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Tennis

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Sports

   A tennis net
   Enlarge
   A tennis net

   Tennis is a game played between either two players ("singles") or two
   teams of two players ("doubles"). Players use a stringed racquet to
   strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the
   opponent's court. In some places tennis is still called lawn tennis to
   distinguish it from real tennis (also known as royal tennis or court
   tennis), an older form of the game that originated in France in the
   Middle Ages and is played indoors on a very different court.
   Originating in England in the late 19th century, lawn tennis spread
   first throughout the English-speaking world, particularly among the
   upper classes. Tennis is now an Olympic sport and is played at all
   levels of society, by all ages, and in many countries around the world.
   Except for the adoption of the tie-breaker in the 1970s, its rules have
   remained remarkably unchanged since the 1890s. Along with its millions
   of players, millions of people follow tennis as a spectator sport,
   especially the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Manner of play

   For individual terms see: Tennis terminology

The court

   The dimensions of a tennis court, in feet.
   Enlarge
   The dimensions of a tennis court, in feet.

   Tennis is played on a rectangular, flat surface, usually 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
   feet (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 (914 mm) high in the centre.

The Lines

   Each of the lines that make up the width of the court are called the
   baseline. 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 both called the doubles sideline. These are the
   boundaries used when doubles is being played. The area between the
   doubles sideline and the lines next to them is called the doubles
   alley, which is considered out in singles play. These lines next to the
   doubles sideline are the singles sidelines, and used as boundaries in
   singles play. The line that runs across the center of a player's side
   of the court is called the service line; 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 centre line creates are called the service boxes;
   depending on a player's position, they 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.

Types of Courts

   There are four main types of courts. Depending on the materials used
   for the court surfaces, each surface provides a difference in the speed
   and bounce of the ball, which in turn can affect the level of play of
   the individual players. The four most common types of courts are:
     * Clay court - (green clay (mainly in the U.S.), red clay)
     * Grass court
     * Hardcourt - (cement, Rebound Ace, coated ashphalt)
     * Indoor (most commonly wood, cement, or carpet)

   Some players are more successful on certain surfaces and are known as,
   for instance, "clay court specialists."

   Clay courts are considered relatively "slow." This means that a ball
   first loses speed as it hits the course clay surface because of
   increased friction and then bounces relatively high. The slowness of
   the court makes it more difficult for a player to hit an unreturnable
   shot (a "winner") because the opponent has more time to reach and
   return the ball. The best clay court players generally use western
   grips to impart heavy topspin on the ball when playing on clay. Clay
   courts are often constructed from pulverized brick and may include
   other soil composites such as shale or stone. On clay courts, line
   calls are easily reviewable because the ball generally leaves a visible
   mark.

   Hardcourts are generally considered to be faster than clay courts.
   Depending on how a hardcourt is constructed, including the surface
   layers of the court, a hardcourt can be relatively slow or fast. A fast
   hardcourt is characterised by low bounces, where fast-serving and
   hard-hitting players hold an advantage. There are many different types
   of hardcourts. The ones used at Grand Slam tournaments ( Rebound Ace
   and DecoTurf) consist of layers of different compounds on top of an
   asphalt base.

   Grass is a fast surface and was the surface used at three of the Grand
   Slam tournaments until the Australian Open and the U.S. Open changed to
   hardcourts. Grass keeps the ball low and quick and generally favours
   players with short backswings, slice shots (where the ball slides off
   the grass), and eastern or continental grips. Low bounces keep rallies
   short, which gives hard-serving and hard-hitting players an advantage.
   Grass courts add an additional variable with bounces depending on how
   healthy the grass is and how recently it has been mown.

   For the Grand Slam tournaments, four different surfaces are used. The
   Australian Open uses Rebound Ace, a synthetic type of hardcourt
   consisting of polyurethane rubber, fibreglass, and other materials on
   top of an asphalt base. The French Open is played on red clay.
   Wimbledon is played on grass. The U.S. Open is played on DecoTurf, a
   hardcourt composed of layers of acrylic, rubber, silica, and other
   materials on top of an asphalt base.

Play of a single point

   The players (or teams) start 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
   centre mark and the sideline. The receiver may start anywhere on his
   side of the net, provided he is behind the baseline. When the receiver
   is ready, the server will serve.

