A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be used to create a tennis court, each with its own characteristics which affect the playing style of the game.
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball back and forth across a table using small rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, the rules are generally as follows: players must allow a ball played toward them to bounce one time on their side of the table, and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side at least once. A point is scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. Spinning the ball alters its trajectory and limits an opponent's options, giving the hitter a great advantage.
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA), founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tennis. Its counterpart organisation in the men's professional game is the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing.
The United States Open Tennis Championships is a hard court tennis tournament. The tournament is the modern version of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, for which men's singles was first played in 1881.
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually over the last fortnight of January in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. It features men's and women's singles; men's, women's, and mixed doubles; junior's championships; and wheelchair, legends, and exhibition events. Prior to 1988 it was played on grass courts, but since then two types of hardcourt surfaces have been used at Melbourne Park – green coloured Rebound Ace up to 2007 and, afterwards, blue Plexicushion.
The French Open, also called Roland-Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France. The venue is named after the French aviator Roland Garros. It is the premier clay court tennis championship event in the world and the second of four annual Grand Slam tournaments, the other three being the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. The French Open is currently the only Grand Slam event held on clay, and it is the zenith of the spring clay court season. Because of the seven rounds needed for a championship, the slow-playing surface and the best-of-five-set men's singles matches, the event is widely considered to be the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world.
Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 and won 22 Grand Slam singles titles. Her 22 singles titles put her second on the list of major wins in the female competition since the introduction of the Open Era in 1968 and is third all-time behind Margaret Court (24) and Serena Williams (23). In 1988, she became the only tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Furthermore, she is the only tennis player to have won each Grand Slam tournament at least four times.
The Grand Slam tournaments, also called majors, are the four most important annual tennis events. They offer the most ranking points, prize money, public and media attention, the greatest strength and size of field, and greater number of "best of" sets for men. The Grand Slam itinerary consists of the Australian Open in mid January, the French Open around late May through early June, Wimbledon in June-July, and the US Open in August-September. Each tournament is played over a two-week period. The Australian and United States tournaments are played on hard courts, the French on clay, and Wimbledon on grass. Wimbledon is the oldest, founded in 1877, followed by the US in 1881, the French in 1891, and the Australian in 1905. However, of these four, only Wimbledon was a major before 1924–25, when all four became designated Grand Slam tournaments. Skipping majors—especially the Australian Open because of the remoteness, the inconvenient dates and the low prize money—was not unusual before 1982.
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam titles.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national associations, and as of 2016, is affiliated with 211 national tennis associations and six regional associations.
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is a main men's tennis governing body.
Rafael Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player, currently ranked world No. 2 in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Nadal has the most clay court titles in the Open Era (57), and holds an all-time record of 11 French Open, 11 Monte-Carlo Masters and 11 Barcelona titles. He also has the longest single surface win streak in matches and in sets in the history of the Open Era. Due to these achievements, many have called Nadal "The King of Clay", and is widely regarded as the greatest clay-court player in history. His evolution into an all-court champion has established him as one of the greatest players of all time.
This page is a glossary of tennis terminology.
The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The top tier of annual men's tennis is the ATP World Tour, Challenger Tour events are the second highest level of competition, and the Futures tournaments on the ITF Men's Circuit are the third and fourth tier of international professional tennis competition. The ATP Challenger Tour is administered by the Association of Tennis Professionals. Players who succeed on the ATP Challenger Tour earn sufficient ranking points to become eligible for main draw or qualifying draw entry at ATP World Tour tournaments. Players on the Challenger Tour are either young players looking to advance their careers, those who fail to qualify for ATP events, or former ATP winners looking to get back into the big tour.
The game that most people call 'Tennis' is the direct descendant of what is now known as real tennis or royal tennis. Most rules of the game commonly known as tennis derive from it. It is reasonable to see both sports as variations of the same game. The idea that tennis originated in the monastic cloisters in northern France in the 12th century has been largely discredited, but it is correct that in the first few centuries in which it was played, the ball was then struck with the palm of the hand; hence, the name jeu de paume. It was not until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called "tennis." It was popular in England and France, and Henry VIII of England was a very big fan of the game, now referred to as real tennis.
The World Table Tennis Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's double and mixed doubles, are currently held in odd numbered years. The World Team Table Tennis Championships, which include men's team and women's team events, were first their own competition in 2000. The Team Championships are held in even numbered years.
The 2019 ATP Tour is the global elite men's professional tennis circuit organised by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for the 2019 tennis season. The 2019 ATP Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP Tour Masters 1000, the ATP Tour 500 series, the ATP Tour 250 series, the Davis Cup, and the ATP Finals. Also included in the 2019 calendar are the Hopman Cup and the Next Gen ATP Finals which do not distribute ranking points. For the Masters series events the ATP introduced a shot clock. Players have a minute to come on court, 5 minutes to warmup, and then a minute to commence play, as well as 25 seconds between points.
The 2019 WTA Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2019 tennis season. The 2019 WTA Tour calendar is composed of the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation, the WTA Premier tournaments, the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup, and the year-end championships. The Hopman Cup, organized by the ITF, also is included but does not distribute ranking points.
The 2019 World Table Tennis Championships were held in Budapest, Hungary from 21 to 28 April 2019. It was the 55th edition of the championships, and the fourth time that they were held in Budapest.
