Portal:Tennis

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Welcome to the Tennis Portal

Panoramic view of Stadium Court in Tennis Center at Crandon Park, Key Biscayne, Florida, United States. Taken during the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open.

Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket strung with a 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 manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player unable to return the ball validly will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.

Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The original forms of tennis developed in France during the late Middle Ages. The modern form of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis. It had close connections to various field (lawn) games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport today called real tennis.

The rules of modern tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that until 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point-challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of a point, a system known as Hawk-Eye. (Full article...)

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Image 1

Left elbow-joint. (Lateral epicondyle visible at center.)

Tennis elbow, also known as lateral epicondylitis or enthesopathy of the extensor carpi radialis origin, is an enthesopathy (attachment point disease) of the origin of the extensor carpi radialis brevis on the lateral epicondyle. The outer part of the elbow becomes painful and tender. The pain may also extend into the back of the forearm. Onset of symptoms is generally gradual, although they can seem sudden and be misinterpreted as an injury. Golfer's elbow is a similar condition that affects the inside of the elbow.

Enthesopathies are idiopathic, which means that science has not yet determined the cause. Enthesopathies are most common in middle aged individuals (ages 35 to 60). (Full article...)
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Russian Tennis Federation (Russian: Федерация тенниса России) is a national governing body of tennis in Russia, founded as the All-Russia Tennis Association in 1989 and reorganized under the current name in 2002. It is the successor of Tennis Federation of the RSFSR (1959–1989) and the Tennis Federation of the USSR (1959–93, known before as All-Union Tennis Section, 1929-1959).

In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Tennis Federation suspended the Russian Tennis Federation. In addition, Tennis Europe suspended the federation's membership. Teams representing Russia were therefore ineligible to compete at all Tennis Europe events (including Winter & Summer Cups, European Beach Tennis, and Senior Club Championships). All Tennis Europe events in Russia were suspended, including the European Junior Tennis Championships (16 & Under) in Moscow, and delegates from Russia were not eligible to attend the 2022 Annual General Meeting of Tennis Europe. (Full article...)
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The Open Era is the current era of professional tennis. It began in 1968 when the Grand Slam tournaments allowed professional players to compete with amateurs, ending the division that had persisted in men's tennis since the dawn of the sport in the 19th century. The first "open" tournament was held in Bournemouth, England, followed by the inaugural open Grand Slam tournament a month later. All records are based on data from the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and the official sites of the four Grand Slam tournaments. Active streaks and active players are in boldface. (Full article...)
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The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American Insurance ATP Championships, the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open and, most recently, the Western & Southern Open. It is played on outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, and is held in August. The event started on September 18, 1899, and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States still played in its original city. It also is the third largest tennis event in the United States, after the US Open and the Indian Wells Masters. It is one of the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments on the ATP Tour, and one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour. (Full article...)
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Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena tennis court

The Shanghai Masters (Chinese: 上海大师赛, also known as Shanghai Rolex Masters for sponsorship reasons) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Shanghai, China. It is played on outdoor hard courts at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in the Minhang District, and is held in early October. The tournament is part of the nine ATP Tour Masters 1000 events on the ATP Tour, and is the only one not played in Europe or North America.

The tournament was not held from 2020 to 2022 due to Chinese travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Full article...)
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Drawing by Jacques-Louis David of the Tennis Court Oath.

The Tennis Court Oath (French: Serment du Jeu de Paume) was taken on 20 June 1789 by the members of the French Third Estate in a tennis court on the initiative of Jean Joseph Mounier. Their vow "not to separate and to reassemble wherever necessary until the Constitution of the kingdom is established" became a pivotal event in the French Revolution.

