http://www.sporttennis.org en-us Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:06:13 -0600 http://www.sporttennis.org/scoring-system/ To start with, a tennis match is organized with a number of sets. For amateur's / novice's eye tennis has an unusual scoring system, because its score does not go up in units of one or even in units of the same amount. Characteristically for both men's and women's matches, the first player win two sets wins the match. At certain important tennis tournaments for men, including all four Grand Slam tournaments and the final of the Olympic Games, the first man to win three sets wins the match. A set consists of games, and games in turn - of points.

Lets get the picture of more detailed scoring system basics.

A game comprises 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 particular to tennis: scores of zero to three points are described as "love" (or zero), "fifteen", "thirty", and "forty" respectively. (See the main article Tennis score for the origin of these words as used in tennis.) If at least three points have been scored by each player, and the scores are equal, the score is "deuce". If at least three points have been scored by each side and a player has one more point than his opponent, the score of the game is "advantage" for the player in the lead. During informal games, "advantage" can also be called "ad in" or "ad out", depending on whether the serving player or receiving player is ahead, respectively.

In tournament play, the chair umpire calls the point count (e.g., "fifteen-love") after each point. The score of a tennis match during play is always read with the serving player's score first. After a match, the score is always read with the winning player's score first. At the end of a game, the chair umpire also announces the winner of the game and the overall score.

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). For example, if the player who is serving has a score of 40-love, the player has a triple game point (triple set point, etc.) as the player has three consecutive chances to win the game. Game points, set points, and match points are not part of official scoring and are not announced by the chair umpire in tournament play.

A break point occurs if the receiver, not the server, has a game point. Break points are of particular importance in men's professional tennis because serving is generally advantageous. The advantage to the server is much less in the women's game. A receiver who has two (score of 15-40) or three (score of love-40) consecutive chances to win the game has double break point or triple break point, respectively. As with game, set, and match points, break points are not announced.

A set consists of a sequence of games played with service alternating between games, ending when the count of games won meets certain criteria. Typically, a player wins a set by winning at least six games and at least two games more than the opponent. If one player has won six games and the opponent five, an additional game is played. If the leading player wins that game, the player wins the set 7–5. If the trailing player wins the game, a tiebreaker is played. A tiebreaker, played under a separate set of rules, allows one player to win one more game and thus the set, to give a final set score of 7–6. Only in the final sets of matches at the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, the Olympic Games, Davis Cup, and Fed Cup are tiebreakers not played. In these cases, sets are played indefinitely until one player has a two game lead. A "love" set means that the loser of the set won zero games. In tournament play, the chair umpire announces the winner of the set and the overall score. What's more, the chair umpire announces the end of the match with the familiar phrase "Game, set, match" followed by the winning person's/team's name.

What about alternative game scoring, some tennis matches or leagues employ "No-Ad" scoring. Each game proceeds as in regular tennis scoring, but if the score reaches deuce, then the winner of the next point, the seventh in the game, wins the game. The receiver, or receiving team in doubles, selects which court to receive in, with the exception of mixed doubles (in which the receiver of the same gender as the current server always receives). No-ad scoring is most notably used in World Team Tennis, and in many recreational leagues, and some Major Mixed doubles events. The primary reason for using no-ad scoring is to speed up play, and it is often used in conjunction with an early tiebreaker (at 4-4, rather than 6-6). In most doubles tennis, the third set is replaced by a "match tiebreak". This is played with rules similar to the standard tiebreak, with the exception that a minimum of 10 points must be won. Notably, the international Davis Cup tournament for men still uses 5-set doubles matches. These rules are not used in ATP or WTA tour singles events, nevertheless the junior singles events at Wimbledon used these rules in 2007. ]]> Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:12:23 -0600 http://www.sporttennis.org/scoring-system/ http://www.sporttennis.org/about-gameplay/ This is one of those infrequent times when I can honestly say, spare time activity is that what we live for! Tennis is one those sport games, which gives us a tone of emotions and a great pleasure. In this post I would talk about the manner of play and its basics. An amazing game tennis is played on a rectangular, flat surface, as a rule grass, clay, or a hardcourt of concrete and/or asphalt. The court is 78 feet (23.77 m) long, and its width is 27 feet (8.23 m) for singles matches and 36 ft (10.97 m) for doubles matches. Additional clear space around the court is required in order for players to reach overrun balls. A net is stretched across the full width of the court, parallel with the baselines, dividing it into two equal ends. The net is 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) high at the posts and 3 feet (91.4 cm) high in the center. The design of the lawn tennis court has undergone much development. It was Major Walter Clopton Wingfield who, in 1873, designed a court approximate to the current one for his stické tennis (sphairistike). This template was modified in 1875 to the court shape that exists today; the markings homogeneous with Wingfield's design, with the hourglass shape of his court changed to a more linear framework.

