Tennis

Tennis is a racket sport that can be

played individually against a single
opponent (singles) or between two
teams of two players each (doubles).
Each player uses a tennis racket that is
strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber
ball covered with felt over or around a net
and into the opponent's court. The object
of the game is to maneuver the ball in
such a way that the opponent is not able
to play a valid return. The player who is
unable to return the ball will not gain a
point, while the opposite player will.
 Tennis

Roger Federer hitting a backhanded shot in

2012
Highest International Tennis
governing body Federation
First played Between 1859 and
1865, Birmingham,
England
Characteristics
Contact No
Team members Singles or doubles
Mixed gender Yes, separate tours
& mixed doubles
Type Outdoor or indoor
Equipment Ball, Racket, Net
Venue tennis court
Glossary Glossary of tennis
Presence
Country or region Worldwide
Olympic part of Summer
Olympic programme
from 1896 to 1924
Demonstration sport
in the 1968 and
1984 Summer
Olympics
Part of Summer
Olympic programme
since 1988
Paralympic part of Summer
Paralympic
programme since
1992

Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played

at all levels of society and at all ages.
The sport can be played by anyone who
can hold a racket, including wheelchair
users. The modern game of tennis
originated in Birmingham, England, in the
late 19th century as lawn tennis.[1] It had
close connections both to various field
(lawn) games such as croquet and bowls
as well as to the older racket sport today
called real tennis. During most of the
19th century, in fact, the term tennis
referred to real tennis, not lawn tennis.

The rules of modern tennis have changed

little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are
that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to
keep one foot on the ground at all times,
and the adoption of the tiebreak in the
1970s. A recent addition to professional
tennis has been the adoption of
electronic review technology coupled
with a point-challenge system, which
allows a player to contest the line call of
a point, a system known as Hawk-Eye.

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:
the Australian Open played on hard
courts, the French Open played on red
clay courts, Wimbledon played on grass
courts, and the US Open also played on
hard courts.
History

Predecessors

Jeu de paume in the 17th century

Historians believe that the game's

ancient origin lay in 12th century
northern France, where a ball was struck
with the palm of the hand.[2] Louis X of
France was a keen player of jeu de
paume ("game of the palm"), which
evolved into real tennis, and became
notable as the first person to construct
indoor tennis courts in the modern style.
Louis was unhappy with playing tennis
outdoors and accordingly had indoor,
enclosed courts made in Paris "around
the end of the 13th century".[3] In due
course this design spread across royal
palaces all over Europe.[3] In June 1316
at Vincennes, Val-de-Marne and following
a particularly exhausting game, Louis
drank a large quantity of cooled wine and
subsequently died of either pneumonia
or pleurisy, although there was also
suspicion of poisoning.[4] Because of the
contemporary accounts of his death,
Louis X is history's first tennis player
known by name.[4] Another of the early
enthusiasts of the game was King
Charles V of France, who had a court set
up at the Louvre Palace.[5]

It was not until the 16th century that

rackets came into use and the game
began to be called "tennis", from the
French term tenez, which can be
translated as "hold!", "receive!" or "take!",
an interjection used as a call from the
server to his opponent.[6] It was popular
in England and France, although the
game was only played indoors where the
ball could be hit off the wall. Henry VIII of
England was a big fan of this game,
which is now known as real tennis.[7]
During the 18th and early 19th centuries,
as real tennis declined, new racket sports
emerged in England.[8]

The invention of the first lawn mower in

1830, in Britain, is believed to have been
a catalyst, for the preparation of modern-
style grass courts, sporting ovals, playing
fields, 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.[9]

Origins of the modern game

Augurio Perera's house in Edgbaston, Birmingham,
England, where he and Harry Gem first played the

modern game of lawn tennis

Between 1859 and 1865 Harry Gem, a

solicitor and his friend Augurio Perera
developed a game that combined
elements of racquets and the Basque
ball game pelota, which they played on
Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham in
England.[10][11] In 1872, along with two
local doctors, they founded the world's
first tennis club on Avenue Road,
Leamington Spa.[12] This is where "lawn
tennis" was used as a name of activity by
a club for the first time. After
Leamington, the second club to take up
the game of lawn tennis appears to have
been the Edgbaston Archery and Croquet
Society, also in Birmingham.

In Tennis: A Cultural History, Heiner

Gillmeister reveals that on December 8,
1874, British army officer Walter Clopton
Wingfield wrote to Harry Gem,
commenting that he (Wingfield) had been
experimenting with his version of lawn
tennis “for a year and a half”.[13] In
December 1873, Wingfield designed and
patented a game which he called
sphairistikè (Greek: σφαιριστική,
meaning "ball-playing"), and was soon
known simply as "sticky" – for the
amusement of guests at a garden party
on his friend's estate of Nantclwyd Hall,
in Llanelidan, Wales.[14] According to R.
D. C. Evans, turfgrass agronomist,
"Sports historians all agree that
[Wingfield] deserves much of the credit
for the development of modern
tennis."[8][15] According to Honor Godfrey,
museum curator at Wimbledon, Wingfield
"popularized this game enormously. He
produced a boxed set which included a
net, poles, rackets, balls for playing the
game – and most importantly you had
his rules. He was absolutely terrific at
marketing and he sent his game all over
the world. He had very good connections
with the clergy, the law profession, and
the aristocracy and he sent thousands of
sets out in the first year or so, in
1874."[16] The world's oldest annual
tennis tournament took place at
Leamington Lawn Tennis Club in
Birmingham in 1874.[17] This was three
years before the All England Lawn Tennis
and Croquet Club would hold its first
championships at Wimbledon, in 1877.
The first Championships culminated in a
significant debate on how to standardise
the rules.[16]
Lawn tennis in the U.S., 1887

In the U.S. in 1874 Mary Ewing

Outerbridge, a young socialite, returned
from Bermuda with a sphairistikè set.
She became fascinated by the game of
tennis after watching British army
officers play.[18] She laid out a tennis
court at the Staten Island Cricket Club at
Camp Washington, Tompkinsville, Staten
Island, New York. The first American
National championship was played there
in September 1880. An Englishman
named O.E. Woodhouse won the singles
title, and a silver cup worth $100, by
defeating Canadian I. F. Hellmuth.[19]
There was also a doubles match which
was won by a local pair. There were
different rules at each club. The ball in
Boston was larger than the one normally
used in New York.