   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 service, which is void, and
   the server gets to retake that serve. If the first service is otherwise
   faulty in any way, wide, long or not over the net, the serving player
   has a second attempt at service. There is also a "foot fault" which
   occurs when a player's foot touches the baseline 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 then 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. It 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.

Scoring

   A tennis match usually comprises one to five sets. A set consists of a
   number of games, and games, in turn, consist of points.

   Matches consist of an odd number of sets, the match winner being the
   player who wins more than half of the sets. The match ends as soon as
   this winning condition is met. Some matches may consist of five sets
   (the winner being the first to win three sets), while most matches are
   three sets (the winner being the first to win two sets).

   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 when he wins at least six
   games and at least two games more than his opponent. It has become
   common, however, to play a "twelve-point tiebreak" or "tiebreaker" when
   each player has won six games. 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. (See Tennis score for a description
   of both tie-break scoring and its history.)

   A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player
   serving, and is won by the first player to have won at least four
   points and at least two points more than his 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. When at least three
   points have been scored by each side and the players have the same
   number of points, the score is "deuce". When 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 winning player.
   During informal games, "advantage" can also be called "ad in" or "ad
   out", depending on whether the serving player or receiving player,
   respectively, is ahead. (See Tennis score for further explanation of
   how to score a game.)

   A game point occurs in tennis whenever the player who is in the lead in
   the game (the smallest unit of play) 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, he has a
   triple game point (triple set point, etc.).

   A break point occurs if the receiver, not the server, has a game point.
   It is of importance in professional tennis, since service breaks happen
   less frequently with professional players. It may happen that the
   player who is in the lead in the game has more than one chance to score
   the winning point, even if his opponent should take the next point(s).
   For example, if the player who is serving has a score of 15-40, the
   receiver has a double break point. Should the player in the lead take
   any one of the next two points, he wins the game.

   For two years before the Open Era, in 1955 and 1956, the United States
   Pro Championship in Cleveland, Ohio was played by the Van Alen
   Streamlined Scoring System (VASSS) rules, created by James Van Alen,
   who later invented the tie-breaker. The scoring was the same as that in
   table tennis, with sets played to 21 points and players alternating 5
   services, with no second service. The rules were partially created in
   order to limit the effectiveness of the powerful service of the
   reigning professional champion, Pancho Gonzales. Even with the new
   rules, however, Gonzales beat Pancho Segura in the finals of both
   tournaments. Even though the 1955 match went to 5 sets, with Gonzales
   barely holding on to win the last one 21-19, apparently it took only 47
   minutes to play. The fans attending the matches preferred the
   traditional rules, however, and in 1957 the tournament reverted to the
   old method of scoring.

Officials

   In serious play, there is an officiating chair umpire (usually referred
   to as the umpire), who sits in a raised chair to one side of the court.
   The umpire has absolute authority to make factual determinations. The
   umpire may be assisted by line judges, who determine whether the ball
   has landed within the required part of the court and who also call foot
   faults. There also may be a net judge who determines whether the ball
   has touched the net during service. In some tournaments, certain line
   judges, usually those who would be calling the serve, are replaced by
   electronic sensors that beep when an out call would have been made. In
   some open-tournament matches, players are allowed to challenge a
   limited number of close calls by means of instant replay. The U.S.
   Open, U.S. Open Series, and World Team Tennis started using a
   "challenge" system in 2006. This used the Hawk-Eye system and the rules
   were similar to those used in the NFL, where a player gets a limited
   number of instant-replay challenges per match/set. In clay-court
   matches, a call may be questioned by reference to the mark left by the
   ball's impact on the court surface.

   The referee, who is usually located off the court, is the final
   authority about tennis rules. When called to the court by a player or
   team captain, the referee may overrule the umpire's decision if the
   tennis rules were violated (question of law) but may not change the
   umpire's decision on a question of fact. If, however, the referee is on
   the court during play, the referee may overrule the umpire's decision.

   Ball boys (who are usually children) may be employed to retrieve balls,
   pass them to the players, and hand players their towels. They have no
   adjudicative role. In rare events (e.g., if they are hurt or if they
   have caused a hindrance), the umpire may ask them for a statement of
   what actually happened. The umpire may consider their statements when
   making a decision.