The Estates-General had been called to address the country's fiscal and agricultural crisis, but they had become bogged down in issues of representation immediately after convening in May 1789, particularly whether they would vote by order or by head (which would increase the power of the Third Estate, as it outnumbered the other two estates by a large margin). On 17 June, the Third Estate began to call itself the National Assembly, led by Jean Sylvain Bailly. Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, took a prominent role. (Full article...)
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Tennis was part of the Summer Olympic Games program from the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics, but was dropped after the 1924 Summer Olympics due to disputes between the International Lawn Tennis Federation and the International Olympic Committee over how to define amateur players. After two appearances as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984 (with a U-21 age limit), it returned as a full medal sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics open for all players regardless of their age and status and has been played at every summer Games since then. (Full article...)
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World TeamTennis (WTT) was a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973.

The league's season normally took place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA would often take a break from their tour schedules to partake in World TeamTennis. (Full article...)
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The French Open (French: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (French: [ʁɔlɑ̃ ɡaʁos]), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and venue are named after the French aviator Roland Garros. The French Open is the premier clay court championship in the world and the only Grand Slam tournament currently held on this surface. It is chronologically the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments, occurring after the Australian Open and before Wimbledon and the US Open. Until 1975, the French Open was the only major tournament not played on grass. Between the seven rounds needed for a championship, the clay surface characteristics (slower pace, higher bounce), and the best-of-five-set men's singles matches, the French Open is widely regarded as the most physically demanding tournament in tennis. (Full article...)
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World number 1 ranked male tennis players is a year-by-year listing of the male tennis players who were ranked as world No. 1 by various contemporary and modern sources. The annual source rankings from which the No. 1 players are drawn are cited for each player's name, with a summary of the most important tennis events of each year also included. If world rankings are not available, recent rankings by tennis writers for historical years are accessed, with the dates of the recent rankings identified. In the period 1948–1953, when contemporary professional world rankings were not created, the U.S. professional rankings are cited. (Full article...)
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Margaret Court has 24 singles majors, an all-time record. In 1970, Court became the first woman during the Open Era to win the Grand Slam in singles.

This article details the list of women's singles Grand Slam tournaments tennis champions. Some major changes have taken place in history and have affected the number of titles that have been won by various players. These have included the opening of the French national championships to international players in 1925, the elimination of the challenge round in 1922, and the admission of professional players in 1968 (the start of the Open Era). Since then, 60 women have won at least one grand slam.

All of these tournaments have been listed based on the modern definition of a tennis major, rather than when they were officially recognized by the ILTF. The Australian, French Championships, and U.S. tournaments were officially recognized by the ILTF in 1924, though the French Championships were not played in 1924 because of the Olympics. The United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) had several grievances with the ILTF and refused to join when it was formed in 1913. (Full article...)
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Tennis for Two on a DuMont Lab Oscilloscope Type 304-A

Tennis for Two (also known as Computer Tennis) is a sports video game that simulates a game of tennis, and was one of the first games developed in the early history of video games. American physicist William Higinbotham designed the game in 1958 for display at the Brookhaven National Laboratory's annual public exhibition after learning that the government research institution's Donner Model 30 analog computer could simulate trajectories with wind resistance. He designed the game within a few hours, after which he and technician Robert V. Dvorak built it over a period of three weeks. The game was displayed on an oscilloscope and played with two custom aluminum controllers. Its visuals show a representation of a tennis court viewed from the side, and players adjust the angle of their shots with a knob on their controller and try to hit the ball over the net by pressing a button.

The game was very popular during the three-day exhibition, with players lining up to see the game, especially high school students. It was shown again the following year with a larger oscilloscope screen and a more complicated design that could simulate different gravity levels. It was then dismantled and largely forgotten until the late 1970s when Higinbotham testified in court about the game during lawsuits between Magnavox and Ralph H. Baer over video game patents. Since then, it has been celebrated as one of the earliest video games, and Brookhaven has made recreations of the original device. Under some definitions Tennis for Two is considered the first video game, as while it did not include any technological innovations over prior games, it was the first computer game to be created purely as an entertainment product rather than for academic research or commercial technology promotion. (Full article...)
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World number 1 ranked female tennis players is a year-by-year listing of the female tennis players who were ranked as world No. 1 by various contemporary and modern sources.