On 21 May 1881, the oldest nationwide

tennis organization in the world[20] was
formed, the United States National Lawn
Tennis Association (now the United
States Tennis Association) in order to
standardize the rules and organize
competitions.[21] The U.S. National Men's
Singles Championship, now the US Open,
was first held in 1881 at the Newport
Casino, Newport, Rhode Island.[22] The
U.S. National Women's Singles
Championships were first held in 1887 in
Philadelphia.[23]

Tennis doubles final at 1896 Olympic Games

Tennis also became popular in France,

where the French Championships dates
to 1891 although until 1925 it was open
only to tennis players who were
members of French clubs.[24] Thus,
Wimbledon, the US Open, the French
Open, and the Australian Open (dating to
1905) became and have remained the
most prestigious events in tennis.[25][26]
Together these four events are called the
Majors or Slams (a term borrowed from
bridge rather than baseball).[27]

Lawn tennis in Canada, ca. 1900

In 1913, the International Lawn Tennis

Federation (ILTF), now the International
Tennis Federation (ITF), was founded and
established three official tournaments as
the major championships of the day. The
World Grass Court Championships were
awarded to Great Britain. The World Hard
Court Championships were awarded to
France; the term "hard court" was used
for clay courts at the time. Some
tournaments were held in Belgium
instead. And the World Covered Court
Championships for indoor courts was
awarded annually; Sweden, France, Great
Britain, Denmark, Switzerland and Spain
each hosted the tournament.[28] At a
meeting held on 16 March 1923 in Paris,
the title 'World Championship' was
dropped and a new category of Official
Championship was created for events in
Great Britain, France, the United States,
and Australia – today's Grand Slam
events.[28][29] The impact on the four
recipient nations to replace the ‘world
championships’ with ‘official
championships’ was simple in a general
sense: each became a major nation of
the federation with enhanced voting
power and each now operated a major
event.[28]

The comprehensive rules promulgated in

1924 by the ILTF, have remained largely
stable in the ensuing eighty years, the
one major change being the addition of
the tiebreak system designed by Jimmy
Van Alen.[30] That same year, tennis
withdrew from the Olympics after the
1924 Games but returned 60 years 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 Vice President Pablo
Llorens, and support from IOC President
Juan Antonio Samaranch. The success
of the event was overwhelming and the
IOC decided to reintroduce tennis as a
full medal sport at Seoul in 1988.[31][32]

International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport

Casino
The Davis Cup, an annual competition
between men's national teams, dates to
1900.[33] The analogous competition for
women's national teams, the Fed Cup,
was founded as the Federation Cup in
1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of
the founding of the ITF.[34]

In 1926, promoter C. C. Pyle established

the first professional tennis tour with a
group of American and French tennis
players playing exhibition matches to
paying audiences.[26][35] The most
notable of these early professionals were
the American Vinnie Richards and the
Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen.[26][36]
Once a player turned pro he or she was
no longer permitted to compete in the
major (amateur) tournaments.[26]

In 1968, commercial pressures and

rumors of some amateurs taking money
under the table led to the abandonment
of this distinction, inaugurating the Open
Era, in which all players could compete in
all tournaments, and top players were
able to make their living from tennis.
With the beginning of the Open Era, the
establishment of an international
professional tennis circuit, and revenues
from the sale of television rights, tennis's
popularity has spread worldwide, and the
sport has shed its middle-class English-
speaking image[37] (although it is
acknowledged that this stereotype still
exists).[37][38]

In 1954, Van Alen founded the

International Tennis Hall of Fame, a non-
profit museum in Newport, Rhode
Island.[39] The building contains a large
collection of tennis memorabilia as well
as a hall of fame honouring 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 its grounds.
Wooden racket – c. 1920s

Equipment
Part of the appeal of tennis stems from
the simplicity of equipment required for
play. Beginners need only a racket and
balls.

Rackets

The components of a tennis racket

include a handle, known as the grip,
connected to a neck which joins a
roughly elliptical frame that holds a
matrix of tightly pulled strings. For the
first 100 years of the modern game,
rackets were made of wood and of
standard size, and strings were of animal
gut. Laminated wood construction
yielded more strength in rackets used
through most of the 20th century until
first metal and then composites of
carbon graphite, ceramics, and lighter
metals such as titanium were introduced.
These stronger materials enabled the
production of oversized rackets that
yielded yet more power. Meanwhile,
technology led to the use of synthetic
strings that match the feel of gut yet with
added durability.
Racket of Franjo Punčec in a wooden frame – late
1930s

Under modern rules of tennis, the rackets

must adhere to the following
guidelines;[40]

The hitting area, composed of the

strings, must be flat and generally
uniform.
The frame of the hitting area may not
be more than 29 inches (74 cm) in
 length and 12.5 inches (32 cm) in
width.
The entire racket must be of a fixed
shape, size, weight, and weight
distribution. There may not be any
energy source built into the rackets.
The rackets must not provide any kind
of communication, instruction or
advice to the player during the match.

The rules regarding rackets have

changed over time, as material and
engineering advances have been made.
For example, the maximum length of the
frame had been 32 inches (81 cm) until
1997, when it was shortened to 29
inches (74 cm).[41]
Many companies manufacture and
distribute tennis rackets. Wilson, Head
and Babolat are some of the more
commonly used brands; however, many
more companies exist. The same
companies sponsor players to use these
rackets in the hopes that the company
name will become more well known by
the public.

A tennis racket and balls.

Balls
Tennis balls were originally made of cloth
strips stitched together with thread and
stuffed with feathers.[42] Modern tennis
balls are made of hollow vulcanized
rubber with a felt coating. Traditionally
white, the predominant colour was
gradually changed to optic yellow in the
latter part of the 20th century to allow for
improved visibility. Tennis balls must
conform to certain criteria for size,
weight, deformation, and bounce to be
approved for regulation play. The
International Tennis Federation (ITF)
defines the official diameter as 65.41–
68.58 mm (2.575–2.700 in). Balls must
weigh between 56.0 and 59.4 g (1.98 and
2.10 oz).[43] Tennis balls were
traditionally manufactured in the United
States and Europe. Although the process
of producing the balls has remained
virtually unchanged for the past 100
years, the majority of manufacturing now
takes place in the Far East. The
relocation is due to cheaper labour costs
and materials in the region.[44]
Tournaments that are played under the
ITF Rules of Tennis must use balls that
are approved by the International Tennis
Federation (ITF) and be named on the
official ITF list of approved tennis
balls.[45]

Miscellaneous
Advanced players improve their
performance through a number of
accoutrements. Vibration dampeners
may be interlaced in the proximal part of
the string array for improved feel. Racket
handles 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 and head bands or
bandanas to keep the sweat out of their
eyes as well. Finally, although the game
can be played in a variety of shoes,
specialized tennis shoes have wide, flat
soles for stability and a built-up front
structure to avoid excess wear.
Manner of play

The dimensions of a tennis court

Two players before a serve

Court

Tennis is played on a rectangular, flat

surface. The court is 78 feet (23.77 m)
long, and 27 feet (8.2 m) wide for singles
matches and 36 ft (11 m) for doubles
matches.[46] Additional clear space
around the court is required in order for
players to reach overrun balls. A net is
stretched across the full width of the
court, parallel with the baselines, dividing
it into two equal ends. It is held up by
either a cord or metal cable of diameter
no greater than 0.8 cm (1⁄3 in).[47] The
net is 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) high at the
posts and 3 feet (0.91 m) high in the
center.[46] The net posts are 3 feet
(0.91 m) outside the doubles court on
each side or, for a singles net, 3 feet
(0.91 m) outside the singles court on
each side.

