First played | 1898 in Albion, Michigan, United States |
---|---|
Characteristics | |
Contact | No |
Team members | Singles or doubles |
Mixed-sex | Yes, separate singles, doubles, & mixed doubles |
Type | Racket sport |
Equipment | Reduced-pressure tennis ball, paddle, net |
Venue | Outdoor or indoor |
Presence | |
Olympic | No |
Paralympic | No |
World Games | No |
Paddle tennis (sometimes branded as POP Tennis since 2015) [1] is a racket sport adapted from tennis and played for over a century. Compared to tennis, the court is smaller, has no doubles lanes, and the net is lower. Paddle tennis is played with a solid perforated paddle, as opposed to a strung racquet, and a lower pressure tennis ball.
The same court is used for both singles and doubles, with doubles being the dominant form of play. The smaller court size adds a strong emphasis and advantage to net play and creates a fast and reaction-based game.
During year 1898, paddle tennis was invented by Episcopal minister Frank Peter Beal in Albion, Michigan. Afterwards, the sport spread in lower Manhattan where Beal wanted to create recreational activities for neighborhood children. In 1915, Beal got the Manhattan parks and recreation department to lay courts in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The first tournament was held in 1922, and the United States Paddle Tennis Association (USPTA) was formed the following year. (The United States Paddle Tennis Association is not to be confused with the United States Professional Tennis Association founded in 1970.) By 1941, paddle tennis was being played in almost 500 American cities. [2]
Although Frank Peer Beal is known as the game's inventor, Murray Geller, a player in the 1940s and 1950s, was instrumental in creating the modern game. Elected chairman of the USPTA rules committee, he wanted to make the game more appealing to adults, and instituted features including an enlarged court and an underhanded serve. [2] [3]
Scott Freedman won the World's Men's Singles Paddle Tennis Championships 19 times, the World Men's Doubles Championships 16 times, and the World Mixed Doubles 14 times. [4] He wrote a book titled Paddle Tennis and Tennis: Anyone Can Play. [4]
In 2015 and 2016, the USPTA tried to rebrand the sport as "POP Tennis", began producing logo-branded gear, and changed its name to the International POP Tennis Association (IPTA). [5] The name was chosen in reference to the "pop" sound made when the paddle hits the ball. [5]
Paddle tennis courts are constructed of the same materials as tennis courts, or can also be placed on hard beach sand. [6] The court measures 50 feet (15.2 4m) baseline-to-baseline and 20 feet (6.09 m) across, with the service line 3 feet (0.91 m) in from the baseline. This creates a service box of 10 × 22 feet (3.04 × 6.70 m). The net is placed at a height of 31 inches (0.78 m). On the west coast, a restraint line is drawn 12 feet (3.66 m) back parallel to the net.
During play, all players must keep both feet behind the restraint line until after the player receiving the serve has struck the ball.
All paddle rules are similar to tennis. Paddle tennis second serves also have to be bounced at least once in the other opponents side.[ citation needed ]
Padel is a similar sport typically played in doubles on an enclosed court about half the size of a tennis court. It is popular in Spain and Hispanic America.
Pickleball is a similar sport invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington. It is played on a similar court and with a similar paddle but uses a plastic wiffle ball.
Platform tennis is a similar sport invented in 1928 in Scarsdale, New York by James Cogswell and Fessenden Blanchard. The primary difference from paddle tennis is that the platform tennis court is 6 feet shorter, fenced by taut chicken wire off which the ball can be played. Platform tennis uses a solid sponge rubber ball and overhead serving is permitted. Platform tennis is popular in the Northeastern and Midwestern U.S., since the raised court (the platform) can be heated for winter play.
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket strung with a cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. If a player is unable to return the ball successfully, the opponent scores a point.
Table tennis is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of two, players take alternating turns returning a light, hollow ball over the table's net onto the opposing half of the court using small rackets until they fail to do so, which results in a point for the opponent. Play is fast, requiring quick reaction and constant attention, and is characterized by an emphasis on spin, which can affect the ball's trajectory more than in other ball sports.
Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velocity and control. Unlike most racquet sports, such as tennis and badminton, there is no net to hit the ball over, and, unlike squash, no tin to hit the ball above. Also, the court's walls, floor, and ceiling are legal playing surfaces, with the exception of court-specific designated hinders being out-of-bounds. Racquetball is played between various players on a team who try to bounce the ball with the racquet onto the ground so it hits the wall, so that an opposing team’s player cannot bounce it back to the wall.
American handball, known as handball in the United States and sometimes referred to as wallball, is a sport in which players use their hands to hit a small, rubber ball against a wall such that their opponent(s) cannot do the same without the ball touching the ground twice or hitting out-of-bounds. The three versions are four-wall, three-wall and one-wall. Each version can be played either by two players (singles), three players (cutthroat) or four players (doubles), but in official tournaments, singles and doubles are the only versions played.
Pickleball is a racket or paddle sport in which two players (singles) or four players (doubles) use a smooth-faced paddle to hit a perforated, hollow plastic ball over a 34-inch-high (0.86 m) net until one side is unable to return the ball or commits a rule infraction. Pickleball is played indoors and outdoors. It was invented in 1965 as a children's backyard game in the United States, on Bainbridge Island in Washington state. In 2022, Pickleball was named the official state sport of Washington.
A drop shot is a shot in some racket sports in which the ball is hit relatively softly, sometimes with topspin or backspin, so that it lands just over and close to the net. A well-placed and well-timed drop shot will make it difficult for the opposing player to hit an aggressive or offensive shot in return. The most successful drop shots will not allow the opponent to hit the ball back at all.
This page is a glossary of tennis terminology.
Players use different strategies while playing tennis to enhance their own strengths and exploit their opponent's weaknesses in order to gain the advantage and win more points.
Traditionally, tennis is played between two people in a singles match, or two pairs in a doubles match. Tennis can also be played on different courts, including grass courts, clay courts, hard courts, and artificial grass courts.
Padel, also sometimes called padel tennis, is a racket sport of Mexican origin, typically played in doubles on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. Although padel shares the same scoring system as tennis, the rules, strokes, and technique are different. The balls used are similar but with a little less pressure. The main differences are that the court has walls and the balls can be played off them in a similar way as in the game of squash and that solid, stringless bats are used. The height of the ball being served must be at or below the waist level.
Several sports related to volleyball have become popular. Indoor volleyball and beach volleyball are both events at the Olympics, and sitting volleyball is an event at the Paralympics. Other varieties are localized, or are played at an amateur or informal level.
Tennis games are often used to help players of all abilities to practice the different strokes involved in tennis. The number of participants needed varies from as few as two players to as many players as can fit on a tennis court. These games are often used by coaches and other tennis instructors to help teach the basic skills of tennis.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to tennis.
Four wall paddleball, or paddleball, is a popular court sport in the Upper Midwest of the United States, on the West Coast of the U.S. and in the Memphis, Tennessee area. It is played with a paddle and small rubber ball on a standard American handball or racquetball court, with similar rules to those sports.
Net and wall games are court games where either a net separates the opponents or a wall serves to reflect the ball to the opponent. The object of these games is to hit or throw the ball or bird over the net or against the wall back to the opponent. Play typically begins with one side serving the ball/bird by initially tossing or releasing it and then hitting/throwing it over the net or to the wall. This then starts a rally, in which the sides alternate hitting/throwing the ball/bird. Players then score points whenever the opponent fails to return the ball/bird back. The criteria on what is considered a valid return varies between each sport.
Platform tennis is derived from tennis, developed in 1928 at Fox Meadow Tennis Club in Scarsdale, New York by James Cogswell and Fessenden Blanchard.
This glossary provides definitions and context for terminology related to, and jargon specific to, the sport of pickleball. Words or phrases in italics can be found on the list in their respective alphabetic sections.
Pickleball, a paddle sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis, is growing rapidly within India. The Times Now reported in September 2024 that over 50,000 people in India played the game over the previous 18 months and at the time there were over 500 courts throughout the country, with 40 or 50 new courts being added every month. The popularity of pickleball is causing waiting lists for booking courts. Its increasing reach is attracting sponsors and investment.