   In some leagues, especially junior leagues, players make their own
   calls, trusting each other to be honest. This is the case for many
   school and university level matches. However, the referee or referee's
   assistant can be called on court at a player's request, and the referee
   or assistant may change a player's call. In unofficiated matches, a
   ball is out only if the player entitled to make the call is sure that
   the ball is out.

Juniors

   In tennis, a junior is any player under the age of 18 who is still
   legally protected by a parent or guardian. Players on the main adult
   tour who are under 18 must have documents signed by a parent or
   guardian. These players, however, are still eligible to play in junior
   tournaments.

   The International Tennis Federation (ITF) conducts a junior tour that
   allows juniors to establish a world ranking and an Association of
   Tennis Professionals (ATP) or Women's Tennis Association ranking. Most
   juniors who enter the international circuit do so by progressing
   through ITF, Satellite, Future, and Challenger tournaments before
   entering the main circuit. The latter three circuits also have adults
   competing in them. Some juniors, however, such as Australian Lleyton
   Hewitt and Frenchman Gael Monfils, have catapulted directly from the
   junior tour to the ATP tour by dominating the junior scene or by taking
   advantage of opportunities given to them to participate in professional
   tournaments.

   In 2004, the ITF implemented a new rankings scheme to encourage greater
   participation in doubles, by combining two rankings (singles and
   doubles) into one combined tally. Junior tournaments do not offer prize
   money except for the Grand Slams, which are the most prestigious junior
   events. Juniors may earn income from tennis by participating in the
   Future, Satellite, or Challenger tours. Tournaments are broken up into
   different tiers offering different amounts of ranking points,
   culminating with Grade A.

   As of November 16, 2006, the top three boys in the world are: 1. Thiemo
   De Bakker, the Netherlands; 2. Martin Klizak, Slovakia; 3. Dusan Lodja,
   the Czech Republic. As of November 16, 2006, the top three girls in the
   world are: 1. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia; 2. Caroline Wozniacki,
   Denmark; 3. Ksenia Milevskaya, Belarus.

   Leading juniors are also allowed to participate for their nation in the
   Junior Fed Cup and Davis Cup competitions as well.

   Grassroots and early development

   To succeed in tennis often means having to begin playing at a young
   age. To facilitate and nurture a junior's growth in tennis, almost all
   tennis playing nations have developed a junior development system.
   Juniors develop their play through a range of tournaments on all
   surfaces, accommodating all different standards of play. Talented
   juniors may also receive sponsorships from governing bodies or private
   institutions. A strong junior base can often be the prerequisite of a
   future champion.

Other rules of play used in American college tennis

   As of 1999, in Division I tennis at the college level, a let service is
   considered playable. This rule change was made to prevent receivers
   from falsely claiming a valid service to be a let, which is a call that
   cannot be overruled. Thus, a service that hits the net before landing
   in the service box is a playable shot, and must be returned by the
   receiver. Otherwise, the receiver loses the point.

Other rules of play used in American high school tennis

   During high school tennis team matches players may have to follow a few
   different rules:

   Pro set: Instead of playing best out of three sets, players may play
   one pro set. A pro set is first to 8 games instead of 6. All other
   rules apply.

   Super tie-break: This is played sometimes after players split sets
   (Each wins one set). It decides who wins instead of a third set. This
   is played like a regular tie-break but the winner must attain ten
   points instead of seven.

   No-ad: The players play through the match without any ads. When the
   game is at deuce the receiving player has the option to choose what
   side of court (either the deuce side or the ad side) they want to
   receive the serve for the final game-deciding point. The first player
   or doubles team to four points wins the game.

Shots

   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.

Serve

   A serve (or, more formally, a "service") in tennis is a shot to start a
   point. The serve is initiated by tossing the ball into the air and
   hitting it (usually near the apex of its trajectory) into the
   diagonally opposite service box without touching the net. The serve may
   be hit under- or overhand.

   Experienced players strive to master the conventional overhand serve to
   maximize its power and placement. The server may employ different types
   of serve:
     * Flat Serve

     * Topspin Serve (Sometimes called a "Kick/Kicker" serve. Often
       confused with the "American Twist" serve, since both types of
       serves are called "Kick/Kicker" serves.)