The modern tennis court owes its design

to Major Walter Clopton Wingfield. In
1873, Wingfield patented a court much
the same as the current one for his stické
tennis (sphairistike). This template was
modified 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.[48]
Tennis is unusual in that it is played on a
variety of surfaces.[49] Grass, clay, and
hardcourts of concrete or asphalt topped
with acrylic are the most common.
Occasionally carpet is used for indoor
play, with hardwood flooring having been
historically used. Artificial turf courts can
also be found.

Lines

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 the
hash mark or the center mark. The
outermost lines that make up the length
are called the doubles sidelines; they are
the boundaries for doubles matches. The
lines to the inside of the doubles
sidelines are the singles sidelines, and
are the boundaries in singles play. The
area between a doubles sideline and the
nearest singles sideline is called the
doubles alley, playable in doubles play.
The line that runs across the center of a
player's side of the court is called the
service line because the serve must be
delivered into the area between the
service line and the net on the receiving
side. Despite its name, this is not where a
player legally stands when making a
serve.[50]
The line dividing the service line in two is
called the center line or center service
line. The boxes this center line creates
are called the service boxes; depending
on a player's position, they have to hit the
ball into one of these when serving.[51] A
ball is out only if none of it has hit the
area inside the lines, or the line, upon its
first bounce. All lines are required to be
between 1 and 2 inches (25 and 51 mm)
in width, with the exception of the
baseline which can be up to 4 inches
(100 mm) wide, although in practice it is
often the same width as the others.[50]

Play of a single point

The players or teams start on opposite
sides of the net. One player is designated
the server, and the opposing player is the
receiver. The choice to be server or
receiver in the first game and the choice
of ends is decided by a coin toss before
the warm-up starts. Service alternates
game by game between the two players
or teams. For each point, the server
starts behind the baseline, between the
center mark and the sideline. The
receiver may start anywhere on their side
of the net. When the receiver is ready, the
server will serve, although the receiver
must play to the pace of the server.
For a service to be legal, the ball must
travel over the net without touching it into
the diagonally opposite service box. If
the ball hits the net but lands in the
service box, this is a let or net service,
which is void, and the server retakes that
serve. The player can serve any number
of let services in a point and they are
always treated as voids and not as faults.
A fault is a serve that falls long or wide of
the service box, or does not clear the net.
There is also a "foot fault" when a
player's foot touches the baseline or an
extension of the center mark before the
ball is hit. If the second service, after a
fault, is also a fault, the server double
faults, and the receiver wins the point.
However, if the serve is in, it is
considered a legal service.

A legal service starts a rally, in which the

players alternate hitting the ball across
the net. A legal return consists of a
player hitting the ball so that it falls in the
server's court, before it has bounced
twice or hit any fixtures except the net. A
player or team cannot hit the ball twice in
a row. The ball must travel over the net
into the other players' court. A ball that
hits the net during a rally is considered a
legal return as long as it crosses into the
opposite side of the court. The first
player or team to fail to make a legal
return loses the point. The server then
moves to the other side of the service
line at the start of a new point.[52]

Scoring

Game, set, match

Game

A game consists of a sequence of points

played with the same player serving. A
game is won by the first 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 to three points are
described as "love", "15", "30", and "40",
respectively. If at least three points have
been scored by each player, making the
player's scores equal at 40 apiece, the
score is not called out as "40–40", but
rather as "deuce". If at least three points
have been scored by each 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; alternatively, either player may
simply call out "my ad" or "your ad" during
informal play.
The scoreboard of a match between Andy Roddick
and Cyril Saulnier.

The score of a tennis game during play is

always read with the serving player's
score first. In tournament play, the chair
umpire calls the point count (e.g., "15-
love") after each point. At the end of a
game, the chair umpire also announces
the winner of the game and the overall
score.

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. Typically, a
player wins a set by winning at least six
games and at least two games more
than the opponent. If one player has won
six games and the opponent five, an
additional game is played. If the leading
player wins that game, the player wins
the set 7–5. If the trailing player wins the
game (tying the set 6–6) a tie-break is
played. A tie-break, played under a
separate set of rules, allows one player
to win one more game and thus the set,
to give a final set score of 7–6. A "love"
set means that the loser of the set won
zero games, colloquially termed a 'jam
donut' in the US.[53] In tournament play,
the chair umpire announces the winner
of the set and the overall score. The final
score in sets is always read with the
winning player's score first, e.g. "6–2, 4–
6, 6–0, 7–5".

Match

A match consists of a sequence of sets.

The outcome is determined through a
best of three or five sets system. On the
professional circuit, men play best-of-
five-set matches at all four Grand Slam
tournaments, Davis Cup, and the final of
the Olympic Games and best-of-three-set
matches at all other tournaments, while
women play best-of-three-set matches at
all tournaments. The first player to win
two sets in a best-of-three, or three sets
in a best-of-five, wins the match.[54] Only
in the final sets of matches at the French
Open, the Olympic Games, and Fed Cup
are tie-breaks not played. In these cases,
sets are played indefinitely until one
player has a two-game lead, occasionally
leading to some remarkably long
matches.

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.
Special point terms

Game point

A game point occurs in tennis whenever

the player who is in the lead in the game
needs only one more 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 score of 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
of official 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 next point. Break points are of
particular importance because serving is
generally considered advantageous, with
servers being expected to win games in
which they are serving. A receiver who
has one (score of 30–40 or advantage),
two (score of 15–40) or three (score of
love-40) consecutive chances to win the
game has break point, double break point
or triple break point, respectively. If the
receiver does, in fact, win their break
point, the game is awarded to the
receiver, and the receiver is said to have
converted their break point. If the receiver
fails to win their break point it is called a
failure to convert. Winning break points,
and thus the game, is also referred to as
breaking serve, as the receiver has
disrupted, or broken the natural
advantage of the server. If in the
following game the previous server also
wins a break point it is referred to as
breaking back. Except where tie-breaks
apply, at least one break of serve is
required to win a set (otherwise a two-
game lead would never occur).