Notes: (Full article...)
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John McEnroe (7 Major singles titles, world No.1 for 170 weeks; pictured in 2012)

The Borg–McEnroe rivalry was a tennis rivalry between Björn Borg and John McEnroe, who met 14 times on the regular tour and 22 times in total between November 1978 and April 1981. Their head-to-head was even at 7–7. Their on-court rivalry was highlighted by their contrasting temperaments and playing styles: the Swede Borg was known for his cool and emotionless demeanor on court, while the American McEnroe was famed for his court-side tantrums. As a result, their rivalry was described as "Fire and Ice". They were tied in their five-set matches at 1–1.

In 1980, McEnroe reached the singles final at Wimbledon for the first time, where he faced Borg, who was aiming for an Open Era record fifth consecutive Wimbledon title. At the start of the final McEnroe was booed by the crowd as he entered Centre Court following his heated exchanges with officials during his semi-final clash with Jimmy Connors. In a fourth set tie-breaker that lasted 20 minutes, McEnroe saved five match points (seven altogether in that set) and eventually won 18–16. However, he was unable to break Borg's serve in the fifth set and Borg went on to win 8–6. This match is widely considered one of the best tennis matches ever played. McEnroe defeated Borg at the US Open final the same year in five sets. (Full article...)
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International Tennis Federation Headquarters

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016,^[update] there are 211 national and six regional associations that make up the ITF's membership.

The ITF's governance responsibilities include maintaining and enforcing the rules of tennis, regulating international team competitions, promoting the game, and preserving the sport's integrity via anti-doping and anti-corruption programs. The ITF partners with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) to govern professional tennis. (Full article...)

