Welcome to The Sprout! Please sign up or login

Information » Things To Do » Sports and Keeping Fit » Tennis



Tennis

  • Tennis is a sport played between two players or two pairs of players who use racquets to hit a ball back and forth over a net
  • The net is stretched across the entire width of the court, separating it into two equal sides
  • Tennis is played on a rectangular flat surface which is usually grass, clay or concrete
  • At the start of a tennis match, the players position themselves on opposite sides of the court
  • One player starts by serving the ball with the aim of hitting the ball over the net so it bounces into the opposite side of the court

Scoring

  • The player who serves the ball scores points if the other player does not reach the ball before its second bounce or fails to return the ball properly
  • Tennis matches comprise of points, games and sets
  • Points are scored to win a game
  • A set is a sequence of games. A set is won when a player has won six games and this must be at least two games more than this opponent
  • In men's tennis, a match consists of five sets - the players play the best of five. When a player has won three sets, he has won the match, because the opponent cannot then beat him
  • In ladies' tennis, a match consist of three sets - when a player has won two sets, she has won the match

Doubles

  • There is also doubles tennis, which has two players on each side
  • The court is slightly bigger for doubles matches

Tennis tournaments

  • Millions of people follow tennis, especially the four Grand Slam tournaments - Wimbledon, the US Open, the Australian Open and the French Open
  • Wimbledon is the biggest tennis tournament in the world and is held in London every year in the summer for two weeks
  • Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam event played on grass courts
  • Players from over 60 nations compete every year
  • Separate tournaments are held at the same time for men's singles, ladies' singles, men's doubles, ladies' doubles and mixed doubles
  • Wimbledon is broadcast and publicised through the press, radio, internet and television, and millions of people worldwide follow the event
  • Great Britain is one competing nation in the Wimbledon Championships

Getting involved

  • If you want to learn to play tennis, many schools and sports centre have tennis courts to practise on
  • There are tennis clubs throughout Wales where you can learn how to play tennis in a group or find a private instructor

Did you know...?

  • Tennis is an Olympic sport
  • The type of surface tennis is played on determines the speed and bounce of the ball - different players play better on different surfaces
  • Unlike other sports, the rules of tennis have hardly changed since the 1920s
  • Today, the women's game is more popular than the men's game and Wimbledon is attended by over 500,000 spectators

Related Media

Useful Links

Got something to say?

You must be logged in to post comments on this website.

Login or Register.

Please take a few minutes to complete this survey. It will help us find out how you use the website so we can keep improving it for you. Everyone who completes the survey will get the chance to win £50.