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Tennis is a game played between two players (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt (most of the time yellowy-green,^[1] but can be any color or even two-tone) over a net into the opponent's court.

The modern game of tennis originated in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century as "lawn tennis" and had heavy connections to the ancient game of real tennis. After its creation, tennis spread throughout the upper-class English-speaking population before spreading around the world. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including people in wheelchairs. In the United States, there is a collegiate circuit organized by the National Collegiate Athletics Association.

Except for the adoption of the tie-breaker in the 1970s, the rules of tennis have changed very little since the 1890s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of "instant replay" technology coupled with a point challenge system, which allows a player to challenge the official call of a point.

Along with its millions of players, millions of people worldwide follow tennis as a spectator sport, especially the four Grand Slam tournaments (sometimes referred to as the "majors"): Australian Open, Roland Garros (French Open), Wimbledon (British Open), and the U.S. Open. The growth of tennis in Eastern Europe and the Far East has been especially notable in recent years.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Challenger Series and Futures Tournaments 1.2 Tier I events 2 Grand Slam winners 3 The greatest male singles players of all time 4 See also 4.1 General 4.2 Other forms 4.3 Statistics 5 References 6 Further reading

[edit] History

Tennis as the modern sport can be dated to two separate roots. Between 1859 and 1865, Major Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera developed a game that combined elements of rackets similar to the game of Poona or Badminton many British soldiers brought from being stationed in India and the Basque ball game pelota, which they played on Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham, England.^[2][3] In 1872, along with two local doctors, they founded the world's first tennis club in Leamington Spa.^[4] The Courier of 23 July 1884 recorded one of the first tennis tournaments, held in the grounds of Shrubland Hall.^[5]

In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed a similar game — which he called sphairistike (Greek σφάίρίστική, skill at playing at ball), and was soon known simply as "sticky" — for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales.^[6] He based the game on the newer sport of outdoor tennis or real tennis. According to most tennis historians, modern tennis terminology also derives from this period, as Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of real tennis and applied them to his new game.

The first championships at Wimbledon, in London were played in 1877.^[7] On May 21, 1881, the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (now the United States Tennis Association) was formed to standardize the rules and organize competitions.^[8] The U.S. National Men's Singles Championship, now the U.S. Open, was first held in 1881 at Newport, Rhode Island.^[9] The U.S. National Women's Singles Championships were first held in 1887.^[10] Tennis was also popular in France, where the French Open dates to 1891.^[11] Thus, Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the French Open, and the Australian Open (dating to 1905) became and have remained the most prestigious events in tennis.^[12][13]Together these four events are called the Grand Slam (a term borrowed from bridge).^[14] The comprehensive International Lawn Tennis Federation rules promulgated in 1924 have remained remarkably stable in the ensuing eighty years, the one major change being the addition of the tie-breaker system designed by James Van Alen.^[15] The Davis Cup, an annual competition between national teams, dates to 1900.^[16]

In 1926, promoter C.C. Pyle established the first professional tennis tour with a group of American and French tennis players playing exhibition matches to paying audiences.^[13][17] The most notable of these early professionals were the American Vinnie Richards and the Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen.^[13][18] Once a player turned pro he or she could not compete in the major (amateur) tournaments.^[13]

In 1968, commercial pressures and rumors of some amateurs taking money under the table led to the abandonment of this distinction, inaugurating the open era, in which all players could compete in all tournaments, and top players were able to make their living from tennis.^[19] With the beginning of the open era, the establishment of an international professional tennis circuit, and revenues from the sale of television rights, tennis has spread all over the world and has lost its upper-class English-speaking image.

In 1954, Van Alen founded the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a non-profit museum in Newport, Rhode Island.^[20] The building contains a large collection of tennis memorabilia as well as a hall of fame honoring prominent members and tennis players from all over the world. Each year, a grass-court tournament and an induction ceremony honoring new Hall of Fame members are hosted on its grounds.

[edit] Challenger Series and Futures Tournaments

The Challenger Series for men is the lowest level of tournament administered by the ATP. It is composed of roughly 160 events and, as a result, features a more diverse range of countries hosting events.^[21] The majority of players use the Challenger Series to work their way up the rankings, including World No. 1s Pete Sampras, Marcelo Ríos, Patrick Rafter, and Gustavo Kuerten. Andre Agassi, between winning Grand Slam titles, plummeted to World No. 141 and used Challenger Series events for match experience and to progress back up the rankings.^[22] The Challenger Series offers prize funds of between US$25,000 to US$150,000.

Below the Challenger Series are the Futures Tournaments, the main events on the ITF Men's Circuit. These tournaments also contribute towards a player's ATP rankings points. Futures Tournaments offer prize funds of between US$10,000 and US$15,000; however, futures status is granted only to events offering a total of US$30,000, meaning that two or three tournaments are played.^[23] Approximately 400 Futures Tournaments are played each year.

