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.
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 relative to other ball sports, which can heavily affect the ball's trajectory.
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.
The Racine Legion was a professional American football team based in Racine, Wisconsin, of the National Football League from 1922 to 1924. Its official name was the Horlick-Racine Legion. The team then operated as the Racine Tornadoes in 1926.
POP tennis 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.
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.
In ball sports, topspin or overspin is a property of a ball that rotates forwards as it is moving. Topspin on a ball propelled through the air imparts a downward force that causes the ball to drop, due to its interaction with the air. Topspin is the opposite of backspin.
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.
Steve Bellamy is an entrepreneur in sports and entertainment known for the founding of niche cable television networks, including the Tennis Channel, The Surf Channel, The Skate Channel and The Ski Channel. He is also a writer/director/producer of six feature films, including Winter and The Story. He was also one of the producers of the movie The Game Changers on Netflix. He is the inventor of LiveBall and the founder of The Tennis Channel Open. He was the President of Motion Picture and Entertainment at Kodak at a time when the format was left for dead until it became the most desirable format again.
St. Catherine's High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Racine, Wisconsin. It is a member of Siena Catholic Schools of Racine and the Catholic Schools of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
Charles Edgar Brumfield is an American attorney and former professional racquetball player as well as a noted paddleball player. For much of his professional racquetball career, Brumfield was the marquis player for Leach Industries, the leading manufacturer of racquetball rackets at the time. Leach produced several Brumfield signature rackets including the "Graphite Brumfield". For a brief time, Brumfield had his own sports brand label, which marketed rackets and sports apparel.
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 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 it over the net. This then starts a rally, in which the sides alternate hitting the ball/bird over the net. Players then score points whenever the opponent fails to return the ball/bird back over the net. The criteria on what is considered a valid return varies between each sport.
Navrátil is a Czech surname.
Benjamin Ellingham Johns is an American professional pickleball player. He is ranked No. 1 in the world for mixed doubles, No. 2 for Singles, and No. 1 in the world for Men's Doubles by the Pro Pickleball Association. (PPA)
USA Pickleball, or USAP, is the national governing body for the sport of pickleball in the United States. It was the world's first national pickleball organization established when it was formed in 1984 as the United States Amateur Pickleball Association. It reorganized as the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) in 2005. The organization adopted the name USA Pickleball in 2020. As the USAPA, the organization published the first official pickleball rule book in 1984 and published the USA Pickleball Association Official Tournament Rulebook in 2008. Since 2005 the organization has operated as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
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.
Anna Leigh Waters is an American professional pickleball player. As of October 2022, she is ranked No. 1 in the world for doubles, No. 1 for mixed doubles, and No. 1 for singles by the Professional Pickleball Association. She was the youngest professional pickleball player in history at age 12, and is known for playing doubles in a team with her mother, Leigh Waters.
Catherine Parenteau is a Canadian professional pickleball player. As of August 12, 2023, she is ranked No. 3 in the world for Woman's Singles, No. 3 in the world for Woman's Doubles, and No. 3 in the world for Woman's Mixed Doubles by the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA).
