TennisBy: Sarah Rogers

Tennis

• Tennis was initially played with your hands

• The tennis court is 78 feet in length and 28 feet in width, with a net at the centre of the court. The game is played by a team of two players. The players have opposite positions on either side of the net. The object of the game is to hit the ball by one player such that it crosses the net and falls in the opponent area such that it becomes difficult to the opponent to return back the ball into the playing area. For every miss, the player is awarded point. The points start as 0 or love, 15, 30, 40 and the game ends if a player gets more than the 40 point count.

Rules

• One player hits or serves the ball from a corner of a marked out area called a court, that is divided down the middle with a three feet high net. The opposite player's goal is to return the ball, bouncing it no more than once in his own court, aiming for the other player to not be able to hit it. A point is gained when a player is not able to return the ball at all or he hits it out of the court. The ball is always served cross court or diagonally. The whole goal of tennis is to gain points to win games, sets and matches.

History

• Tennis originated from a 12th century French game called paume, meaning palm, it was a court game where the ball was hit with your hand. Paume evolved into Jeu de Paume and rackets were used. The game spread and evolved in Europe. In 1873, Major Walter Wingfield invented a game called Sphairistikè which was Greek for playing ball, from which modern outdoor tennis evolved.

• The strings of the tennis racket have in the past been made out of cow and sheep guts.

Tennis Champions

• Rafael Nadal• Venus and Serena Williams• Bernard Tomic• Roger Federer

• BIRTH DATE: June 03, 1986• PLACE OF BIRTH: Manacor, Spain • Rafael Nadal is a Spanish professional tennis player who

has been placed among the world's Top 5 tennis players since 2003. Nadal is only the second male player to achieve the Career Golden Slam and the first to win seven French Open titles. He won the Roland Garros for four years, from 2005 to 2008, and went on to win Wimbledon 2008 against tennis star Roger Federer. In 2009, Nadal won the Australian Open, and came back to win his second Wimbledon in 2010, as well as his first U.S. Open and fifth Roland Garros tournament.

Venus and Serena Williams

• Venus was born on 17 June 1980 in Lynwood, California • Serena was born on 26 September 1981 in Saginaw,

Michigan.• Two of the best women tennis players in the world today

are Venus Williams and Serena Williams. Both of the Williams sisters have been ranked Number 1 in the world at some point in their tennis career.

• They have three other sisters, Isha, Lyndrea and Yetunde, who were assistants to Venus and Serena.

Bernard Tomic

• BIRTH DATE: 21 October 1992.• PLACE OF BIRTH: Stuttgart, Germany • He began playing tennis at the age of seven. He is currently

the youngest player inside the world top 100. In 2008 at the age of 15, Bernard became the youngest player in history to win the Australian Open boys singles title.

Roger Federer

• BIRTH DATE: 8 August 1981• PLACE OF BIRTH: Basel, Switzerland • Mother, Lynette, is South African and father, Robert, is

Swiss• Roger Federer was among the Top 3 junior tennis players in

Switzerland by the age of 11. Federer is the current number 1 graded tennis player in the world.

The Grand Slam Tournaments

• The Australian Open• Wimbledon• The US Open• Roland Garros

• The four Grand Slam tournaments, also called Majors, are the most important annual tennis events. They offer the most ranking points and prize money.

• It attracts the most public and media attention.• Each tournament is played over a period of two weeks.

Wimbledon• Wimbledon is the oldest tournament in the world• The players must wear white clothing and dress decently. The

umpire decides if players meet the strict dress code and can make them get changed if they do not meet the strict code.

• In 2001, 490,081 people from the public came to Wimbledon.

The US Open

• It started in August 188.• Queens, New York, is the site of the tennis calendar's fourth

and final Grand Slam, the US Open.• The very first event in the US Open history and it was

known as the U.S. National Singles Championship

Roland Garros

• Roland Garros or The French Open, first started in 1891