Rule variations

No ad
From 'No advantage'. Scoring method
created 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 three points each, the receiver
chooses which side of the court
(advantage court or deuce court) the
service is to be delivered on the
seventh and game-deciding point.
Utilized by World Team Tennis
professional competition, ATP tours,
WTA tours, ITF Pro Doubles and ITF
Junior Doubles.[55][56]
Pro set
Instead 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-break
This is sometimes played instead of a
third set. A match tie-break (also called
super tie-break) is played like a regular
tie-break, but the winner must win ten
points instead of seven. Match tie-
breaks are used in the Hopman Cup,
Grand Slams (excluding Wimbledon)
and the Olympic Games for mixed
 doubles; on the ATP (since 2006), WTA
(since 2007) and ITF (excluding four
Grand Slam tournaments and the Davis
Cup) tours for doubles and as a
player's choice in USTA league play.
Fast4
Fast4 is a shortened format that offers
a "fast" alternative, with four points,
four games and four rules: there are no
advantage scores, lets are played, tie-
breakers apply at three games all and
the first to four games wins the set.

Another, however informal, tennis format

is called Canadian doubles. This involves
three players, with one person playing
against a doubles team. The single
player gets to utilize the alleys normally
reserved only for a doubles team.
Conversely, the doubles team does not
use the alleys when executing a shot.
The scoring is the same as for a regular
game. This format is not sanctioned by
any official body.

"Australian doubles", another informal

and unsanctioned form of tennis, is
played with similar rules to the Canadian
doubles style, only in this version, players
rotate court position after each game,
each player taking a turn at playing alone
against the other two. As such, each
player plays doubles and singles over the
course of a match, with the singles
player always serving. Scoring styles
vary, but one popular method is to assign
a value of 2 points to each game, with
the server taking both points if he or she
holds serve and the doubles team each
taking one if they break serve.

Wheelchair tennis can be played by able-

bodied players as well as people who
require a wheelchair for mobility. An extra
bounce is permitted. This rule makes it
possible to have mixed wheelchair and
able-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.

Officials

An umpire informing two players of the rules

In most professional play and some

amateur competition, there is an
officiating head judge or chair umpire
(usually referred to simply as the umpire),
who sits in a raised chair to one side of
the court. The umpire has absolute
authority to make factual determinations.
The umpire may be assisted by line
judges, who determine whether the ball
has landed within the required part of the
court and who also call foot faults. There
also may be a net judge who determines
whether the ball has touched the net
during service. The umpire has the right
to overrule a line judge or a net judge if
the umpire is sure that a clear mistake
has been made.[57]

In past tournaments, line judges tasked

with calling the serve were sometimes
assisted by electronic sensors that
beeped to indicate an out-of-bounds
serve; one such system was called
"Cyclops".[58] Cyclops has since largely
been replaced by the Hawk-Eye
system.[59][60] In professional
tournaments using this system, 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 the
Australian Open and Wimbledon
introduced the system in 2007.[61] In clay-
court matches, such as at the French
Open, a call may be questioned by
reference to the mark left by the ball's
impact on the court surface.
The referee, who is usually located off
the court, is the final authority about
tennis rules. When called to the court by
a player or team captain, the referee may
overrule the umpire's decision if the
tennis 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's decision. (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).[57]
Ball boys and girls may be employed to
retrieve balls, pass them to the players,
and hand players their towels. They have
no adjudicative role. In rare events (e.g.,
if they are hurt or if they have caused a
hindrance), the umpire may ask them for
a statement of what actually happened.
The umpire may consider their
statements when making a decision. In
some leagues, especially junior leagues,
players make their own calls, trusting
each other to be honest. This is the case
for many school and university level
matches. The referee or referee's
assistant, however, can be called on
court at a player's request, and the
referee or assistant may change a
player's call. In unofficiated matches, a
ball is out only if the player entitled to
make the call is sure that the ball is out.

Junior tennis
In tennis, a junior is a player under 18
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 or
guardian. 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 a world 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 three
circuits also have adults competing in
them. Some juniors, however, such as
Australian Lleyton Hewitt and Frenchman
Gaël Monfils, have catapulted directly
from the junior tour to the ATP tour by
dominating the junior scene or by taking
advantage of opportunities given to them
to participate in professional
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.[62] Junior
tournaments do not offer prize money
except for the Grand Slam tournaments,
which are the most prestigious junior
events. Juniors may earn income from
tennis by participating in the Future,
Satellite, or Challenger tours.
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 Cup competitions. To succeed in
tennis often means having to begin
playing at a young age. To facilitate and
nurture a junior's growth in tennis, almost
all tennis playing nations have developed
a junior development 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 from governing bodies or
private institutions.

Match play
Convention dictates that two players shake hands at
the end of a match

Continuity

A tennis match is intended to be

continuous.[63] Because stamina is a
relevant factor, arbitrary delays are not
permitted. In most cases, service is
required to occur no more than 20
seconds after the end of the previous
point.[63] 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.[63] Other than this, breaks are
permitted only when forced by events
beyond the players' control, such as rain,
damaged footwear, damaged racket, or
the need to retrieve an errant ball. Should
a player be deemed to be stalling
repeatedly, the chair umpire may initially
give a warning followed by subsequent
penalties of "point", "game", and default
of the match for the player who is
consistently taking longer than the
allowed time limit.[64]

In the event of a rain delay, darkness or

other external conditions halting play, the
match is resumed at a later time, with the
same score as at the time of the delay,
and each player at the same end of the
court as when rain halted play, or as
close to the same relative compass point
if play is resumed on a different court.