     * American Twist/Twist Serve (Also, sometimes called a "Kick/Kicker"
       serve, which can confuse people, since "Topspin" serves are also
       called the same thing. Furthermore, this serve is often confused
       with the "Topspin-Slice" serve.)

     * Slice/Slider/Sidespin Serve

     * Topspin-Slice Serve (Often mistakenly identified as the American
       Twist/Twist. The serves are very different from one another.)

     * Reverse Slice/Reverse Slider/Reverse Sidespin Serve

     * Reverse Twist/Reverse American Twist Serve

     * Reverse Topspin-Slice Serve

   A reverse type of spin serve is hit in a manner that spins the ball
   opposite the natural spin of the server, the spin direction depending
   upon right- or left-handedness.

   Some servers are content to use the serve simply to initiate the point;
   advanced players often try to hit a winning shot with their serve. A
   winning serve that is not touched by the opponent is called an ace; if
   the receiver manages to touch it but fails to successfully return it,
   it is called a service winner.

Grips

   Players may use the continental, western, or eastern grips during play.
   Different grips generally are used for different types of spin and
   shots.

Forehand

   For a right-handed player, the forehand is a stroke that begins on the
   right side of his body, continues across his body as contact is made
   with the ball, and ends on the left side of his body. There are various
   grips for executing the forehand and their popularity has fluctuated
   over the years. The most important ones are the continental, the
   eastern, "semi-western" and the western. For a number of years the
   small, apparently frail 1920s player Bill Johnston was considered by
   many to have had the best forehand of all time, a stroke that he hit
   shoulder-high using a western grip. Few top players used the western
   grip after the 1920s, but in the latter part of the 20th century, as
   shot-making techniques and equipment changed radically, the western
   forehand made a strong comeback and is now used by many modern players.
   No matter which grip is used, most forehands are generally executed
   with one hand holding the racquet, but there have been fine players
   with two-handed forehands. In the 1940s and 50s the Ecuadorian/American
   player Pancho Segura used a two-handed forehand to devastating effect
   against larger, more powerful players, and many females and young
   players use the two-handed grips today. At a professional event in 1951
   the forehand drives of a number of players were electronically
   measured. Pancho Gonzales hit the fastest, 112.88 mph, followed by Jack
   Kramer at 107.8 and Welby Van Horn at 104.

Backhand

   For right-handed players, the backhand is a stroke that begins on the
   left side of their body, continues across their body as contact is made
   with the ball, and ends on the right side of their body. It can be
   executed with either one hand or with both and is generally considered
   more difficult to master than the forehand. For most of the 20th
   century it was performed with one hand, using either an eastern or a
   continental grip. The first notable players to use two hands were the
   1930s Australians Vivian McGrath and John Bromwich, but they were
   lonely exceptions. The two-handed grip gained popularity in the 1970s
   as Björn Borg, Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, and later Mats Wilander used
   it to great effect, and it is now used by a large number of the world's
   best players, including Andre Agassi and Venus Williams. Andy Roddick
   uses the "extreme western" grip to create massive amounts of top spin.
   It is difficult to do this and also causes injuries when done
   incorrectly. Two hands give the player more power, while one hand can
   generate a slice shot, applying backspin on the ball to produce a low
   trajectory bounce. The player long considered to have had the best
   backhand of all time, Don Budge, had a very powerful one-handed stroke
   in the 1930s and '40s that imparted topspin onto the ball. Ken
   Rosewall, another player noted for his one-handed backhand, used a
   deadly accurate slice backhand with underspin through the 1950s and
   '60s. A small number of players, notably Monica Seles, use two hands on
   both the backhand and forehand sides.

Other shots

   A volley is made in the air before the ball bounces, generally near the
   net, and is usually made with a stiff-wristed punching motion to hit
   the ball into an open area of the opponent's court. The half volley is
   made by hitting the ball on the rise just after it has bounced, once
   again generally in the vicinity of the net. From a poor defensive
   position on the baseline, the lob can be used as either an offensive or
   defensive weapon, hitting the ball high and deep into the opponent's
   court to either enable the lobber to get into better defensive position
   or to win the point outright by hitting it over the opponent's head. If
   the lob is not hit deeply enough into the other court, however, the
   opponent may then hit an overhead smash, a hard, serve-like shot, to
   try to end the point. Finally, if an opponent is deep in his court, a
   player may suddenly employ an unexpected drop shot, softly tapping the
   ball just over the net so that the opponent is unable to run in fast
   enough to retrieve it.

