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 of the game is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player unable to return the ball validly will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.
The Grand Slam in tennis is the achievement of winning all four major championships in one discipline in a calendar year. In doubles, a Grand Slam may be achieved as a team or as an individual with different partners. Winning all four major championships consecutively but not within the same calendar year is referred to as a "non-calendar-year Grand Slam", while winning the four majors at any point during the course of a career is known as a "Career Grand Slam".
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 tennis associations. As of 2016, there are 211 national and six regional associations that make up the ITF's membership.
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to protect the interests of professional tennis players, and Drysdale became the first president. Since 1990 the association has organized the ATP Tour, the worldwide tennis tour for men and linked the title of the tour with the organization's name. It is the governing body of men's professional tennis. In 1990 the organization was called the ATP Tour, which was renamed in 2001 as just ATP and the tour being called ATP Tour. In 2009 the name of the tour was changed again and was known as the ATP World Tour, but changed again to the ATP Tour by 2019. It is an evolution of the tour competitions previously known as Grand Prix tennis tournaments and World Championship Tennis (WCT). The ATP's global headquarters are in London. ATP Americas is based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida; ATP Europe is headquartered in Monaco; and ATP International, which covers Africa, Asia and Australasia, is based in Sydney, Australia.
Roger Taylor MBE is a British former tennis player. Born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. He achieved success at several Grand Slam tournaments, reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open in 1973, the semi-finals of Wimbledon during the same year and winning back to back US Open men's doubles titles in 1971 and 1972. He also enjoyed particular success in 1970, again reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon, where he achieved a big upset win over defending champion Rod Laver en route, and the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Taylor also reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 1967. His career-high ranking was world No. 7 in 1967, though Taylor was also ranked world No. 8 in 1970 before the ATP rankings began.
Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen was a French tennis player. She was the inaugural world No. 1 from 1921 to 1926, winning eight Grand Slam titles in singles and twenty-one in total. She was also a four-time World Hard Court Champion in singles, and ten times in total. Lenglen won six Wimbledon singles titles, including five in a row from 1919 to 1923, and was the champion in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles at the first two open French Championships in 1925 and 1926. In doubles, she was undefeated with her usual partner Elizabeth Ryan, highlighted by another six titles at Wimbledon. Lenglen was the first leading amateur to turn professional. She ranked as the greatest women's tennis player from the amateur era in the 100 Greatest of All Time series on the Tennis Channel in 2012.
Helena Suková is a Czech former professional tennis player. During her career, she won 14 major doubles titles, nine in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. She is also a two-time Olympic silver medalist in doubles, a four-time major singles runner-up, and she won a total of ten singles titles and 69 doubles titles.
Michael Jeremy Bates is a British former professional tennis player. He was ranked UK number 1 in 1987 and from 1989 to 1994. He reached a career-high ATP world ranking of 54 from 17 April 1995 to 23 April 1995.
Pauline Betz Addie was an American professional tennis player. She won five Grand Slam singles titles and was the runner-up on three other occasions. Jack Kramer called her the second best female tennis player he ever saw, behind Helen Wills Moody.
Mary Kendall Browne was an American professional tennis player and an amateur golfer. She was born in Ventura County, California.
Rosemary "Rosie" Casals is an American former professional tennis player. During a tennis career that spanned more than two decades, she won more than 90 titles and was crucial to many of the changes in women's tennis during the 1960s and 1970s.
Tennis was part of the Summer Olympic Games program from the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics, but was dropped after the 1924 Summer Olympics due to disputes between the International Lawn Tennis Federation and the International Olympic Committee over how to define amateur players. After two appearances as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984, it returned as a full medal sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics open for all players regardless of their age and status and has been played at every summer Games since then.
Darlene Ruth Hard was an American professional tennis player, known for her aggressive volleying ability and strong serves. She captured singles titles at the French Championships in 1960 and the U.S. Championships in 1960 and 1961.
Gretchen Anne Rush, also known by her married name Gretchen Magers, is a former professional tennis player from the United States who was active in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Tennis Australia Limited is the governing body for tennis in Australia. It is owned by Australian states and territories. The association organizes national and international tennis tournaments including the Australian Open, Australian Open Series, Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, ATP Cup, and Australian Pro Tour. In addition, the association takes the responsibility to facilitate tennis at all levels from grassroots to elite development. Tennis Australia's state-based member associates carry out the promotion, management, and development of tennis within Australia. Other than that, it administers amateur tournaments and youth development programs.
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sport with more complex rules.
Shaun Stafford Beckish, née Shaun Stafford, is an American former college and professional tennis player who played on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour from 1989 to 1996. As a collegiate tennis player, Stafford won the 1988 NCAA national singles championship while playing for the University of Florida. She won two WTA tournaments in her professional career, one in singles and the other in doubles.
Janine G. Thompson Tremelling is a former tennis player from Australia who won the Girls' Doubles in the 1985 Wimbledon Championships, with Louise Field.
Dianne Evers is a retired female tennis player from Australia. With her partner Judy Chaloner, she won the 1979 Australian Open Doubles title and had a career high singles ranking of No. 42.
The 2020 WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2020 tennis season. The 2020 WTA Tour calendar originally comprised the Grand Slam tournaments supervised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the WTA Premier tournaments, the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup, and the year-end championships.
Great Britain 