Lawn tennis is the most popular and widely played of the racket sports. These rackets are used to strike balls of various shapes and sizes across the net or against the wall. The other racket sports are, squash, played in a walled court, badminton is played across a high net, and table tennis played on a table. Tennis is a sport usually played between two player’s singles or between two teams of two players each doubles. Most historians believe that tennis originated in France in the 12th century. Tennis is played on a rectangular, flat surface, usually grass, and clay, a hardcourt of concrete and/or asphalt and occasionally carpet (indoor). The court is 78 feet (23.77 m) long, and 27 feet (8.23 m) wide for singles matches and 36 ft (10.97 m) for doubles matches. A tennis match is intended to be continuous. A competent tennis player has eight basic shots in his or her repertoire, the serve, forehand, backhand, volley, half-volley, overhead smash, drop shot, and lob. Tournaments are often organized by gender and number of players. Common tournament configurations include men's singles, w omen's singles, and doubles, where two players play on each side of the net. |