For extra information, the lines that delineate the width of the court are called the baseline (farthest back) and the service line (middle of the court). The short mark in the center of each baseline is referred to as either the hash mark or the center mark. The outermost lines that make up the length are called the doubles sidelines. These are the boundaries used when doubles is being played. The lines to the inside of the doubles sidelines are the singles sidelines and are used as boundaries in singles play. The area between a doubles sideline and the nearest singles sideline is called the doubles alley, which is considered playable in doubles play. The line that runs across the center of a player's side of the court is called the service line because the serve must be delivered into the area between the service line and the net on the receiving side. Despite its name, this is not where a player legally stands when making a serve. The line dividing the service line in two is called the center line or center service line. The boxes this center line creates are called the service boxes; depending on a player's position, he will have to hit the ball into one of these when serving. A ball is out only if none of it has hit the line upon its first bounce. All the lines are required to be between 1 and 2 inches (51 mm) in width. The baseline can be up to 4 inches (100 mm) wide if so desired.

The players (or teams) begin on opposite sides of the net. One player is designated the server, and the opposing player, or in doubles one of the opposing players, is the receiver. Service alternates between the two halves of the court. For each point, the server starts behind his baseline, between the center mark and the sideline. The receiver may start anywhere on their side of the net. When the receiver is ready, the server will serve, although the receiver must play to the pace of the server.

Talking further, in a legal service, the ball travels over the net (without touching it) and into the diagonally opposite service box. If the ball hits the net but lands in the service box, this is a let or net service, which is void, and the server gets to retake that serve. The player can serve any number of let services in a point and they are always treated as voids and not as faults. A fault is a serve that is long, wide, or not over the net. There is also a "foot fault", which occurs when a player's foot touches the baseline or an extension of the center mark before the ball is hit. If the second service is also faulty, this is a double fault, and the receiver wins the point. However, if the serve is in, it is considered a legal service. A legal service starts a rally, in which the players alternate hitting the ball across the net. A legal return consists of the player or team hitting the ball exactly once before it has bounced twice or hit any fixtures except the net, provided that it still falls in the server's court. The ball then travels back over the net and bounces in the court on the opposite side. The first player or team to fail to make a legal return loses the point. ]]> Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:10:28 -0500 http://www.sporttennis.org/about-gameplay/ http://www.sporttennis.org/tennis-and-its-history/ Nowadays Tennis is a well-liked sport, when you are in a gameplay nothing can stop the process, because you are overflowed with a delightful feelings. But have you ever dwell on its history? If No, you are just in a right place! Tennis is a sport game played between two players - singles, or between two teams of two players - doubles. Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt (most of the time yellowy-green, but can be any color or even two-tone) over a net into the opponent's court.

The current game of tennis derived 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 founding, 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 any person 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. Excepting 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.

Together with its masses of players, millions of people all over the World stick to tennis as a spectator sport, especially the four Grand Slam tournaments: Wimbledon, Australian Open, French Open, and the U.S. Open. The growth of tennis in Eastern Europe and the Far East has been especially famous in recent years.

Modern Tennis can be separated into two different roots. Between 1859 and 1865, Major Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera developed a game that combined elements of rackets and the Basque ball game pelota, which they played on Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham, England. In 1872, along with two local doctors, they founded the world's first tennis club in Leamington Spa. The Courier of 23 July 1884 recorded one of the first tennis tournaments, held in the grounds of Shrubland Hall. 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. He based the game on the older sport of indoor 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 earliest championships at Wimbledon, in London were played in 1877. 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. The U.S. National Men's Singles Championship, now the U.S. Open, was first held in 1881 at Newport, Rhode Island. The U.S. National Women's Singles Championships were first held in 1887. Tennis was also popular in France, where the French Open dates to 1891. 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. Together these four events are called the Grand Slam (a term borrowed from bridge). 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. The Davis Cup, an annual competition between national teams, dates to 1900.

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

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. With the beginning of the open era, the launching 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 set up the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a non-profit museum in Newport, Rhode Island. The building encompasses a considerable collection of tennis memorabilia as well as a hall of fame honoring prominent members and tennis players from all over the World. Every year, a grass-court tournament and an induction ceremony honoring new Hall of Fame members are held on its grounds. ]]> Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:26:13 -0500 http://www.sporttennis.org/tennis-and-its-history/