Ball changes

Balls wear out quickly in serious play and,

therefore, in ATP and WTA tournaments,
they are changed after every nine games
with the first change occurring after only
seven games, because the first set of
balls is also used for the pre-match
warm-up.[43] In ITF tournaments like Fed
Cup, the balls are changed after every
eleven games (rather than nine) with the
first change occurring after only nine
games (instead of seven). An exception
is that a ball change may not take place
at the beginning of a tiebreaker, in which
case the ball change is delayed until the
beginning of the second game of the
next set.[47] As a courtesy to the receiver,
the server will often signal to the receiver
before the first serve of the game in
which new balls are used as a reminder
that they are using new balls. 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.
On-court coaching

A recent rule change is to allow coaching

on court on a limited basis during a
match.[65][66][67][68] This has been
introduced in women's tennis for WTA
Tour events in 2009 and allows the player
to request her coach once per set.[69]

Stance
Stance refers to the way a player
prepares themselves in order to best be
able to return a shot. Essentially, it
enables them to move quickly in order to
achieve a particular stroke. There are
four main stances in modern tennis:
open, semi-open, closed, and neutral. All
four stances involve the player crouching
in some manner: as well as being a more
efficient striking posture, it allows them
to isometrically preload their muscles in
order to play the stroke more
dynamically. What stance is selected is
strongly influenced by shot selection. A
player may quickly alter their stance
depending on the circumstances and the
type of shot they intend to play. Any given
stance also alters dramatically based
upon the actual playing of the shot with
dynamic movements and shifts of body
weight occurring.[70][71]

Open stance
This is the most common stance in
tennis. The player’s feet are placed
parallel to the net. They may be pointing
sideways, directly at the net or diagonally
towards it. This stance allows for a high
degree of torso rotation which can add
significant power to the stroke. This
process is sometimes likened to the
coiling and uncoiling of a spring. i.e the
torso is rotated as a means of preloading
the muscular system in preparation for
playing the stroke: this is the coiling
phase. When the stroke is played the
torso rotates to face forwards again,
called uncoiling, and adds significant
power to the stroke. A disadvantage of
this stance is that it does not always
allow ‘for proper weight transfer and
maintenance of balance’[70] when making
powerful strokes. It is commonly used
for forehand strokes; double-handed
backhands can also be made effectively
from it.

Semi-open stance

This stance is somewhere between open

and closed and is a very flexible stance.
The feet are aligned diagonally towards
the net. It allows for a lot of shoulder
rotation and the torso can be coiled,
before being uncoiled into the shot in
order to increase the power of the shot. It
is commonly used in modern tennis
especially by ‘top professional players on
the forehand’.[72] Two-handed backhands
can also be employed from this stance.

Closed stance

The closed stance is the least commonly

used of the three main stances. One foot
is placed further towards the net with the
other foot further from it; there is a
diagonal alignment between the feet. It
allows for effective torso rotation in
order to increase the power of the shot. It
is usually used to play backhand shots
and it is rare to see forehand shots
played from it. A stroke from this stance
may entail the rear foot coming
completely off the floor with bodyweight
being transferred entirely to the front
foot.[70][71]

Neutral stance

This is sometimes also referred to as the

square stance. One foot is positioned
closer to the net and ahead of the other
which is behind and in line with it. Both
feet are aligned at a 90 degree angle to
the net. The neutral stance is often
taught early because ‘It allows beginners
to learn about shifting weight and
rotation of the body.’[71] Forehands and
backhands may be made from it.[73]
Shots
A 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

A grip is a way of holding the racket in

order to hit shots during a match. The
grip affects the angle of the racket 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 match depending
on what shot they are hitting; for
example, slice shots and serves call for a
Continental grip.[74]

Serve

Paraguayan stamp depicting a Martina Navratilova

Paraguayan stamp depicting a Martina Navratilova
service motion.

A serve (or, more formally, a "service") in

tennis is a shot to start a point. The serve
is initiated by tossing the ball into the air
and hitting it (usually near the apex of its
trajectory) into the diagonally opposite
service box without touching the net. The
serve may be hit under- or overhand
although underhand serving remains a
rarity.[75] If the ball hits the net on the first
serve and bounces over into the correct
diagonal box then it is called a "let" and
the server gets two more additional
serves to get it in. There can also be a let
if the server serves the ball and the
receiver isn't prepared.[47] If the 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 and placement. The
server may employ different types of
serve including flat serve, topspin serve,
slice serve, and kick (American twist)
serve. A reverse type of spin serve is hit
in a manner that spins the ball 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 view and curve left if
spinning clockwise.[76]

Some servers are content to use the

serve simply to initiate the point;
however, advanced players often try to hit
a winning shot with their serve. A winning
serve that is not touched by the
opponent is called an "ace".

Forehand

For 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
the years. 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
have had the best forehand of all time, a
stroke that he hit shoulder-high using a
western grip. Few top players 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 comeback and is now
used by many modern players. No matter
which grip is used, most forehands are
generally executed with one hand holding
the racket, 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
achieve a devastating effect against
larger, more powerful players. Players
such as Monica Seles or France's Fabrice
Santoro and Marion Bartoli are also
notable players known for their two-
handed forehands.[77]

Backhand
Andy Murray hitting a two-handed backhand.

For 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 to master than the forehand. For
most of the 20th century, the backhand
was performed with one hand, using
either an eastern or a continental grip.
The first notable players to use two
hands were the 1930s Australians Vivian
McGrath and John Bromwich, but they
were lonely exceptions. The two-handed
grip gained popularity in the 1970s as
Björn Borg, Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors,
and later Mats Wilander and Marat Safin
used it to great effect, and it is now used
by a large number of the world's best
players, including Rafael Nadal and
Serena Williams.[78]

Two hands give the player more control,

while one hand can generate a slice shot,
applying backspin on the ball to produce
a low trajectory bounce. Reach is also
limited with the two-handed shot. The
player 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, another
player noted for his one-handed
backhand, used a very accurate slice
backhand through the 1950s and 1960s.
A small number of players, notably
Monica Seles, use two hands on both the
backhand and forehand sides.

Other shots

A volley is a shot returned to the

opponent in mid-air before the ball
bounces, generally performed near 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 has
bounced, also generally in the vicinity of
the net, and played with the racket close
to the ground.[79] The swinging volley is
hit out of the air as the player
approaches the net. It is an offensive
shot used to take preparation time away
from the opponent, as it returns the ball
into the opponent'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 or defensive weapon, hitting
the ball high and deep into the
opponent's court to either enable the
lobber to get into better defensive
position or to win the point outright by
hitting it over the opponent's head. If the
lob is not hit deeply enough into the other
court, however, an opponent near the net
may then hit an overhead smash, a hard,
serve-like shot, to try to end the point.

A difficult shot in tennis is the return of

an attempted lob over the backhand side
of a player. When the contact point is
higher than the reach of a two-handed
backhand, most players will try to
execute a high slice (under the ball or
sideways). Fewer players attempt the
backhand sky-hook or smash. Rarely, a
player will go for a high topspin
backhand, while themselves in the air. A
successful execution of any of these
alternatives requires balance and timing,
with less margin of error than the lower
contact point backhands, since this shot
is a break in the regular pattern of play.