Tournaments

   Tournaments are often organized by gender and number of players. Common
   tournament configurations include men's singles, women's singles,
   doubles (where two players of the same sex play on each side), and
   mixed doubles (with a member of each sex per side). Tournaments may be
   arranged for specific age groups, with upper age limits for youth and
   lower age limits for senior players. There are also tournaments for
   handicapped players. In the four grand slams, the draw (the maximum
   number of players allowed in a particular category of the tournament)
   is 128 people.

   Players may also be matched by their skill level. According to how well
   a person does in sanctioned play, he or she is given a rating (examples
   from the U.S. system called the National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP):
   2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, etc.) which is adjusted periodically to
   maintain competitive matches.

History

   Tennis can be traced as far back as the ancient Greek game of
   sphairistike (Greek: Σφαιριστική). Major Walter Wingfield borrowed the
   name of this Greek game, in order to name the recreation he patented in
   1874. It was soon converted into a three-syllable word rhyming with
   “pike” and afterwards abbreviated either to sticky or the mock-French
   stické, before being finally called "lawn tennis", which was a second
   name patented by Wingfield for the game.

   Its establishment as the modern sport can be dated to two separate
   roots. In 1856, Alex Ryden, a solicitor, and his friend Batista
   Pereira, a Portuguese merchant, who both lived in Birmingham, England
   played a game they named " pelota", after a Spanish ball game. The game
   was played on a lawn in Edgbaston. In 1872 both men moved to Leamington
   Spa, and with two doctors from the Warneford Hospital, played pelota on
   the lawn behind the Manor House Hotel (now residential apartments).
   Pereira joined with Dr. Frederick Haynes and Dr. A. Wellesley Tomkins
   to found the first lawn tennis club in the world, and played the game
   on nearby lawns. In 1874 they formed the Leamington Tennis Club,
   setting out the original rules of the game. The Courier of 23 July 1884
   recorded one of the first tennis tournaments, held in the grounds of
   Shrubland Hall (demolished 1948).

   In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield devised a similar game
   for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate at
   Nantclwyd, Wales. He based the game on the older sport of indoor tennis
   or real tennis ("royal tennis"), which had been invented in 12th
   century France and was played by French aristocrats down to the time of
   the French Revolution.

   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 royal tennis and applied them to his new
   game:
     * Tennis comes from the French tenez, the imperative form of the verb
       tenir, to hold: This was a cry used by the player serving in royal
       tennis, meaning "I am about to serve!" (rather like the cry "Fore!"
       in golf).
     * Racquet comes from raquette, which derives from the Arabic rakhat,
       meaning the palm of the hand.
     * Deuce comes from à deux le jeu, meaning "to both is the game" (that
       is, the two players have equal scores).
     * Love may come from l'œuf, the egg, a reference to the egg-shaped
       zero symbol; however, since "un œuf" is more commonly used, the
       etymology remains in question.
     * The convention of numbering scores "15", "30" and "40" comes from
       quinze, trente and quarante, which to French ears makes a
       euphonious sequence, or from the quarters of a clock (15, 30, 45)
       with 45 simplified to 40.

   Seeing the commercial potential of the game, Wingfield patented it in
   1874, but never succeeded in enforcing his patent. Tennis spread
   rapidly among the leisured classes in Britain and the United States. It
   was first played in the U.S. at the home of Mary Ewing Outerbridge on
   Staten Island, New York in 1874.

   In 1881 the desire to play tennis competitively led to the
   establishment of tennis clubs. The first championships at Wimbledon, in
   London were played in 1877. In 1881 the United States National Lawn
   Tennis Association (now the United States Tennis Association) was
   formed to standardize the rules and organize competitions. The
   comprehensive I.L.T.F. 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. 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. The Davis Cup, an annual
   competition between national teams, dates to 1900.

   Tennis was for many years predominantly a sport of the English-speaking
   world, dominated by the United States, Britain and Australia. It 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). Winning the Grand Slam, by capturing these four
   titles in one calendar year, is the highest ambition of most tennis
   players.

