10 Interesting Facts about Tennis

These following facts about tennis might give you much information about this sport. Tennis is a sport people play individually against a single opponent (single) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a racquet that is strung with 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 play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a good return. To get to know more about this sport, here are some facts about tennis you might be interested in.

Facts about tennis 1: Modern Game

The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as “law tennis”. It had close connections both to various field (“lawn”) games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racquet sport of real tennis.

Facts about tennis 2: Rule

The rules of tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tie-break in the 1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point challenge system.

Facts about tennis 3: Tournaments

Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is also a popular worldwide spectator sport. The four Grand Slam tournaments are especially popular: the Australia Open played on hard courts, the French Open played on red clay courts, Wimbledon played on grass courts, and the US Open played also on hard courts.

Facts about tennis 4: Origins of the Modern Games

Between 1859 and 1865 Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera developed a game that combined elements of racquets and the Basque ball game pelota, which they played on Perera’s croquet lawn in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom.

Facts about tennis 5: Racquets

The components of a tennis racquet include a handle, known as the grip, connected to a neck which joins a roughly elliptical frame that holds a matrix of tightly pulled strings. For the first 100 years of the modern game, racquets were of wood and of standard size, and strings were of animal gut.

Facts about tennis 6: Balls

Tennis balls came a long way from being made out of cloth strips, which were stitched together with thread. Tennis balls are made of hollow rubber with a felt coating. Traditionally white, the predominant color was gradually changed to optic Yellow in the latter part of the 20th century to allow for improved visibility.

Facts about tennis 7: Court

Tennis is played on a rectangular, flat surface, usually grass, clay, a hardcourt of concrete, and asphalt and occasionally carpet (indoor). The court is 78 feet (23.77 m) long, and 27 feet (8.23 m) wide for singles matches and 36 ft (10.97 m) for doubles matches.

Facts about tennis 8: Play of Single Points

The players (or teams) start on opposite sides of the net. One player is designated the server, and the opposing player is the receiver. The choice to be server or receiver in the first game and the choice of ends is decided by a toss before the warm-up starts. Service alternates game by game between the two players (or teams).

Facts about tennis 9: Game

A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving. A game is won by the first player to have won at least four points in total and at least two points more than the opponent. The running score of each game is described in a manner peculiar to tennis: scores from zero to three points are described as “love“, “fifteen“, “thirty“, and “forty” respectively.

Facts about tennis 10: Game Point

A game point occurs in tennis whenever the player who is in the lead in the game needs only one more point to win the game. The terminology is extended to sets (set point), matches (match point), and even championships (championship point).

Hope you would find those tennis facts really interesting and useful for your additional reading.