If an opponent is deep in his court, a

player may suddenly employ an
unexpected drop shot, by softly tapping
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 landing and
bounce sideways, with less forward
momentum toward their opponent, or
even backwards towards the net, thus
making it even more difficult to return.

Injuries
Muscle strain is one of the most
common injuries in tennis.[80] When an
isolated large-energy appears during the
muscle contraction and at the same time
body weight apply huge amount of
pressure to the lengthened muscle,
muscle strain can occur.[81] Inflammation
and bleeding are triggered when muscle
strain occurs, which can result in
redness, pain and swelling.[81] Overuse is
also common in tennis players of all
levels. Muscle, cartilage, nerves, bursae,
ligaments and tendons may be damaged
from overuse. The repetitive use of a
particular muscle without time for repair
and recovery is the most common cause
of injury.[81]

Tournaments

A tennis match at Centre Court in the Wimbledon in

2007

Tournaments are often organized by

gender and number of players. Common
tournament configurations include men's
singles, women's singles, and doubles,
where two players play on each side of
the net. Tournaments may be organized
for specific age groups, with upper age
limits for youth and lower age limits for
senior players. Example of this include
the Orange Bowl and Les Petits As junior
tournaments. There are also
tournaments for players with disabilities,
such as wheelchair tennis and deaf
tennis.[82] In the four Grand Slam
tournaments, the singles draws are
limited to 128 players for each gender.

Most large tournaments seed players,

but players may also be matched by their
skill level. According to how well a
person does in sanctioned play, a player
is given a rating that is adjusted
periodically to maintain competitive
matches. For example, the United States
Tennis Association administers the
National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP),
which rates players between 1.0 and 7.0
in 1/2 point increments. Average club
players under this system would rate
3.0–4.5 while world class players would
be 7.0 on this scale.
Grand Slam tournaments

The four Grand Slam tournaments are

considered to be the most prestigious
tennis events in the world. They are held
annually and comprise, in chronological
order, the Australian Open, the French
Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.
Apart from the Olympic Games, Davis
Cup, Fed Cup, and Hopman Cup, they are
the only tournaments regulated by the
International Tennis Federation (ITF).[83]
The ITF's national associations, Tennis
Australia (Australian Open), the
Fédération Française de Tennis (French
Open), the Lawn Tennis Association
(Wimbledon) and the United States
Tennis Association (US Open) are
delegated the responsibility to organize
these events.[83]

Aside from the historical significance of

these events, they also carry larger prize
funds than any other tour event and are
worth double the number of ranking
points to the champion than in the next
echelon of tournaments, the Masters
1000 (men) and Premier events
(women).[84][85] Another distinguishing
feature is the number of players in the
singles draw. There are 128, more than
any other professional tennis
tournament. This draw is composed of
32 seeded players, other players ranked
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 junior
tennis competitions. These tournaments
also contain their own idiosyncrasies. For
example, players at Wimbledon are
required to wear predominantly white.
Andre Agassi chose to skip Wimbledon
from 1988 through 1990 citing the
event's traditionalism, particularly its
"predominantly white" dress code.[86]
Wimbledon has its own particular
methods for disseminating tickets, often
leading tennis fans to follow complex
procedures to obtain tickets.[87]
Grand Slam Tournaments

Date Tournament Location Su

January– Australian Hard

Melbourne
February Open (Plexic
French
May–June Paris Clay
Open

June–July Wimbledon London Grass

August– New York Hard

US Open
September City (Deco

* The international tournament began in

1925

Men's tournament structure

Masters 1000

The ATP World Tour Masters 1000 is a

group of nine tournaments that form the
second-highest echelon in men's tennis.
Each event is held annually, and a win at
one of these events is worth 1000
ranking points. When the ATP, led by
Hamilton Jordan, began running the
men's tour in 1990, the directors
designated the top nine tournaments,
outside of the Grand Slam events, as
"Super 9" events.[88] In 2000 this became
the Tennis Masters Series and in 2004
the ATP Masters Series. In November at
the end of the tennis year, the world's top
eight players compete in the ATP World
Tour Finals, a tournament with a rotating
locale. It is currently held in London,
England.[89]

In August 2007 the ATP announced

major changes to the tour that were
introduced in 2009. The Masters Series
was renamed to the "Masters 1000", the
addition of the number 1000 referring to
the number of ranking points earned by
the winner of each tournament. Contrary
to earlier plans, the number of
tournaments was not reduced from nine
to eight and the Monte Carlo Masters
remains part of the series although,
unlike the other events, it does not have a
mandatory player commitment. The
Hamburg Masters has been downgraded
to a 500-point event. The Madrid Masters
moved to May and onto clay courts, and
a new tournament in Shanghai took over
Madrid's former indoor October slot. As
of 2011 six of the nine "1000" level
tournaments are combined ATP and WTA
events.[90]

250 and 500 Series

The 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.[91] Like
the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, these
events offer various amounts of prize
money and the numbers refer to the
amount of ranking points earned by the
winner of a tournament.[84] The Dubai
Tennis Championships offer the largest
financial incentive to players, with total
prize money of US$2,313,975 (2012).[92]
These series have various draws of 28,
32, 48 and 56 for singles and 16 and 24
for doubles. It is mandatory for leading
players to enter at least four 500 events,
including at least one after the US Open.

Challenger Tour and Futures

tournaments

The Challenger Tour for men is the

lowest level of tournament administered
by the ATP. It is composed of about 150
events and, as a result, features a more
diverse range of countries hosting
events.[93] The majority of players use the
Challenger Series at the beginning of
their career to work 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
to progress back up the rankings.[94] The
Challenger Series offers prize funds of
between US$25,000 and US$150,000.

Below the Challenger Tour are the

Futures tournaments, events on the ITF
Men's Circuit. These tournaments also
contribute towards a player's ATP
rankings points. Futures Tournaments
offer prize funds of between US$10,000
and US$15,000.[95] Approximately 530
Futures Tournaments are played each
year.

Women's tournament structure

Premier events

Premier events for women form the most

prestigious level of events on the
Women's Tennis Association Tour after
the Grand Slam tournaments. These
events offer the largest rewards in terms
of points and prize money. Within the
Premier category are Premier Mandatory,
Premier 5, and Premier tournaments. The
Premier events were introduced in 2009
replacing the previous Tier I and II
tournament categories. Currently four
tournaments are Premier Mandatory, five
tournaments are Premier 5, and twelve
tournaments are Premier. The first tiering
system in women's tennis was
introduced in 1988. At the time of its
creation, only two tournaments, the
Lipton International Players
Championships in Florida and the
German Open in Berlin, comprised the
Tier I category.