   In 1926 promoter C.C. ("Cash and Carry") Pyle established 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. For 42 years professional and
   amateur tennis remained strictly separate. Once a player turned pro he
   or she could not compete in the major (amateur) tournaments. In 1968,
   commercial pressures 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 establishment 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. Since the 1970s great champions
   have emerged from Germany (Boris Becker and Steffi Graf), Australia (
   Lleyton Hewitt and Patrick Rafter), the former Czechoslovakia ( Ivan
   Lendl, Martina Navrátilová, and Hana Mandlíková), Sweden (Björn Borg,
   Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander), Brazil ( Gustavo Kuerten), Argentina
   ( Gabriela Sabatini, Guillermo Vilas and Gastón Gaudio), Russia (
   Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Marat Safin, Maria Sharapova, Anastasia Myskina,
   and Svetlana Kuznetsova), Belgium ( Kim Clijsters and Justine
   Henin-Hardenne), France ( Amélie Mauresmo, Yannick Noah and Mary
   Pierce), Spain ( Juan Carlos Ferrero, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Carlos
   Moya, Conchita Martinez, and Rafael Nadal), Switzerland ( Martina
   Hingis and Roger Federer) and from many other countries.

   In America, the game has seen a seismic shift from a sport that the
   "country-club set" played to one that is an activity for anyone.
   Successes by players from across the spectrum, from the working-class
   Jimmy Connors to great African-American stars such as Arthur Ashe and
   the Williams sisters Venus and Serena, have firmly established tennis
   as a game for all in the United States. This is perhaps best embodied
   in the fact that in the 1970s, when popularity of the game was at a
   peak, the USTA decided to move the U.S. Open from the posh West Side
   Tennis Club to a public park (the USTA National Tennis Centre, Flushing
   Meadows Park) that is accessible to anyone with the "greens fees"
   (currently $17). About the same time, the ruling body's name was also
   changed from United States Lawn Tennis Association to United States
   Tennis Association.

   In 1954 James Van Alen founded the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a
   non-profit museum in Newport, Rhode Island. The building contains a
   large collection of tennis memorabilia as well as a hall of fame
   honoring prominent members and tennis players from all over the world.
   Each year, a grass-court tournament is hosted on the grounds that are
   home to the Tennis Hall of Fame, as well as an induction ceremony
   honoring new Hall of Fame members.

Great players

   Numerous great players played in the days before tennis's Open era,
   many of whom are unknown by modern sports fans. For a comprehensive
   list of annual rankings of the great players, as well as additional
   information about them, from 1913 to the start of the Open era, see
   World No. 1 Tennis Player Pre-ATP Rankings. Among them,
   chronologically, are:
     * "Big Bill" Tilden - winner of 21 amateur Grand Slam titles, 7
       consecutive Davis Cups, 4 professional Grand Slam titles, the
       professional doubles title at age 52; was for 7 years the World No.
       1 player
     * Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet, René Lacoste - the three best of the "
       Four Musketeers", won 46 amateur Grand Slam titles amongst them, 6
       consecutive Davis Cups, 1 professional Grand Slam title; between
       them, Lacoste and Cochet were for 5 consecutive years the World No.
       1 player
     * Ellsworth Vines - winner of 6 amateur Grand Slam titles, 4
       professional Grand Slam titles; was world #1 professional player,
       1933-1937; had a tremendous flat, hard forehand and service; was
       for 3 years the World No. 1 player
     * Fred Perry - won 13 amateur Grand Slam titles including 3
       consecutive Wimbledons; was the first to win 4 consecutive Grand
       Slam titles; won 2 professional Grand Slam titles; was for 5 years
       the World No. 1 player
     * Don Budge - winner of 14 amateur Grand Slam titles; was the first
       to win 4 Grand Slam titles in a single year, 4 professional Grand
       Slam titles; is widely viewed as having had the best backhand of
       all time before Rosewall; was for 5 years the World No. 1 player
     * Bobby Riggs - winner of 6 amateur Grand Slam titles, 4 professional
       Grand Slam titles and 7 times a finalist; was for 3 years the World
       No. 1 player, first as an amateur in 1941 and then as a
       professional in 1946 and 1947
     * Jack Kramer - won 10 amateur Grand Slam titles and 2 professional
       Grand Slam titles; was the first great player to play serve-volley
       on all serves; beat Gonzales badly in the 1949-1950 tour; was for 5
       years the World No. 1 player
     * Pancho Segura - winner of 3 professional Grand Slam titles,
       including 2 victories over Gonzales, and 7 times a finalist; was
       for 1 year the World No. 1 player; Kramer called Segura's
       two-handed forehand "the single best shot ever produced in tennis."
     * Pancho Gonzales - winner of 4 amateur Grand Slam titles, 12
       professional Grand Slam titles and 6 times a finalist; world #1
       amateur in 1949; was still world #6 player in 1969 and #9 American
       in 1972 at 44; was for 8 consecutive years the World No. 1 player,
       an unequalled 9 times overall
     * Frank Sedgman - won 22 amateur Grand Slam titles, 3 professional
       Grand Slam titles and 4 times a finalist; winner of 3 consecutive
       Davis Cups
     * Ken Rosewall - won 18 Grand Slam titles, first 11 as an amateur,
       then 7 in the Open era, plus another 18 professional Grand Slam
       titles and was 5 times a finalist; winner of 3 consecutive Davis
       Cups; was for 4 years the World No. 1 player
     * Lew Hoad - won 11 amateur Grand Slam titles and 7 times a finalist
       in the professional Grand Slam; Gonzales said of him: "I think his
       game was the best game ever. Better than mine."

