Research Paper Tennis

Tennis

History

Tennis is a sport where you have a racket and you hit a ball back and forth . You can play against one person called singles or have a teammate and play two people called doubles. The way to win a point is when the other player can not hit the ball back and they miss. Tennis is in the olympics and is played by all ages. The sport was made in Birmingham England and first played in 1865.The rules have barely changed at all. Historians believe that it was originally played by minks in the 12th century only it was a little different. Instead of rackets they used their hands.It was not until the 16th century that they started using rackets but it was still not tennis.It was played inside and bounced off a wall.In 1865 Harry Gem created

tennis and made the first tennis club in 1872. The first tennis tournament was in 1877 and was called the Wimbledon Championships. The first tournament in America was in 1880 on Staten Island New York.

Equipment
A racket is made up of a handle also known as the grip.

The handle is connected to the neck and it has a lot of strings in it which makes up the racket. For the first 100 years of tennis the rackets were made of wood.They now are made of carbon graphite, ceramics and light metals like titanium. This made it easier to play tennis and to hit the ball harder. The guidelines of a racket are

1. The hitting area composed of strings must be flat and generally uniform.

2. The frame of the hitting area may not be more than 29 inches in length and 12.5 inches wide.

3. The entire racket must be of a fixed shape size weight and weight distribution. There may not be any energy source built into the rackets.

4.The rackets must not provide any kind of communication instruction or advice to the player during the match.

There are many different types and brands the most common brands are Wilson, Head, and Babolat. Tennis balls have been made out of cloth strips stitched together with thread.Tennis balls are now made of hollow rubber with a felt coating.

Manner of

play
Tennis is played on a flat rectangular court.It is 78 feet long and 27 feet wide. In the middle there is a net that divides the court in half. The net is 3 feet and 6 inches tall. There are lines like the baseline which is the furthest back and the service line in the middle of the court. The lines that make up the outside of the court are the double sidelines. Those lines are the boundaries when playing doubles. The lines next to the double sidelines are called the single sidelines those are the boundaries for singles. The lines that divide the service line are called the center lines. This marks were a serve can be considered in.

The players start on opposite side of the net in singles. One player is the server and the other is the receiver. The players switch roles after one game. The server serves and it has to go to the other side and land in the service boxes if it dosen’t it could is considered out. It also is considered out if it hits the net. If the server misses then they can have a second serve but after that it is considered a double fault. If the ball lands in the players have to hit it back and forth until someone messes up. If the ball bounces twice on your side you lose the point also. You cannot hit the ball twice or you lose the point. Once the point is over the server switches to the other side of their half of the court and serves again.

A game is over after one person gets past forty .

0 is called love 1 is called 15 2 is called 30 3 is called 40. If both players reach 40 it is called deuce. Then the players have to win 2 more points if the server wins one point it is called add in if the server loses it is called add out whoever gets 2 points wins. If one player get a point at deuce and then another player's wins then it starts back at deuce. The score of the server is always said first before serving.

A game point is when the player in the lead has one more point until they win. A breakpoint is when the receiver has point until they win.

Officials

In professional play there is a tall chair that the umpire sits in so he can see both sides of the court and call plays that the players made wrong. There are line judges who help the umpire. The referee is off the court unless called by a team captain or player the referee can overrule the umpire's decision. Ball boys and girls retrieve balls so when the players are playing they do not trip on a ball and fall and lose the point.

Match Play

A match is intended to take along time. Every two matches the players switch halves of the court. During the switch they are allowed a two minute break. If the match is halted it is because of rain darkness or other things they will resume at later time and continue with the same

score.

Shots
The eight basic shots in tennis are the serve, forehand, backhand, volley half volley, overhead smash, drop shot, and lob. The grip is the way you are holding the racket to hit the shot. The serve is the shot to start the point. To do a serve you throw a ball in the air and hit diagonally in the service box. The forehand is hit with one hand and you swing the racket. The backhand is hit with both hands beginning below your waist and swinging towards the opposite side shoulder. A volley is hitting the ball before it bounces without swinging just hitting it. A volley is normally close to the net. A half volley is volleying the ball when it is still rising. A lob is hitting the ball high and deep on the other players court. A overhead smash is when the ball is over your head and you jump and hit it down as hard as you can you are trying end the point. It is hard to hit back when someone hits an overhead smash. The drop shot is when a player just taps the ball back on to the other players court and it bounces low so it is hard to hit back.

Tournaments
Tournaments are normally organized by a number of people. Types of tournaments include men's singles, women's singles, and doubles. There are different types of tournaments depending on age groups. There are four major tournaments they are called The Grand Slam Tournaments. They are the Australian open, the french open, Wimbledon, and the US open they are in that order. Apart from the olympics, davis cup, fed cup, and the hopman cup theses tournaments are the only tournaments regulated by the International Tennis Federation

References
Grasso, John. Historical Dictionary of Tennis. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-8108-7237-0 (October 26)