International events
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 Bank
Tournament of Champions in Bali, which
has prize money of U.S.$600,000.

Players

Professional players

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
not salaried, but must play and finish
highly in tournaments to obtain prize
money.

In recent years, some controversy has

surrounded the involuntary or deliberate
noise caused by players' grunting.

Singles and doubles professional

careers

While players are gradually less

competitive in singles by their late 20s
and early 30s, they can still continue
competitively in doubles (as instanced by
Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe,
who won doubles titles in their 40s).
In the Open Era, several female players
such as Martina Navratilova, Margaret
Court, Martina Hingis, Serena Williams,
and Venus Williams (the latter two
sisters playing together) have been
prolific at both singles and doubles
events throughout their careers. John
McEnroe is one of the very few
professional male players to be top
ranked in both singles and doubles at the
same time,[96][97][98] and Yevgeny
Kafelnikov is the most recent male player
to win multiple Grand Slams in both
singles and doubles during the same
period of his career.
In terms of public attention and earnings
(see below), singles champions have far
surpassed their doubles counterparts.
The Open Era, particularly the men's side,
has seen many top-ranked singles
players that only sparingly compete in
doubles, while having "doubles
specialists" who are typically being
eliminated early in the singles draw but
do well in the doubles portion of a
tournament. Notable doubles pairings
include The Woodies (Todd Woodbridge
and Mark Woodforde) and the Bryan
Brothers (identical twin brothers Robert
Charles "Bob" Bryan and Michael Carl
"Mike" Bryan). Woodbridge has disliked
the term "doubles ‘specialists’", saying
that he and Woodforde "set a singles
schedule and doubles fitted in around
that", although later in Woodbridge's
career he focused exclusively on doubles
as his singles ranking fell too low that it
was no longer financially viable to
recover at that age. Woodbridge noted
that while top singles players earn
enough that they don't need to nor want
to play doubles, he suggested that lower-
ranked singles players outside the Top
Ten should play doubles to earn more
playing time and money.[99][100]

Olympics

The Olympics doubles tennis tournament

necessitates that both members of a
doubles pairing be from the same
country, hence several top professional
pairs such as Jamie Murray and Bruno
Soares cannot compete in the Olympics.
Top-ranked singles players that are
usually rivals on the professional circuit,
such as Boris Becker and Michael Stich,
and Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka
have formed a rare doubles partnership
for the Olympics. Unlike professional
tennis tournaments (see below) where
singles players receive much more prize
money than doubles players, an Olympic
medal for both singles and doubles has
similar prestige. The Olympics is more of
a priority for doubles champions while
singles champions often skip the
tournament.[99][100] While the ATP has
voted for Olympic results to count
towards player ranking points, WTA
players voted against it.[101]

For the 2000 Olympics, Lisa Raymond

was passed over for Team USA in favor
of Serena Williams by captain Billie Jean
King, even though Raymond was the top-
ranked doubles player in the world at the
time, and Raymond unsuccessfully
challenged the selection.[101]

Prize money

In professional tennis tournaments such

as Wimbledon, the singles competition
receives the most prize money and
coverage, followed by doubles, and then
mixed doubles usually receive the lowest
monetary awards.[102] For instance in the
US Open as of 2018, the men's and
women's singles prize money
(US$40,912,000) accounts for 80.9
percent of total player base
compensation, while men's and women's
doubles (US$6,140,840), men's and
women's singles qualifying
(US$3,008,000), and mixed doubles
(US$505,000) account for 12.1 percent,
5.9 percent, and 1.0 percent, respectively.
The singles winner receives
US$3,800,000, while the doubles winning
pair receives $700,000 and the mixed
doubles winning pair receives
US$155,000.[103]

Grand Slam tournament winners

The following players have won at least

five singles titles at Grand Slam
tournaments:
Female
Margaret Court (24)
Serena Williams (23)
Steffi Graf (22)
Helen Wills Moody (19)
Chris Evert (18)
Martina Navratilova (18)
Billie Jean King (12)
Maureen Connolly Brinker (9)
Monica Seles (9)
Molla Bjurstedt Mallory (8)
Suzanne Lenglen (8)
Dorothea Lambert Chambers (7)
Maria Bueno (7)
Evonne Goolagong Cawley (7)
Venus Williams (7)
Justine Henin (7)
Blanche Bingley Hillyard (6)
Doris Hart (6)
Margaret Osborne duPont (6)
Nancye Wynne Bolton (6)
Louise Brough Clapp (6)
Lottie Dod (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)
Maria Sharapova (5)

Male
Roger Federer (20)
Rafael Nadal (19)
Novak Djokovic (17)
Pete Sampras (14)
Roy Emerson (12)
Rod Laver (11)
Björn Borg (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)
René Lacoste (7)
John Newcombe (7)
John McEnroe (7)
Mats Wilander (7)
Laurence Doherty (6)
Anthony Wilding (6)
Donald Budge (6)
Jack Crawford (6)
 Boris Becker (6)
Stefan Edberg (6)
Frank Sedgman (5)
Tony Trabert (5)

Margaret Court (b. 1942).

Roger Federer (b. 1981).

Greatest male players

A frequent topic of discussion among

tennis fans and commentators is who
was the greatest male singles player of
all time. By a large margin, an Associated
Press poll in 1950 named Bill Tilden as
the greatest player of the first half of the
20th century.[104] From 1920 to 1930,
Tilden won singles titles at Wimbledon
three times and the U.S. Championships
seven times. In 1938, however, Donald
Budge became the first person to win all
four major singles titles during the same
calendar year, the Grand Slam, and won
six consecutive major titles in 1937 and
1938. Tilden called Budge "the finest
player 365 days a year that ever
lived."[105] In his 1979 autobiography,
Jack Kramer said that, based on
consistent play, Budge was the greatest
player ever.[106] Some observers,
however, also felt that Kramer deserved
consideration for the title. Kramer was
among the few who dominated amateur
and professional tennis during the late
1940s and early 1950s. Tony Trabert has
said that of the players he saw before the
start of the Open Era, Kramer was the
best male champion.[107]

Bill Tilden

By the 1960s, Budge and others had

added Pancho Gonzales and Lew Hoad
to the list of contenders. Budge
reportedly believed that Gonzales was
the greatest player ever.[108] Gonzales
said about Hoad, "When Lew's game was
at its peak nobody could touch him. ... I
think his game was the best game ever.
Better than mine. He was capable of
making more shots than anybody. His
two volleys were great. His overhead was
enormous. He had the most natural
tennis mind with the most natural tennis
physique."[109]