   Other fine players of the pre-Open era include Maurice McLoughlin,
   "Little Bill" Johnston, Vinnie Richards, Jack Crawford, Gottfried von
   Cramm, Ted Schroeder, Vic Seixas, and Tony Trabert.

   Among women, the top pre-Open era players include, among others,
   Dorothea Douglass Chambers, Suzanne Lenglen, Helen Wills Moody, Molla
   Bjurstedt Mallory, Kitty McKane Godfree, Helen Hull Jacobs, Dorothy
   Round Little, Alice Marble, Pauline Betz Addie, Margaret Osborne
   duPont, Louise Brough Clapp, Doris Hart, Shirley Fry Irvin, Maureen
   Connolly Brinker, Althea Gibson, Maria Bueno, Ann Haydon Jones, and
   Darlene Hard. Connolly Brinker was the first female player to win all
   four Grand Slam singles tournaments in a calendar year ( 1953). Hart
   was the first player to win all 12 possible singles, doubles, and mixed
   doubles Grand Slam titles

   Among the greatest male players of the Open era, with the number of
   career Grand Slam singles titles in parentheses, are: Pete Sampras
   (14), Roy Emerson (12), Rod Laver (11), Björn Borg (11), Roger Federer
   (9), Jimmy Connors (8), Ivan Lendl (8), Andre Agassi (8), John Newcombe
   (7), John McEnroe (7), Mats Wilander (7), Boris Becker (6), Stefan
   Edberg (6), Jim Courier (4), Guillermo Vilas (4), Arthur Ashe (3),
   Gustavo Kuerten (3), Stan Smith (2), Ilie Năstase (2), Lleyton Hewitt
   (2), Yevgeny Kafelnikov (2), Patrick Rafter (2), Marat Safin (2), and
   Rafael Nadal (2)

   The greatest women players of the Open era, again with the number of
   career Grand Slam singles titles in parentheses for each, are: Margaret
   Smith Court (24), Steffi Graf (22), Chris Evert (18), Martina
   Navrátilová (18), Billie Jean King (12), Monica Seles (9), Serena
   Williams (7), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (7), Venus Williams (5), Martina
   Hingis (5), Justine Henin-Hardenne (5), Hana Mandlíková (4), Arantxa
   Sánchez Vicario (4), Virginia Wade (3), Lindsay Davenport (3), Jennifer
   Capriati (3), Nancy Richey Gunter (2), Tracy Austin (2), Mary Pierce
   (2), Amélie Mauresmo (2), and Maria Sharapova (2)

The greatest player of all time

   Until the mid-1950s, Bill Tilden was generally considered the greatest
   player ever, his only rivals being Vines, Budge, and Kramer. For much
   of the 1950s and 1960s, many thought Gonzales had claimed that title.
   Since then, first Laver, then more recently Borg, McEnroe, and Sampras,
   were widely regarded by many of their contemporaries as the greatest
   ever. Roger Federer is now considered by many observers to have the
   most "complete" game in modern tennis, with the potential to challenge
   the achievements of these past greats. Even among experts, however, no
   consensus exists as to who has been the greatest of all. Kramer, for
   instance, still believes that Budge was the best ever on a consistent
   basis, while Vines was the best at the top of his game. Segura opts for
   Gonzales, and Gonzales himself considered Hoad, at the height of his
   game, to be the best.

