Union: ITF
First Played: 19th century
Team Members: Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles
Equipment: Tennis Ball, Tennis Racket
Area: Outdoors
Olympics Played: 1896-1924, 1988-present
Description:
Tennis is an Olympic sport played with a racket and ball between two players or two teams of two players. Players try to throw a hollow rubber ball over the net (net) into their opponent's court with their rackets. The player with the most points within the rules wins.
History:
The game, which has its roots in a hand-held game in Medieval France but began to be played in England in the 1800s in a form very similar to today's, spread primarily in English-speaking countries. Tennis is an Olympic sport today, with players of all levels, ages and countries. [
Court Dimensions:
A professional tennis court is rectangular and is 23.77 m (78 feet) long and 10.97 m (36 feet) wide. The width for singles competition is 8.23 m (27 feet). [2] The court is divided into two by a net suspended from a steel wire or cord that passes over two poles 1.07 m (3 1/2 feet) high. The net must be tight, completely fill the space between the poles and be woven tightly enough that the ball cannot pass through. The middle height of the net is 0.914 m (3 feet), and the height and tension of the net are adjusted by a “middle band” that passes over the steel wire holding the net and is fixed to the ground. The steel wire above the net must be covered by a tape (net tape), and the net tape and centre tape must be completely white. The rules regarding the net include the following:[2] • The diameter of the steel wire or cord must not exceed 0.8 cm (1/3 in). • The width of the centre net tape must not exceed 5 cm (2 in). • The width of the net tape must be at least 5 cm (2 in) and at most 6.35 cm (2.1/2 in) down each side of the steel wire. The lines that determine the width of the courts are called boundary lines. The small mark in the middle of these lines is called the skein line. The thickness of these lines is 5 cm.
