the second round are second-seeded Jurgen Melzer and third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic. |
| Murray splits with coach Maclagan (AP) Fourth-ranked Andy Murray is splitting with coach Miles Maclagan after less than three years. A statement on the British player's website on Tuesday said that "following a review of his coaching needs, Andy has parted company" with Maclagan. The statement says "the situation" will be reviewed after the U.S. |
| Federer hires ex-Sampras coach Annacone (AP) With his ranking on the decline, Roger Federer is working with coach Paul Annacone on a trial basis. Annacone, an American, is the former coach of Pete Sampras. He also coached Marat Safin and Tim Henman, and is now the head coach of men's tennis for Britain's Lawn Tennis Association. "I've been looking to add someone to my team, and I've decided to spend some days with Paul... |
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