   It frequently appears to be the case when trying to decide who is the
   best of all time that contemporaries over-value the worth of great
   players of their own time. Each time that a great new player such as
   Tilden, Vines, Budge, Kramer, or Gonzales came on the scene and
   dominated it for several years, many observers at that time would then
   declare him to be the best of all time. A clear example of this
   occurred in early 1986 when Inside Tennis, a magazine edited in
   Northern California, devoted parts of four issues to a lengthy article
   called "Tournament of the Century", an imaginary tournament to
   determine the greatest of all time. They asked 37 tennis notables such
   as Kramer, Budge, Perry, and Riggs and observers such as Bud Collins
   and Allison Danzig to list the 10 greatest players in order. This was
   probably as prestigious and knowledgeable a group of tennis experts as
   has ever been assembled. Nevertheless, there appears to be a clear
   predilection for choosing their near-contemporaries as the best player
   ever.

   Twenty-five players in all were named by the 37 experts in their lists
   of the 10 best. The magazine then ranked them in descending order by
   total number of points assigned. The top eight players in overall
   points, with their number of first-place votes, were: Rod Laver (9),
   John McEnroe (3), Don Budge (4), Jack Kramer (5), Björn Borg (6),
   Pancho Gonzales (1), Bill Tilden (6), and Lew Hoad (1). McEnroe was
   still an active player and Laver, Borg, and Gonzales had only recently
   retired. In the imaginary tournament Laver beat McEnroe in the finals
   in 5 sets.

   Among the women, Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills Moody vie for the
   distinction of greatest of all time, along with several modern players:
   Margaret Smith Court, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf,
   Billie Jean King, and Maureen Connolly Brinker.

The great doubles players

   Men's doubles is no longer as important to spectator tennis as it was
   in the first half of the 20th century, when its attraction,
   particularly in Davis Cup, was nearly equal to that of singles.

   The Woodies ( Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde) is the most
   successful male doubles team in history. They won 61 ATP tournaments
   (including 11 Grand Slam tournaments) and a gold medal at the 1996
   Atlanta Olympics.

   George Lott, who himself won 5 U.S. and 2 Wimbledon doubles titles,
   wrote an article in the May 1973 issue of Tennis Magazine in which he
   ranked the great doubles teams and the great players. The teams, in
   descending order, were:
     * John Newcombe and Tony Roche
     * R. Norris Williams and Vinnie Richards
     * Bill Talbert and Gardnar Mulloy
     * Frank Sedgman and Ken McGregor
     * Adrian Quist and John Bromwich
     * Roy Emerson and Rod Laver
     * Bill Tilden and Vinnie Richards
     * Jacques Brugnon and Henri Cochet
     * Wilmer Allison and John Van Ryn
     * Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall

   Other great teams would include:
     * George Lott and Les Stoefen
     * Bob Lutz and Stan Smith
     * Frew McMillan and Bob Hewitt
     * John McEnroe and Peter Fleming

   Lott also wrote: "It is frequently said that a doubles team is as good
   as its weakest link.... I believe a really great doubles player can
   solidify that weak link." His list of the greatest doubles players is:
     * John Bromwich, Jack Kramer, and Don Budge, tied for 1st
     * Frank Sedgman, Adrian Quist, and Roy Emerson tied for 4th
     * Vinnie Richards
     * Jacques Brugnon
     * Marty Riessen, Bill Talbert, and Gardnar Mulloy tied for 9th

   A list of the great female doubles teams would include:
     * Margaret Smith Court with Judy Tegart Dalton, Virginia Wade, or
       Lesley Turner Bowrey
     * Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver
     * Billie Jean King and Rosemary Casals
     * Margaret Osborne duPont and Louise Brough Clapp
     * Doris Hart and Shirley Fry Irvin
     * Alice Marble and Sarah Palfrey Cooke
     * Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan
     * Venus Williams and Serena Williams
     * Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva
     * Maria Bueno and Darlene Hard
     * Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez
     * Nancye Wynne Bolton and Thelma Coyne Long

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