[edit] Tier I events

Tier I events for women form the most prestigious level of events on the Women's Tennis Association Tour (WTA Tour) after the Grand Slam tournaments. These events offer the largest rewards in terms of points and prize money. The tiering system in women's tennis was introduced in 1988. At the time of its creation, only two tournaments, the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida and the Qatar Telecom German Open in Qatar Telecom German Open, comprised the Tier I category. In 1990, the category was expanded to include six tournaments, and subsequent additions to the category have resulted in nine events comprising the category today. Currently, two of these events (the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California and the Sony Ericsson Open) are held concurrently with men's Tennis Masters Series tournaments. In 2009, six Tennis Masters Series events will be combined with Tier I WTA Tour tournaments.^[24]

[edit] Grand Slam winners

Male players who have played at least part of their careers during the open era and who have won at least two Grand Slam singles titles are as follows: Pete Sampras (14), Roger Federer (12), Roy Emerson (12), Rod Laver (11), Björn Borg (11), Ken Rosewall (8), Jimmy Connors (8), Ivan Lendl (8), Andre Agassi (8), John Newcombe (7), John McEnroe (7), Mats Wilander (7), Boris Becker (6), Stefan Edberg (6), Rafael Nadal (5), Jim Courier (4), Guillermo Vilas (4), Arthur Ashe (3), Jan Kodes (3), Gustavo Kuerten (3), Stan Smith (2), Ilie Năstase (2), Johan Kriek (2), Lleyton Hewitt (2), Yevgeny Kafelnikov (2), Patrick Rafter (2), Sergi Bruguera (2), and Marat Safin (2).

Female players who have played at least part of their careers during the open era and who have won at least two Grand Slam singles titles are as follows: Margaret Court (24), Steffi Graf (22), Chris Evert (18), Martina Navrátilová (18), Billie Jean King (12), Monica Seles (9), Serena Williams (8), Justine Henin (7), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (7), Venus Williams (7), Martina Hingis (5), Hana Mandlíková (4), Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (4), Maria Sharapova (3), Virginia Wade (3), Lindsay Davenport (3), Jennifer Capriati (3), Nancy Richey Gunter (2), Tracy Austin (2), Mary Pierce (2), and Amélie Mauresmo (2).

[edit] The greatest male singles players of all time

A frequent topic of discussion among tennis fans and commentators is who was the greatest male singles player of all time. No consensus has ever existed, however. By a large margin, an Associated Press poll in 1950 named Bill Tilden as the greatest player of the first half of the 20th century.^[25] From 1920-1930, Tilden won singles titles at Wimbledon three times and the U.S. Championships seven times. In 1938, however, Donald Budge became the first person to win all four Grand Slam singles titles during the same calendar year and won six consecutive Grand Slam singles titles in 1937 and 1938. Tilden called Budge "the finest player 365 days a year that ever lived."^[26] And in his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer said that, based on consistent play, Budge was the greatest player ever.^[27] Some observers, however, also felt that Kramer deserved consideration for the title. Kramer was among the few who dominated amateur and professional tennis during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Tony Trabert has said that of the players he saw before the start of the open era, Kramer was the best male champion.^[28]

By the latter half of the 1950s and 1960s, Budge and others had added Pancho Gonzales and Lew Hoad to the list of contenders. Budge reportedly believed that Gonzales was the greatest player ever.^[29] Gonzales said about Hoad, "When Lew's game was at its peak nobody could touch him.  ... I think his game was the best game ever. Better than mine. He was capable of making more shots than anybody. His two volleys were great. His overhead was enormous. He had the most natural tennis mind with the most natural tennis physique."^[30]

[edit] See also

[edit] General

• Tennis strategy
• Tennis games

[edit] Other forms

• Paddle tennis
• Platform tennis
• Real tennis
• Turbo tennis
• Types of tennis match

[edit] Statistics

• Tennis statistics
• Tennis male players statistics
• Professional Tennis Championships (1927-1999)
• World number one male tennis player rankings (1913-2007)
• List of ATP number 1 ranked players (1973-2007)
• List of WTA number 1 ranked players (1975-2007)
• Tennis players with most titles (since 1968)
• Male tennis players with most singles major championship wins
• Female tennis players with most singles major championship wins

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• We Have Come a Long Way. King, Billie Jean and Starr, Cynthia. (1998) McGraw-Hill ISBN 0-07024-625-9
• The Tennis Junkie's Guide (To Serious Humor). Whitehead, Dave. (2002) iUniverse ISBN: 0-595-65364-2
• Tennis.com
• Tennis Search Engine