Before and during the Open Era, Rod

Laver remains the only male player in
history to have won the calendar year
Grand Slam twice in 1962 and 1969 [110]
and also the calendar year Professional
Grand Slam in 1967.[111] More recently
Björn Borg and Pete Sampras were
regarded by many of their
contemporaries as among the greatest
ever. Andre Agassi, the first of two male
players in history to have achieved a
Career Golden Slam in singles tennis
(followed by Rafael Nadal), has been
called the best service returner in the
history of the game.[112][113][114][115] He is
the first man to win grand slams on all
modern surfaces (previous holders of all
grand slam tournaments played in an era
of grass and clay only), and is regarded
by a number of critics and fellow players
to be among the greatest players of all
time.[112][116][117] Both Rod Laver and Ken
Rosewall also won major Pro Slam
tournaments on all three surfaces (grass,
clay, hard court) Rosewall in 1963 and
Laver in 1967.[118]

More recently, Roger Federer is

considered by many observers to have
the most "complete" game in modern
tennis. He has won 20 grand slam titles
and 6 World Tour Finals, 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 history of the
game.[119][120][121][122][123][124] Federer's
biggest rival Rafael Nadal is regarded as
the greatest competitor in tennis history
by some former players and is regarded
to have the potential to be the greatest of
all time.[125][126] Nadal is regarded as the
greatest clay court player of all time.[127]

Greatest female players

As with the men there are frequent

discussions about who is the greatest
female singles player of all time with
Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and
Serena Williams being the three players
most often nominated.

In March 2012 the TennisChannel

published a combined list of the 100
greatest men and women tennis players
of all time.[128] It ranked Steffi Graf as the
greatest female player (in 3rd place
overall), followed by Martina Navratilova
(4th place) and Margaret Court (8th
place). The rankings were determined by
an international panel.

Serena Williams July 2008

Sportswriter John Wertheim of Sports

Illustrated stated in an article in July
2010 that Serena Williams is the greatest
female tennis player ever with the
argument that "Head-to-head, on a
neutral surface (i.e. hard courts),
everyone at their best, I can't help feeling
that she crushes the other legends.".[129]
In a reaction to this article Yahoo sports
blog Busted Racket published a list of the
top-10 women's tennis players of all time
placing Martina Navratilova in first
spot.[130] This top-10 list was similar to
the one published in June 2008 by the
Bleacher Report who also ranked Martina
Navratilova as the top female player of all
time.[131]
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."[132] Martina Navratilova has
included Graf on her list of great
players.[132] In December 1999, Graf was
named the greatest female tennis player
of the 20th century by a panel of experts
assembled by the Associated Press.[133]
Tennis writer Steve Flink, in his book The
Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth
Century, named her as the best female
player of the 20th century, directly
followed by Martina Navratilova.[134]
Tennis magazine selected Martina
Navratilova as the greatest female tennis
player for the years 1965 through
2005.[135][136] Tennis historian and
journalist Bud Collins has called
Navratilova "arguably, the greatest player
of all time."[137] Billie Jean King said
about Navratilova in 2006, "She's the
greatest singles, doubles and mixed
doubles player who's ever lived."[138]

In popular culture
"Tennis balles" are mentioned by
William Shakespeare in his play Henry
V (1599), when a basket of them is
given to King Henry as a mockery of
his youth and playfulness.
David Foster Wallace, an amateur
tennis player himself at Urbana High
School in Illinois,[139] 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 "Enfield
Tennis Academy" in Massachusetts.
Japanese Manga series The Prince of
Tennis revolves around the tennis
prodigy Echizen Ryoma and tennis
matches between rival schools.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) features
Richie Tenenbaum (Luke Wilson), a
tennis pro who suffers from
depression and has a breakdown on
court in front of thousands of fans.[140]
Wimbledon (2004) is a film about a
discouraged pro tennis player (Paul
Bettany) who meets a young woman
on the women's tennis circuit (Kirsten
Dunst) who helps him find his drive to
go and win Wimbledon.[141]
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.[142]
Woody Allen's Match Point (2005)
features a love affair between a former
tennis pro (Jonathan Rhys Meyers)
and his best friend's fiancé (Scarlett
Johansson).[143]
Confetti (2006) is a mockumentary
which sees three couples competing to
win the title of "Most Original Wedding
of the Year". One competing couple
 (Meredith MacNeill and Stephen
Mangan) are a pair of hyper-
competitive professional tennis
players holding a tennis-themed
wedding.[144]
There are several tennis video games
including Mario Tennis, the TopSpin
series, Wii Sports, and Grand Slam
Tennis.[145][146]

See also
Outline of tennis
Glossary of tennis
Tennis games
Tennis injuries
Tennis strategy
 Tennis technology
Tennis statistics

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135. "40 Greatest Players of the Tennis
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Somewhere" . Tennis.com. Retrieved
3 May 2012.
137. Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins
History of Tennis: An Authoritative
Encyclopedia and Record Book. New
York, N.Y.: New Chapter Press.
p. 600. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
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4 May 2012.
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Further reading
Barrett, John. Wimbledon: The Official
History of the Championships
(HarperCollins, 2001) ISBN 978-0-00-
711707-9
Collins, Bud. History of Tennis – An
Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book
(New Chapter Press, 2010) ISBN 978-0-
942257-70-0
Danzig, Allison and Peter Schwed (ed.). The
Fireside Book of Tennis (Simon & Schuster,
1972) ISBN 978-0-671-21128-8
Doherty, Reginald Frank. R.F. and H.L.
Doherty – On Lawn Tennis (Kessinger
Publishing, 2010) ISBN 978-1-167-08589-5
Dwight, Eleanor. Tie Breaker – Jimmy Van
Alen and Tennis in the 20th century (Scala
Books, 2010) ISBN 978-1-905377-40-4
Gillmeister, Heiner. Tennis: A Cultural History
(Continuum, 1998) ISBN 978-0-7185-0195-2
Grimsley, Will. Tennis – Its History, People
and Events (Prentice-Hall, 1971) ISBN 0-13-
903377-7
King, Billie Jean and Starr, Cynthia. We Have
Come a Long Way (McGraw-Hill, 1998)
ISBN 0-07-034625-9
 Whitman, Malcolm D. Tennis – Origins and
Mysteries (Dover Publications, 2004)
ISBN 0-486-43357-9

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