General images

The following are images from various tennis-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Édouard Roger-Vasselin was part of the winning mixed doubles team in 2024. It was his first major title. (from French Open)
Image 2Spencer Gore, the winner of the inaugural Wimbledon Championship (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 3Kateřina Siniaková was part of the winning women's doubles team in 2024. It was her eighth major title and her third at the French Open. (from French Open)
Image 4Wimbledon operates a ticket resale system where returned Show Court tickets can be purchased. All proceeds go to charity. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 5Rod Laver Arena night session in 2007, the last year the tournament used the Rebound Ace surface. (from Australian Open)
Image 6Jan Zieliński was part of the 2024 winning mixed doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 7Carlos Alcaraz, the 2024 gentlemen's singles champion. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 8Bill Larned, a joint all-time record holder in men's singles (from US Open (tennis))
Image 9Rafael Nadal holding the Coupe des Mousquetaires in 2006. (from French Open)
Image 10Iga Świątek, the 2024 women's singles champion. It was her fifth major title and her fourth at the French Open. (from French Open)
Image 11Rohan Bopanna was part of the 2024 winning men's doubles team. It was his first major title. (from Australian Open)
Image 12Taylor Townsend was part of the 2024 winning women's doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 13Debenture of the All England Lawn Tennis Ground Ltd., issued 20th August 1930 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 14New Rod Laver Arena entrance added in 2018 as part of the Melbourne Park redevelopment. (from Australian Open)
Image 15Roger Federer, the all-time record holder in men's singles (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 16Aerial view of the grounds (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 17The Melbourne Sports and Entertainment precinct on the banks of the Yarra River in 2010. (from Australian Open)
Image 18View from seats of Wimbledon Court No. 1 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 19Hsieh Su-wei was part of the 2024 winning mixed doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 20The Ladies' (top) and Gentlemen's singles trophies (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 21Aryna Sabalenka, 2024 women's singles champion. It was her second major title and her second at the Australian Open. (from Australian Open)
Image 22Henry Patten was part of the 2024 winning men's doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 23Rod Laver Arena, the main court of the Australian Open, in 2023. (from Australian Open)
Image 24Kateřina Siniaková was part of the 2024 winning women's doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 25Todd Woodbridge holding the Gentlemen's doubles silver challenge cup in 2004 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 26Arthur Ashe stadium in 2010, before the retractable roof was added. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 27Jan Zieliński was part of the 2024 winning mixed doubles team. It was his first major title. (from Australian Open)
Image 28Martina Navratilova, the all-time record holder in women's singles (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 29Matthew Ebden was part of the 2024 winning men's doubles team. It was his second major title and first at the Australian Open. (from Australian Open)
Image 30Mate Pavić was part of the winning men's doubles team in 2024. It was his fourth major title. (from French Open)
Image 31Centre Court at Wimbledon in May 2019 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 32Richard Sears, a joint all-time record-holder in men's singles (from US Open (tennis))
Image 33Sébastien Grosjean takes a shot on Court 18 during the 2004 Championships. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 34Marcelo Arévalo was part of the winning men's doubles team in 2024. It was his second major title. (from French Open)
Image 35Elise Mertens was part of the 2024 winning women's doubles team. It was her fourth major title and second at the Australian Open. (from Australian Open)
Image 36Coco Gauff was part of the winning women's doubles team in 2024. It was her second major title. (from French Open)
Image 37The order of play for all courts is displayed on boards around the grounds. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 38Wimbledon ball girl at the net, 2007 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 39Hsieh Su-wei was part of the 2024 winning women's doubles and mixed doubles team. It was her seventh major title in women's doubles and first major title in mixed doubles. (from Australian Open)
Image 40The Royal Gallery at Centre Court, Wimbledon (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 41Margaret Court Arena at the Australian Open in 2005 prior to its redevelopment. Rod Laver Arena is in the background. (from Australian Open)
Image 42Arthur Ashe Stadium with the roof closed in 2018. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 43Jannik Sinner, 2024 men's singles champion. It was his first major title. (from Australian Open)
Image 44New Show Court Arena that opened in 2022. (from Australian Open)
Image 45Laura Siegemund was part of the winning mixed doubles team in 2024. It was her second major title. (from French Open)
Image 46Margaret Court, the all-time record holder in women's singles. (from Australian Open)
Image 47The Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup (from Australian Open)
Image 48Chris Evert, the all-time record holder in women's singles. (from French Open)
Image 49Court 10. On the outside courts there is no reserved seating. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 50People watching the Championships' broadcast in Canary Wharf (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 51Commemorative plaque at Court 18 marking the longest tennis match in history (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 52Carlos Alcaraz, the 2024 men's singles champion. At 21, he became the youngest male player to win a major title on three different surfaces. (from French Open)
Image 53A Royal Marines Commando as a services steward in 2005 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 54Composition of the courts. (from French Open)
Image 55Bill Tilden, a joint all-time record holder in men's singles (from US Open (tennis))
Image 56Court Philippe Chatrier during the 2013 French Open. (from French Open)
Image 57Rafael Nadal, the all-time record holder in men's singles. (from French Open)
Image 58Molla Mallory, the all-time record holder in women's singles (from US Open (tennis))
Image 59Barbora Krejčíková, the 2024 ladies' singles champion. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 60Harri Heliövaara was part of the 2024 winning men's doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 61Novak Djokovic, the all-time record holder in men's singles. (from Australian Open)

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Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well as six Major doubles titles. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships from 1934 to 1936 and was World Amateur number one tennis player during those three years. Prior to Andy Murray in 2013, Perry was the last British player to win the men's Wimbledon championship, in 1936, and the last British player to win a men's singles Grand Slam title, until Andy Murray won the 2012 US Open.

Perry was the first player to win a "Career Grand Slam", winning all four singles titles, which he completed at the age of 26 at the 1935 French Championships. He remains the only British player ever to achieve this. Perry's first love was table tennis and he was World Champion in 1929. He began playing tennis aged 14 and his tennis career at 21, when in 1930 an LTA committee chose him to join a four-man team to tour the United States. (Full article...)

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... that American Colossus is a biography of a man who was "the most famous sportsman in the world" and "the most forgotten great athlete in American history"?
... that in high school, tennis player Sara Daavettila went an entire season without losing a game?

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