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.
Playable at all levels of society and at all ages, tennis 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...)
Kho Sin-Khie (Chinese: 許承基; pinyin: Xǔ Chéngjī; September 2, 1912 – January 31, 1947) was an Indonesian-born tennis player who represented the Republic of China in the Davis Cup. He was from the Peranakan Chinese ethnic group. He was the first Chinese player ever to win a major international tournament. He was a two time winner of the British Hard Court Championships, and the Surrey Grass Court Championships on one occasion. He also won the Swiss International Championships (1939), Italian and Swedish champion as well. (Full article...)
“ | What matters isn't how well you play when you're playing well. What matters is how well you play when you're playing badly. | ” |
— Martina Navratilova, in The Winning Way |
Australian tennis player Roy Emerson at a tournament in The Netherlands in 1969.
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